Nice Try!

I got a nice call today from a gentleman who was traveling to the area of the golf course. He had a bet with his friends that there was a course - they didn't believe him - and he was determined to win his bet, and try and find a great place for them to play. Turns out he won his bet - but won't be getting to play.

If he ever did make it into the clubhouse he'd better watch out for our new friend... see above. He does help keep out the uninvited guests. He is over 12' long.

Black Widow Feast for a Happy Halloween

It was another crazy weather year at Wolf Point. During construction the county saw more rain then in its previous 100 year recorded history. This summer the drought broke all records for least amount of rainfall. Thankfully the rain has come back this fall.

The Black Widow pictured above seemed to be doing ok. There were lots of cracks in the native areas for her to hide and catch some eats.

A visitor and a regular

We didn't have time to pose for a picture on the course - we were running out of daylight, but there is always time to hunt down an Armadillo.  It was a great afternoon on the course and my guests had a blast:

"It is a spectacular golf course, fun to play and very memorable."

Mulligan

There is a new member of the crew.... meet Mulligan.

Newest caddie at the course

I haven't shown an animal picture in a while.

Golfweek's Superintendent's Best Friend Calendar

I thought we were going to be in this years calendar - I think we were close. Unfortunately you'll have to only see the above picture here. Maybe next year.

I really like site visits

An adventure to some place new is always a great trip - as a job requirement it is one of the most enjoyable. I prefer a site plan or topographic map so I can visit with a preliminary routing sketch. If the land dictates something different - I can ignore the routing. Some elements turn out better than anticipated and some not as good. And I also look to see how well my ideas would work. I have heard a good number of stories of scares happening to architects on preliminary site visits - so I am a little cautious - but it is hardly uncharted territories. I have gotten pretty good at avoiding spiders....

I never know what I will find.

What are these?

After recouping from the show - I had to buckle down and get out a small proposal. As it has been a while since I featured an animal shot - can anyone guess what these are? I didn't get close to them to take the picture for a reason.

What does a slug have to do with golf course construction?

How did I communicate complex ideas with our crew? I could draw a very, very detailed plans - which would have been impossible to replicate in the field. I could have flown everyone over to St. Andrews to check out the greens and fairways of The Old Course - because there is nothing like that within 500 miles of Houston.

One of my earlier attempts: one day I said out loud, create some irregular shapes in the 10th fairway, like a bunch of mating slugs. I think they did understand, but the jarring image sure created further discussions about my choice of words rather than the task at hand.

The best way to communicate with the crew is in a clear and practical manner that is easily understood by the crew. I can imagine how many "artists" would struggle to get the vision in their head out of someone else's paint brush. Setting up guidelines and some general rules and giving freedom to the talented ones to create was what worked best for us. Don was instrumental in this capacity - and often as my interpreter. At Wolf Point the guidelines were to make sure everything was practically maintainable -- the slug part was in response to having land-forms be longer - as opposed to the moundy blunt types more typical on golf courses across the US.

I will never forget the feeling of seeing one of our first fairways finished - the 4th - and having such a sense of accomplishment and joy that we had come so far and we had created exactly what we wanted in terms of our overall shaping.

We did have a lot of fun thinking about mating slugs on site - it was a good thing I didn't tell everyone that slugs are hermaphrodites.

Who's There

Even though the animal pictures were the least favorite in the recent poll... can you see who is in the above picture?
Here he is zoomed in from the picture above. This was taken along the entrance road to the course this summer during the heavy, heavy rains.

Mothra

I thought this moth looked more like Snuffleupagus from the back. All the pictures featured on this blog have been taken with a Canon SD500 Elph. This one was with the macro setting.

Armadillo

The first armadillo I tracked on site was in the woods at the beginning of the project -- he had the advantage. This is the first one I saw on open ground -- my advantage. He was trotting along the 11th fairway. I learned that I am quite a bit faster than one -- my legs are longer, but he really didn't get the idea of a trap, or he knew I was just bluffing as he ran right by me. I also did learn that I'm not as fast as one when I'm trying to take a picture....

The Ugly Duckling

Anyone know what kind of bird this is? It was very friendly. Seeing animals is a fun benefit of visiting new places.



Did this turtle have a hard night... I’ve never seen one with red eyes before.

Sentinel

We finally got some help fending off the storms – see above. We have gotten quite a bit of the grass on the ground this week.

I also changed the header image at the top. It gives a me good feel for what the property is like – at least the peaceful parts – the ride does get a little rougher in spots. :)

Monday will be the weekly hole feature where I describe a unique or interesting aspect of each hole, and shortly followed by Don – part 2.
Cheers

The Birds

I’ve taken an awful lot of pictures on the site over the last two years – my camera is always in my pocket – a 7 meg Cannon Elph with a 2 gig chip. Everything about the project, the design and our process has been most interesting and why I am enjoying sharing so many elements of the project. I also like showing many of the other types of pictures on Friday’s and the weekend.

This image was taken this past December. Apparently each night a large mass of birds would migrate towards the setting sun. It is hard to describe how many birds were over my head – they continued way past the image frame. I look forward to some of those chilly nights again.

Spidey

This weekend I’m going to show a couple non-golf images. I have taken thousands of pictures from all the days I’ve spent on site – many not of the course. This picture was taken very early on from when I first started getting acquainted with the site and all its nooks and crannies. Fortunately no spider bites just a few bee stings.
I hope you like the pics. Cheers.

Allie

This little fellow was caught not too far from our golf course – I’ll just say close enough that I’ll think hard before going for a swim. He is over 13 feet and looks hungry. It is planned to go in the clubhouse when finished.

Toiling Turtle

I found this guy heading towards the lake for a bath. He must have been resting in one of our wetter basins for quite some time.

Demonio & Diablo

Demonio, pictured swimming, is one half of the team that threatens all who face Infierno Bunker. Diablo is still waiting.