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Tuesday,
March 22, 2011
A few site
visits and several days on site have brought us to a point
where 4 of the greens have bent grass seed germinating and
the last green is close to being ready for seed and sod as
well.
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Pictured to the left
is hole 2 green as it is being prepared for seed and
sod. |
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To the left is hole
3 green. Much of the hole has been sodded and the
bent grass on the greens has germinated. |
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Pictured to the left
is hole 16 green. The irrigation spray somewhat
conceals the bunker in back of the green. |
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Here is hole 17
green to the left. This is probably the most popular
green with the membership. |
Friday,
February 4, 2011
Las Misiones
Club Campestre was originally designed by Robert von Hagge
and was constructed from 1988 to 1991 when it opened. During
that time I was the lead architect on the project. This year
I am returning to help them recover from damage caused by
Hurricane Alex. Several greens were destroyed; some fairways
suffered erosion damage. We have enlisted the services of
James Beke of Global Earthmovers and Shapers, Inc. (http://www.earthmoversandshapers.com/), to organize the work and
perform the rough and fine shaping of all features. Kelly
visited the site recently to work with James on the detail
shaping of three of the greens.
Before
discussing the current project, the following pictures are
from the early days of the club.
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Pictured to the left
standing in front the hole 2 green are Alejandra
Aviles, Fernando Aviles (the first and only green
superintendent at LMCC), Robert von Hagge, and
Lauren Moran. |
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Pictured to the left are
Robert von Hagge, Renato Veronesi, Ignacio Santos,
and Kelly Blake Moran at the 1992 von Hagge Cup held
at Las Misiones. |
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Ignacio
Santos, Renato Veronesi, and Robert von Hagge
standing in front of the clubhouse. |
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Posing
with Robert is the first club manager at Las
Misiones, Paulino Canseco. |
| The renovation work
involves five greens, and work in some fairways. The
following is a hole by hole accounting of the design
and construction for each of the three greens where
work has been implemented the past few weeks.
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| HOLE
2 |
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Pictured to the left is hole 2 green probably taken
in the early 1990's. The hole is a straight away par
5 featuring a carry over the "dry" creek bed that
became a frightening conduit of flood waters caused
by the heavy rains that accompanied Hurricane Alex
as it came on land. |
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Pictured to the left is the green as it appeared in
December 2010. The grass on the putting surface was
stripped by the flood waters, but the bermuda grass
surrounds remained mostly intact. Other damages not
depicted in the photograph are eroded banks, washed
out bridges, and bunkers exposed after the sand was
washed out of them. |
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This is
a colored sketch of the new design. The sketch has
been overlaid on an actual photograph. The green
will be raised approximately one meter.
It
will shift to the left in order to fit at its new
height between the steep hillside behind and the
arroyo in front. Variety and strategy are paramount
in the design of the green. The player is required
to consider carefully where to place their second
shot in order to have the best angle from which to
approach the pin. Each portion of the green requires
different skills and considerations. This is the
highest order of strategic design.
The shape of the green resembles a boomerang. One
wing of the green sweeps to the left where it is
fronted by the arroyo, and toward the back
sandwiched by bunkers. The approach shot into here
is best made from the right side of the fairway
along the long axis of this part of the green.
The right wing of the green presents a different
challenge. It is definitely best to approach this
portion of the green from the left fairway. An
approach from this angle allows the player plenty of
depth, and avoids being blocked by the large cypress
trees on the right side of the green. A shot of
precise distance must be played to avoid the bunker
in back of the green, and one must guard against a
careless shot which could be reprimanded by the
right greenside bunker. An approach from the right
side of the fairway to the right portion of the
green is most difficult because the green is very
narrow from this angle, and the cypress trees will
require a very high approach. The middle portion of the green allows more
latitude to the left and right but requires a very
precise approach shot in order to avoid the arroyo
in front. |
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The
photograph to the left shows progress being made
with the construction and shaping of the green.
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| HOLE
3 |
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Pictured to the left
is the green as it looked in the early 1990's. It is
a par 3 playing about 50 to 60 feet down hill. There
was a single bunker in the back and the green sat
right on the creek. |
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Here is the green
after it was damaged by flood waters. As with hole 2
the grass on the green was stripped away, bridges
were damaged, and banks were eroded. |
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The
new green, while about in the same position as the
old green, presents to the player a more strategic
challenge. Although the hole plays approximately 25
yards longer, there is still the same amount of safe
area to place the tee shot as before because of the
receptive fairway area in front of the green.
However, a single bunker is positioned off the left
side of the green requiring an accurate tee shot
between it and the arroyo on the opposite side.
Additional construction details include raising the
green approximately 2 meters, and additional shaping
behind the green to hide the residential road in the
background.
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Pictured left is the
green under construction at the end of January 2011.
There are some great pin areas along side the bunker
and in the back, right next to the bank that
descends steeply to the creek. James Beke did a
magnificent job working with Kelly in contouring the
putting surface. He also was very adept at creating
the von Hagge look with additional mounding around
the green. |
| HOLE
17 |
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Pictured to the left
is hole 17 green after it was damaged from the
flooding. The front portion of the green was eroded
by the floodwaters. Although the sketch below does
not show the back, right bunker that exists in the
original green (see picture to the left) it was
determined to keep that bunker after James did the
rough grading of the green site. |
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The strategic
concepts for the new green pictured to the left are
influenced by raising the green one meter which
creates some interesting elevation changes that can
be incorporated into the design strategy. The raised
green creates a bank that is placed diagonally to
the line of play. A weak shot along the direct line
to the center or left side of the green could be
deflected and left in the lower fairway area below
the green. An average player is best served by
playing to the upper fairway on the right side and
rolling their ball onto the green. The ground ball
is helped onto the green by the pronounced slopes
clothed in short grass. A good player who wants to
take a direct line at a pin in the center or left
side of the green must be precise with distance to
avoid the steep banks in front of the green. During
shaping of the green and surrounds it was determined
that the steep banks with fairway below it would
cause a more difficult recovery shot as compared to
the sand bunker that was depicted in the sketch.
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James Beke is
starting to give the green its final shape under
Kelly's direction. You can see the diagonal slope
starting in the fairway out front and to the right,
and forming the left, front of the green. There are
some nice separations between the various pin areas
on the green. Slopes and sharp rises will require
the player to place their shot near the pin if they
want to take only one putt to finish. |
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