Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Kali's Hole of the Week

Well, I have taken some time off in the past few weeks, but Branden Finally got on me to get the next posting up so take a look on his main site, www.brandenwilburn.com for my new post!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

UPDATES!

Well, it has been awhile since I updated the blog so first I want to apologize for the absence.

First, I just returned from a week in Slovakia and Hungary organizing several projects that are on the drawing boards. It was a busy trip so now I am getting reorganized back at the office in NC. I have also spoken with Kali since she has fallen down on her weekly article posting. She promised that she will have the next installment by the end of the week. She told me that it was due to the fact it was so hard to choose her favorite hole at the moment…there were so many good ones!

As for projects, we have several things going, and in all different directions, which is good.

Anna Volgy – Hungary
We have made some minor changes due to permitting authority’s requests. Only two holes had significant changes, but mostly just length. We have altered the location of the practice facilities and the clubhouse as well.

We walked the course to review the changes, and I must say it is looking like we have it pretty well defined. BUT, it is a long, tough course. We have a lot of elevation change, so carts will be needed for 90% of the players. Maybe 95%…

Nandin – Slovakia
After some set backs with permitting, we are back up and running. Things are looking good and we will be jumping back into final construction documents within the next 4-6 weeks.

New Project – Slovakia
While I was in Slovakia I visited with a client on the site of a potential new project. We analyzed the site to verify the potential development and to highlight any issues that may arise. This was a great location with some spectacular views. If things progress in the next few months, I will have some beautiful pictures to show you!

For now, that is all I have time for. I will post the revisions to Anna Volgy next week and I will make sure Kali gets on her Hole of the Week article and post it by the end of the week.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Interview in the Charlotte Observer

Well, yesterday was an exciting day as I opened the paper and saw one ugly mug that resembeled me looking up at….me. And then I realized, it was me!

A few weeks ago I was contacted to do a brief interview for the Moneywise section of the Charlotte Observer here in North Carolina. We talked for quite a bit about why I was in NC, what the business was like, and about the travel required to make this adventure a success. The talking was easy, the picture taking was not so. After about a thousand photos by Laura Mueller, I think she finally realized she was not going to make me look presentable to the public and just took the best she could get from me. She did a great job with what she had to work with though! Below is a link to the full article.

To read the full article, click here (http://www.charlotte.com/business/story/242306.html).

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Updates

I will be updating the blog - www.brandenwilburn.com with several new project updates and a more indepth look at John's original article over the next few days. Come check it out and post your thoughts!

Well, It has been a crazy few weeks! I am just now getting back into the groove at the office. Projects have been all over the place, a few new things have come up and a few things have slowed down. I will post some project updates later tonight and tomorrow, but I want to post an interesting piece from my business partner, John Ribes.

John has some ideas about how golf course and landscape design intertwine. He has put together this small bit of “discussion” article from a longer article that he had published in Golf Course Management several years ago (you will see from the first paragraph!). I will try to get links to the full article posted later tonight so you can see where he was going with it.
I am interested what others believe of this topic. I have been involved in many discussions with architects, players, and developers regarding the need for the “forgotten element”.


GOLF COURSE LANDSCAPE

‘The Forgotten Element’

A Cost Effective Landscape ProgramFor Golf Course Landscape

“The development of a long range landscape program consistent with the reputation, imagery, and environment of a golf course is vital to the preservation and management of an established course”

John Ribes, FASLA Golf Design Studio llc - Naples, Florida Office


‘A Golf Course Has Two Landscapes.’

The first is the existing site and all of its natural and man-created features. The second is the man applied landscape planting which is often not planned, and may not be related to the golf course design. Because this landscape planting is secondary in priority, it often grows arbitrarily, becomes an overwhelming maintenance task and ultimately a detriment to the course.


It is the applied landscape planting on existing courses that we direct our services. It is the landscape planting, inappropriately selected and placed, and often allowed to grow beyond control, that impacts the golf course playability and its’ management. This landscape can be easily managed and adjusted to work with the natural and man-created features of the golf environment. A successful implementation of this service will reduce the maintenance cost of the course, reinforce the intended golf course design, compliment the environment and preserve the course, itself.


‘Our process serves as an important tool for the golf course management team.’

It provides a way to integrate the two landscapes with the golf course design. The result is a long range plan for protecting and preserving the integrity of the course. The following are considerations and issues which are addressed in the process.

Enhance and accentuate the golf course playability.

Reinforce the golf course design.

Develop and maintain consistency in the landscape of the golf course.

Respect and restore, where feasible, the original golf course architectural design characteristics.

Respond to existing conditions and environmental concerns.

Retain and utilize the beauty of the existing vegetation.

Retain maintenance as a top criteria in all design decisions.

Commitment to the design element of scale appropriate for a golf course.

Outline three distinct levels (zones) of planting. (priority, supplemental, and beautification)

Define, secure and protect the golf environment from peripheral impacts and influences.

Provide potentials for reduction in turf grass maintenance.

Create and objective functional and indigenous planting palette by utilizing a matrix rating system.

Establish peak landscape cycles relating to landscape dynamics and maturity.

Develop a long range budgetary program incorporating efficient cost effective criteria.

Provide continuity through greens’ committee evolutions.

Aid programming and interaction with various golf course planning committees.

Give a set of guidelines which will provide a clear direction and understanding of the landscape aspects of the golf course management.


‘A Golf Course Is a Valuable Asset.’

The existing site, all of its natural and man-created features and the applied landscape planting is an integral part of the make up of a golf course. It is critical to the reputation, imagery and management of the golf venue. To maintain and sustain a desired reputation over time, the golf course must address a multitude of changes and influences through technological advancements.


‘The applied landscape has been the forgotten element,’

Often left to grow arbitrarily. In assessing established courses one can easily identify the forgotten landscape as an element that detrimentally impacts playability and management of the course. The landscape architectural service of a master landscape program offers a professional solution which will assist in the restoration, preservation, and management of the course. A good landscape program will protect the asset and enhance the quality of golf both in playability and visually over the life of the course.Often left to grow arbitrarily. In assessing established courses one can easily identify the forgotten landscape as an element that detrimentally impacts playability and management of the course. The landscape architectural service of a master landscape program offers a professional solution which will assist in the restoration, preservation, and management of the course. A good landscape program will protect the asset and enhance the quality of golf both in playability and visually over the life of the course.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Kali’s Hole of the Week - #10 from OKKO Golf

These past few weeks Branden has been focusing his attention on Okko Golf, located in Velky Slavkov, Slovakia, about 4 hours from the capitol, Bratislava. The design team has been developing the initial designs of each hole and is slowly tweaking each hole. There are several holes I would like to highlight, but #10 is one of my favorites so I will start with that one.

THE HOLE: #10
Par 4

Distances
Direct from Back tees 321 meters - 351 yards
Front 244 meters - 267 yards
Middle 284 meters - 311 yards
Back 314 meters - 343 yards
Championship 334 meters - 365 yards

(Image coming soon)

This is a short Par 4 slightly up and then downhill sloping from left to right with large gathering bunkers surrounding the fairway. A golfer on this hole has the potential of driving the green, but would require a carry of the right side bunkers at over 255 meters to make it to the landing area nearest the green. This landing area is lower and sloped to the green, however the green would be slightly raised to add contouring to the green edges. There is a pot bunker to the right side of the green approximately 5 meters with green edge slopes running to it. The left and rear green edges are sloped to long rough / wild areas. These features all add up to a required precision shot off the tee for an eagle attempt, but it is doable.

The easier route to the green would be to play to the left of the green, directly down the fairway. This landing area would have a slight left to right slope but is very large so this would only come into play if the ball landed on the far right edge of the fairway, which more than likely would roll to the bunkers. A great tee shot would play 250 meters with a slight fade and catch the slope to the middle of the fairway between the two bunker groupings. The golfer must be careful not to give it there all and hit a direct line drive off the tee of more than 270 meters or they may roll into the bunkers to the left of the green. The approach into the green from this area would look scary with the bunkers to the left of the green, however, it would only be a 70 meter pitch to the center of the green.

(Image coming soon)


A very large green with over 900 sq meter of putting surface would allow for ample contouring. Daily pin positions would be front, middle, and back of the green, championship pin positions would be back left edge and right front edge, both positions would bring bunkers into play. This is a fun short hole and allows for multiple angles of play. It also allows for aggressive attacking into the green for those needing a low score going into the back nine. At the same time, the hole can be set-up for easy play with challenging features at the green where all golfers should be challenged.


(Image coming soon)

(Image coming soon)



Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Upcoming!

I have fallen a bit behind these past two weeks so I hope to have several new items posted today and tomorrow on the main site, www.BrandenWilburn.com . Check it out and feel free to make comments.

Weekly Update

Things have slowed down a bit this past week, mostly due to shutting the office for the Memorial Day Weekend. It has been awhile since we have had a vacation so D and I went to Indiana to see family and the INDY 500. Even though it rained and caused a 3 hour delay, the race was exciting. After the finish, we toured the garage area, and even got to meet John Andretti.

That is the official update for the week! I will be posting several articles and Kali’s Hole of the Week later on today.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

From the Kali's Hole of the Week section of www.BrandenWilburn.com

My choice for the inaugural post of Kali’s Hole of the Week is from a project Branden is working on in Bratislava, Slovakia called Nandin Dvor Golf & Resort Community. This project is scheduled to begin construction later this year and will be the closest golf resort to the capitol, Bratislava.

THE HOLE: #6 - Par 3
Front 90 meters - 98 yards
Middle 130 meters - 142 yards
Back 155 meters - 170 yards
Championship 175 meters - 191 yards





Par 3 with slightly raised green and raised tees to add more depth to bunkers and fairways due to the high existing water table on the site.

I love par 3’s. It shows the best and the worst in golf and golf design. A golf course architect can work for hours, days, and sometimes even weeks to incorporate strategy and aesthetics into a par 3, but in reality, it takes 30-40 seconds to deconstruct the entire hole by a golfer.

Many times a golf course architect over thinks a design, this is most evident on Par 3’s. While strategy and design intent is necessary, and affects all golfers, most golfers have one and only one goal in mind, reach the green. While the low handicapper EXPECTS to be near the pin with a birdie attempt, a mid handicapper WANTS to be near the pin with a POSSIBLE birdie attempt, and a high handicapper HOPES to reach the green and TRY for an elusive par.


For these reasons, I like the design approach used for Hole #6. Branden wanted to equalize the playing field on this Par 3, but did not water it down and make it easy for the higher handicappers which would then make it bland for the lower handicappers. The primary focus of the hole was to grab the attention of the golfer. Make them stop, look at the hole and wonder what to do. Because a Par 3 sometimes becomes a routine of checking the distance, briefly looking at the hole, and then swing away, Branden wanted to stop the golfer on the tee with the aesthetics of the hole. Make them wonder, and quite frankly, scare them a bit off the tee.

The central bunker is large and the edges are flared up so that more sand will be seen. Nearest to the green, the edge is flared up the most, and is even a bit higher then the putting surface. This hides the front center of the green, which slopes to the middle of the green (no reason to penalize the golfer for hitting a great shot over the bow!). The green is a large clover leaf shape with the rear lobes sloping to the middle of the green and the front lobes running back to the fairway. The large central bunker obviously comes into play off the tee shot, but only for short or bad shots, no slope will run the ball into it. The only bunker that has slopes running into it is the front left bunker which actually can prevent balls from rolling into the pond. Because of the high water table on the site, many of the greens have to be built up therefore causing more slope on the left edge to the pond. This could be penal to golfers just missing the green to the left.

To allow for exaggerated contouring on the green, a larger green will be developed. At current, the concept calls for a 950sqm (10,225sqft) green.

The tee placement is in direct correlation with the golfers hitting off of each tee. The lower handicappers have to hit directly over the central bunker, full carry into a semi-blind front edge. Mid level and then high handicapper tees will be positioned to the left, each seeing more and more of the green. These positions will also direct the higher handicappers’ shots farther from the pond.

Mounding and landscaping will be located on the right side of the hole and the pond will be on the left side, these features will also help focus the player to the hole, but I really don’t think that will be much of a problem with a 850sqm (9150sqft) bunker in the middle of the fairway to hit over!

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Weekly Update

Well, Things have slowed down for a few days, but the end of this week will be hectic again. On Thursday we are heading back to the states.

The plan was to be in Slovakia for a month to get things setup for our newest project, Okko Golf, in the Tatra Mountain Range. The China trip definitely put a kink in that plan, but I think we still accomplished 75% of what we needed to do, which is about 50% more than I expected! I am sure I will be back soon as we are really moving on this project. We hope to have the architects selected soon for the clubhouse and the golf bungalows, the engineers are moving forward with the roadways, the routing is finalized (officially for the third time), I am adjusting the individual hole details, and we are finalizing the lake locations and shapes (as final as we can at this point). The engineers take over the lakes and various other parts in the next couple weeks. We hope to have a majority of the documentation for permits finished by mid-June.

On other news, we have received interest from a new development in southern China, so maybe another trip will be coming up soon. We are also awaiting word on the two proposals that we submitted when I was in Shanghai. We hope to hear from one soon, and the other not until mid-end of May. I will defiantly post the updates!

Kali has posted her inaugural Kali’s Hole of the Week on the main blog site www.brandenwilburn.com . Check it out; it is about Hole #6 from the Nandin Dvor Golf & Resort Community project in Bratislava, Slovakia. She is already on to the next hole, Hole #10 from our newest project Okko Golf. Be patient, the writings and descriptions will get better as she gets a hang of this typing thing!

The other projects have slowed down a bit, mostly because we are awaiting authority approvals.

I am heading back to the main office in Naples on the 6th of May. After several months traveling and working up in North Carolina, I need to get back down there for a few days. It will be nice to meet up with my business partners for a few days to discuss projects and schedules before I head back out. After my meetings in Naples, Daniela, Kali and I are going to take a small vacation. No golf, but lots of relaxation and good food!

Remember to check out the main blog site at www.golfdesignstudio.com

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Quick Update

Just wanted all to know that I have placed photos and made further updates to the main blog site www.brandenwilburn.com Take a look when you get a chance!

Saturday, April 21, 2007

This Week - Update

This week has been a very hectic, disorganized week. Much like most weeks, but for some reason it seemed more this week. For this reason, I never had the time to finish organizing my blogs. So, I figured I would share with you what I have been working on this week.

I was in China until late Tuesday night. This trip proved to be successful in the fact that we made lots of new contacts, worked on a bit of redesign, presented for a new project near Shanghai, and have been asked to prepare proposals for two new projects, one in southern China, and one near Beijing.

The trip was good, but it put me behind on several projects. This month I am in Slovakia setting up a new project that demands attention. We are currently in the initial Permit Phase and finalizing reports and designs. We have moved on to consult on the housing and the clubhouse designs with the client and will soon be putting the entire package together for the overall Master Plan.

We are also making revisions to permit plans on a project located 10 miles from the Slovak capitol, Bratislava. This will be the closest championship level golf resort to the capitol. We have had issues with housing areas, but have now established the final site locatations and will be finishing infrastructure and roadway documents within the next 6-8 weeks.

Next week will be a crazy one as we try to wrap up several tasks and get ready to head back to the states for a little while. I will be meeting with building architects, three clients, and several local engineers to finalize drawings and reports. It is always fun working on these projects overseas because of the language, newness of such projects, and the education process that it takes to get a project going.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Upcoming Posts about Projects

I figured I would let you in on the projects that I will be posting about soon. Since I am traveling quite a bit these next few days I should have some down time in the hotel and on the plane to catch up a bit on the postings.

Nandin Dvor Golf Resort - 18 Hole golf course resort, conference center, housing, botique hotel. Biggest challenge, the 10-15 Hectare of lakes we are building on the site.

Anna Volgy Golf Club - 18 Hole Championship Golf Course, Clubhouse, Vineyards, Wine Chatues, Small hotel, golf academy. The site has an average of 30 meters of eleveation change!

Ronava Golf Community - 18 Hole golf course, housing edition, community center. This will be the first course in Slovakia dedicated to training and educating future golfers.

Trebostovo Resort - Too big to explain here!

Okko Golf - 18 Hole golf course, golf bungalows, apartments, housing, entertainment complex, casino, hotel(s), conference center. This project just keeps growing, and it is located in the most beautiful locationin Slovakia.

Oxmoor Country Club - One hole redesign, maybe more in the near future?

There are a couple of projects I may post about that we finished already just to show everyone some of our work. I will see what I have still on the computer.

Oxmoor Country Club

Oxmoor Country Club holds a dear place in my heart. When I lived in Kentucky and first started my golf course construction and consultation business I had plenty of work. Too much work at first, and I made some stupid decisions because of being overworked. It was during this time I stepped back and returned to course maintenance to get refocused on why I enjoy golf course design, construction and management…it has always been that love of the game, the smell of the grass, watching dirt being shaped and slowly turn from brown to green. To this day, watching sprinklers turn on in the early dew morning gives my chills. I remembered all this while I worked at Oxmoor as a crew leader, and landscape design consultant. I only stayed on for a short time, but that time really allowed me to get refocused.

While at the course I did several design proposals for the Superintendent, David Sullivan. There were many issues facing the course; safety, leaking ponds, bunkers needing reshaped, trees needing removal, among other things. I really wanted to implement these changes, but lack of budget and time always won out.

Well, i finally got the chance to look at the course again last year. For now, it is just a one hole redesign. The 15th, a medium length Par 4 with many problems, but that is for the next post.

Ronava Golf Community

The Final Golf Course Master Plan is finished and we are currently working with the developers on the initial permits for the housings addition and the clubhouse & community center.

We will soon be restarting the Environmental Impact Assesment report after a short hiatus due to several issues in the planning. Like all planning, in never goes as planned?!

Ronava Golf Community - Housing Addition

This will be agreat opportunity for us in Slovakia. With all our current projects, we are developing housing additions in or around the golf courses. Since there are no golf communities in Slovakia at the present, this is a new concept for many, including the authorities, who are constantly asking questions about the development. After talking with many developers and potential investors in the housing areas, it is evident that there will be several obsticles to overcome. Authorities for one, but most importantly, the potential homeowners.


The trend in Slovakia (as many countries in this region) is to put a huge wall around you property so no one can see in, but this also means that no one can see in. And, when you are buying a home on a golf course, besides potentil resale, views tend to be one of the most important factors. You can see we have a big conflict. Not only do we want the home owners to enjoy their view onto the course, we don’t want the golfers to feel they are playing in a prison with walls on either side of the hole. This is a big problem with a few of our courses, but not as much with Ronava since we have created the housing addition seperate from the golf course.

In the Ronava development, we are trying to create a more open community though. We have laid out the addition with three Phases. Each Phase has a park and walking trails that will connect to the next Phase and its respective park area. The main entrance into the community will be the single entrance and lead straight to the community center and golf clubhouse. Access roads will lead of this main road and into each Phase. Each Phase will also be connected through back roads that lead to the community center. All roads will be tree lined and have sidewalks. At the entrance to the community center & clubhouse, the road will bridge across a lake and then split to the right and left, with both having access to the community center & clubhouse.

We hope that by creating a park atmosphere within the development, not backing housing up to each other, and creating several small communities within the larger develoment, we can introduce this new style of house development to Slovakia…No Walls!

Okko Golf - Slovakia

On Tuesday I headed up to our newest project in Slovakia, Okko Golf, in Velky Slavkov. The site is near the town of Poprad and at the foot of the Velky Tatry (High Tatras). What a beautiful view to the mountains from the site. (I will insert a photo here once I learn to do that)
My wife Daniela and our Dog, Kali, went along with me on this trip. The purpose of the visit was to walk the routing of the 18 hole course, to finalize locations for golf bungalows, the exact placement for the clubhouse, and review options for a 6-9 hole golf academy.

It was a fantastic day, besides the 30mph wind gust coming down the mountain slopes. That is the prevailing wind, not usually as strong, but it is always there. During the walk around I determined that we needed to shorten a few holes facing the mountains and lengthen a few running away from the mountains. It was pretty evident from the first hole (360 meter Par 4 facing the highest peak in the range, Gerlachovský Peak. It is now about 335-340 meters).
At the end of the day we accomplished everything we set out to do. The clubhouse has been situated, the bungalows are arranged, the course has been minorly altered (mostly to ease it up a bit), and we have 2-3 concepts for the golf academy.

I hope to get some images uploaded soon to share. My next visit to the site is on the 20th of April with building architects.

Off to China

Well, I am off to China this weekend to review two projects in planning near Shanghai. I always enjoy China, but never the trip there.

First I will be reviewing a redesign project. We have been reviewing the current layout and consulting with the operators on minor changes. After extensive discussions and problem solving, I believe they will be making a major renovation.

The biggest problem seems to be the lack of any real shaping or contouring to the course. Also, there are several creeks and ponds on the course and none of them have really been utilized in the design strategy. It is also a very difficult course for the average play. The one thing that struck me the most was that I never really knew where I was on the course. This can be a good thing, but on this course it was due to every hole looking the same.

It was a real shame to see what was going on at the course the first time I visited. They have a great location, the facility is developing quite nicely, but the course would not promote repeat play.

Let’s hop that things go well and we can get the proper changes made to improve this course!

Welcome to the Blog

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to my new blog site. Currently it is a mirror image of my developing site at www.BrandenWilburn.com Over the next several weeks I will be organizing and creating the look and structure of this site so that we may all study, discuss, and learn about golf courses, golf course design, construction, maintenance, and everything else involved in the golf course industry. We will also look more into the philosophies of design, not just golf related, but design in the larger scale. What it means, what are the concepts, the reasons behind it, anything and everything.

Some of the sections within this blog will be:
Notes from the field (my daily journal as I travel around to different projects, site visits, client meetings)
Project Updates (detailed updates of the current status of each of our projects)
Daily News Topic (a brief discussion about a current event related to golf, design, construction)
Articles (a collection of articles written by myself, my staff, and various contractors & friends within the industry)
Links (a collection of my favorite golf & non-golf sites on the web)

There will be more sections as time comes and the development of this blog grows. I hope to hear from many of you as we discuss topics and update you on projects. Please let me know what you like, don’t like, and give your suggestions on ways to improve this site. Also, please visit my golf course & landscape architecture website: GolfDesignStudio.com

Thanks, I look forward to sharing our thoughts on golf.

Branden