When looking at my renderings, one of the most important pieces of information is the direction of the squiggly arrows that are on the greens plan. I put those there to indicate to the contractor the direction I want the water to run from a certain point. Because gravity works for both water and a rolling golf ball, this is valuable information about which way the break will go. Unlike most of the greens at Echo Valley (and almost every other golf course of that age), the 3rd green does not all drain from the back to the front. Instead, we have a sizable area of the green that drains to the right, into the area labeled “Low”. The reason for this is that we want the putting surface to tie into the collection area between the green and the pond. Now, if the flag is located near the right edge of the green, the lake is more in play on the approach shot. Like the Ridge greens, I have the features off the green having some influence on the putting surface. The low area on the right side flows naturally into the hollow below the green on the right. The mound behind the bunker on the left was used in the same way to create separation between the upper level (1) and medium level (2). You will also see a note on the plan saying “grade to stop flow into bunker”. This was put on the plan to tell the shaper to put a small rise between the back of the bunker and the green to divert storm water from running off the green and over the back edge of the bunker. We want to prevent direct flow into the bunkers from outside to reduce washing the sand down the slopes and having to constantly rake the sand back up the slopes. Installment #4 – soon to follow! Rick Robbins, ASGCA
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