| Installment
One Installment Two Installment Three Installment Four Installment Five Installment Six Installment Seven* Installment Eight Installment Nine Installment Ten |
~The Making of The Quarry: The Giants Ridge Legend~
After my first round
of golf, I was hooked on golf course architecture. The routing changed direction
often, and got me wonderfully lost in the middle of the wooded property.
Somehow, it didn’t occur to me that the holes could be arranged to
start and return at the clubhouse, so I made sure I had change for bus fare
to get me back to clubhouse! And, when I came up a slope from eight green to nine tee, saw
the clubhouse behind the green and smelled burgers cooking (just when I
was getting hungry!), I thought to myself, “the guy who designed this is
a genius!”
A
masterful routing does provides for important things like returning nines
for the hungry, the tired, and the golfers yearning to be free to go home.
So, that night, I sketched the routing on napkins – as sophisticated
as some architects ever get!
There
are no set rules for routing a golf course, save one - If a routing works
out well after just one try; I make a careful hole count! For some reason,
17 or 19 holes are always easier than that pesky requirement for 18!
Routing
cannot be by “formula” – it must be born of careful study of site properties.
The first step is thorough analysis of the property’s natural features,
including soils, drainage patterns, geology (including subsurface rock –
which we obviously try to avoid with the routing for cost reasons), trees,
views, surrounding land uses, planned and future utilities, and the like.
More and more, environmental impact assessments are prepared by outside
consultants. These do not replace
the architect’s work, but they often add to it!
Mostly, they identify “off limits” environmental zones, such as wetlands,
high quality forests, historic sites, sensitive habitats, and other legally
protected areas.
Routing
doesn’t usually come easy, especially with increasing land use restrictions
that ‘’golden age” architects never considered. I often prepare twenty or more preliminary schematics.
I used to label these starting with “A”, but often run out of letters
midway through public hearings. I
now use a numbering scheme, but haven’t hit infinity.
It’s
easier to correct things in planning, rather than moving millions of yards
of earth during construction. So,
I route a few schemes, then walk the property and route some more, making
sure I cover every possibility. A good architect talks to the land, asking
it what kind of feature it wants to be – a green, tee or fairway – and listens.
Routings in the south always take longer, because the land speaks more slowly,
usually in a soft drawl. But, this process always works – except internationally,
when the land speaks back in a foreign language.
Golf
design critic Bradley Klein says “Routing is Destiny”, setting the course’s
eternal footprint – until the end of time or at least until death by bulldozer.
While misconceived tees, greens, and hazards are fairly easy to rebuild,
critical routing mistakes like inadequate room for a practice range, are
impossible, or impossibly expensive, to correct.
The
primary goal of any routing plan is to find the 18 most natural golf holes.
Given this, it may seem strange that it’s the last thing done
in routing. First, we simply
try to fit any 18 holes on the property.
Many landowners have property that’s too small, and ask us, charitably
phrased, to squeeze a size nine course into a size seven dress!
We do this using pre-made clear plastic golf holes, which never fails
to disappoint visitors. The
second order of business is locating a few potential places for the clubhouse.
The
clubhouse area must have room (as
little as 4-6 acres, with elaborate clubhouses needing more) for parking
(150-200 cars), cart storage and staging, a tournament pavilion, scoreboard,
and “general milling about” on Holes 1 and 10.
There should be enough area for future expansion of the clubhouse
or the addition of other facilities.
The popularity of croquet, for example, may skyrocket, and it’s best
to be ready! A clubhouse on a roomy site appears gracious and stately, while
a cramped one doesn’t. Tight
spacing is detrimental to efficient operation.
And, some of the most terrifying opening tee shots in golf (Like
Merion) result from teeing off from just in front of a clubhouse, where
every one close enough to watch!
We
must also find a convenient adjacent area for a practice range, putting
and chipping areas, which usually take 15 acres. If possible, this should
be an open area, as it always seems a shame to remove such a large amount
of trees. Practice sand bunkers pose safety problems from “sculled” shots.
Practice bunkers should allow those shots to stray harmlessly into
unused areas. Ideally, the
sand bunker is located near the practice range, where these shots can be
retrieved with the ball picker.
What else makes a good clubhouse location?
Several things, including:
Access,
Proximity and Identity
The golf course needs identity, usually accomplished with Traditionally,
clubhouses are located on prominent hills, with good views of the most scenic
portions of the property, which helps establish identity.
The clubhouse
should be easy to get to, with a direct and safe accessibility from a main
road. Clubhouses accessed from
secondary roads are hard to find. A course west of town usually has its
clubhouse near the eastern boundary, for example. While most golfers will find the course, why make it inconvenient?
For cost
reasons, the clubhouse should be located close to existing utilities like
power, water and sewer. The
economics of golf don’t allow for money to be spent on buried, unseen necessities
that don’t impact or improve the quality of the course.
If a course is within multiple governmental jurisdictions, the clubhouse should be located in the most advantageous area for taxes, utility rates, and municipal services. For municipally owned courses, the clubhouse ideally retains alcohol and sales taxes within the city’s jurisdiction to maximize revenue to the city.
Administration
Most golf courses prefer visual control of Holes 1, 9, 10, 18 and cart staging
areas. If there is an “off
season” when staffing is minimized to a single person, visual control of
the first tee is necessary. A
starter at the first tee is required during peak times, with another person
in the pro shop, servicing customers.
A clubhouse near the finishing holes facilitates club drop off and
returning carts, etc.
Food
and Beverage Service
Good views, including those to the 9th or 18th greens
to watch other golfers finish, encourages golfers to stay for food and beverages
after the round. Arranging circulation from the 9th and 18th
greens with easy access to the clubhouse and restrooms is convenient and
studies show that food and beverage sales increase with each “opportunity
to buy.” With emergence of the food and beverage carts, and where course
restrooms are provided, this is not as critical.
Privacy
The clubhouse location should avoid proximity to existing or proposed homes,
as its operation is not compatible with single family housing. High-density
housing (such as club condos) is favorably placed near the clubhouse. In
general, the clubhouse and parking area should be a “stand alone” facility,
located within the boundaries of the golf course envelope.
Placing
the clubhouse too near a church or school is often frowned upon, not only
because of the alcohol sales, but also because of potential “defections”
to the much more attractive facility next door!
Course Orientation
A
clubhouse located near “12 noon” is generally preferred.
It sets up holes in a north/south direction. As the clubhouse moves
clockwise around the site, it becomes progressively less desirable. An eastern
or southern site is acceptable. A western site is undesirable, starting
opening holes to the east – and directly into the sun.
Closing holes will run west, also finishing into the sun.
Playing into the sun is sometimes unavoidable, but it is particularly
bad to open or close a round with bad sun orientation as it creates and
leaves a bad impression, and may slow down play.
Usually,
one or two sites fit those criteria, and quick test routings see which one
has the most overall potential to fit (in most cases!) returning nines,
the practice areas, approach drives and parking lots in a nice package.
Then, the process of finding the best natural golf holes begins.
At
the Quarry Course, our decision was quick, but not painless.
The selected site was on the outside curve of the main highway, with
utilities in place, and a killer view of the Embarrass Mine Lake. It was
a bit on the small side, but the main operation was to remain at the hotel
and clubhouse for the first course.
Its location on the highway minimized costs, and was convenient to
both sides of the road – and we knew the road would split the course into
two nines. It allowed good sun orientation as well.
Our
first hint of a problem came when the soils engineer recommended the clubhouse
be built at the bottom of the lake, reasoning, he said, that it would get
there in a few years anyway! We
had picked an old spoil pile for a location, which did not provide stable
support for a foundation. No
problem, we said, and quickly relocated it slightly west, but still on the
lake bank for that killer view. Then
the consultants recommended it be set back because of the possibility of
the steep lake bank slumping. The
view is still there, but not as good as it could be if located right on
the edge. A similar fate befell our first hole, which might have been the
most terrifying opener in golf, playing over the lake as shown in the picture
below, if it could be built.
So,
we began our search for the next best 18 holes on the property, and that
will be the subject of our next installment.