The Evolution of a Par-5: Rustic Canyon's 13th Hole
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Finish Work

The Deere 'sand pro' was used to smooth out clumps of the clayish soil in the green floor. The floor 18 inches below the surface was then rolled with a large rolling machine to prepare for the installation of drainage tiles. The green floor was surveyed and cut and a sump dug well away from the green. Once the thirteenth had been rough shaped and the plant material transplanted, irrigation was installed by Charlie Amos and crew. As with the design philosophy, Charlie is not married to the irrigation plans, but instead, works in the field with his longtime crew, thus, they are able to adapt to design adjustments quite easily.

Once installed, Jim returned to finish the bunkers. The rough shaped pits were soaked down. Using a 'knuckle bucket,' Jim compacted the floors and shaped the edges. A crew of four cleaned the bottoms and installed drainage sumps. Jim then used blue spray paint to define bunker edges. Around the top and side portions of the bunkers, the crew hand dug small shelves around the immediate edges so that thin layers of fescue sod could be stacked. The idea was to create a 'lip,' giving the bunkers the look of an older course. From there, fescue sod was laid on top of the shelves, and around the entire bunker.

Meanwhile the all-sand greens mix was delivered and installed by a private contractor also handling the tee finish work (tees on this hole were rough shaped by Jim). Stakes were placed six feet apart throughout the green shell to mark contours. The contractor's job was to match up the floor contours with the top level of the green. Initially the greens mix was watered in extensively before this work took place. Once prepared, Gil, Jim or Geoff would return to ensure the contours matched the floor, though room to change was allowed because of the all-sand 'California' style greens (USGA greens do not allow for as much flexibility). In some cases, the contractor matched the top level to the floor perfectly, in other cases they weren't close.

For #13, Gil used a 'sand pro' to 'float' the green contours the way he had wanted them. In this case, it was merely to make sure they matched what was below. Geoff spent time on the sand pro using a front blade that is manually operated, to try to better match the surrounding ground to the green surface, focusing on the lower front edges since the ground game was a focus of the design. Because this was the one green complex surrounded by more clay than the sandy soil found on the rest of the property, getting an indiscernible tie-in between approach and green was more difficult than elsewhere on the course.

Once the contours were set, the green was watered again and a chicken wire fence installed after animals were leaving tracks and digging during the nights. Geoff insisted that a mountain lion had walked over the green one night, no one believed him, though mountain lions are prevalent in the area and they have been known to appear on the site. The green and approach sat for some time while the irrigation system was transferred from a temporary setup to a fully operational version. The cart path also was installed during the summer months.

Prior to seeding, the green and an approach area starting thirty yards short of the green were floated again, hand raked by Gil, Geoff and Jim, and the green was seeded in late September of 2001 with three varieties of bent grass. For the fairway, the existing soil was tilled and seeded with rye in October 2001. By mid-November the fairway was fully established and the first golf was officially played on April 25, 2002.

November 18, 2001, the fairway has grown in, tees are established (except for the forward tee).

March, 2002.

March, 2002.

March, 2002.

March 2002, view from behind the 13th green.

May 2002 - ready for play!

The 13th tee before and...