Little Linksters!

I was visiting with Matt and his new superintendent at Swanson's Golf Center. The Little Linksters were getting a lesson and having a core training session. It looked both like a lot of fun and challenging. It would have been impossible to do this at the old facility.

Each area or piece of equipment is a separate station for a golf/fitness exercise.

Next time I'll get a picture of them all in action...

Can your facility teach the game like this?

Update:
This wasn't little linksters but the Junor Golf Academy - a combination of golf and fitness.
For the little linksters they mow one of the target greens down tight and have them play on the range as if it were a par 3 - part of our initial concept for the range.

Houston Chronicle Names Swanson's Best Practice Facility

BEST PRACTICE FACILITY
Swanson Golf Center
Matt Swanson’s Golf Center is the one-stop practice facility, with a driving range, short-game practice area, teaching pros and club fitters on hand to take your game to the next level.
It was the clear choice, mainly because it improves and expands so well on the basic concept of a driving range.

The results
1. Swanson Golf Center.....19.3 percent of vote

Insiders say:
Swanson received an even stronger endorsement.

The best golf in Houston and beyond
Golfers are used to making a lot of decisions. Perhaps that’s why so many of them volunteered for the somewhat daunting task of participating in a survey that included choices galore.
Golf Guide 2010 reveals the pulse of the more than 1,000 area golfers who filled out the survey at chron.com.

To compare the thoughts of the average player and those inside the golf industry, we also made a separate version of the survey available to more than 300 club pros, superintendents and others who make a living at golf, a group we’ve dubbed the insiders.
Here is the link to the full article

Te echaré de menos a Lan.

Lan passed away last night. He was a part of the crew that built Swanson's. We worked hard in the summer Houston heat, and had many ice cold beers together celebrating. The project would not have been the same without Lan.

One small highlight, of an otherwise difficult day, would be giving Lan a hero's cheer after showing a feat of strength. The old Bat Cage used to have 85' tall steel poles with heavy guide wires that were anchored deeply to the ground. The remnants of the anchors would pop up during construction, and had to be removed, unless we wanted to ruin a mower or someones wrist hitting a golf shot. The expression Lan weighed 110 pounds soaking wet, had more meaning while working in this summer's heat, because it was both true and measurable.

We found an immovable old anchor just above the ground. I tried to pull it out, and it wouldn't budge. Someone went to get a shovel and pick while Lan quietly walked over to the protruding piece of steel. He bent over tried to move it a few times, I tried to stop him, but he continued. He worked it a little, then with a firm pull the anchor came out like a fish hook from a Marlin, an Old Man and the Sea sized marlin.

I don't know how he did it. Every time we found an anchor afterwards, there were many, Lan came to the rescue. And every time he pulled an anchor free, he was exalted with a cheer after he put his arms up flexing his two fully loaded guns.

Muchas gracias.
Buen trabajo.
¡Salud!

Why there are so many water features on a golf course?

Answer: Because they are fun to build.

The above flash slideshow from Swanson's Golf Center is a creek that we built this summer.
First is an image of the old entrance with standard plant beds followed by the sketched water feature after clearing.

Last is the image of the finished creek and waterfall.

The objective was to let every visitor know that they were entering some place different and could enjoy and relax for their stay.

The waterfall used 70 tons of rock, most of which were placed by hands - mine included.

It was great fun.

Especially since it wasn't an artificial one on a golf course - which I do not prefer.

Swanson's Yardage Chart in Flash

Want to know the yardages to the 11 target greens at Swanson's Golf Center?
Find the nearest spot, on the 53,000 square foot tee, to the sprinkler in the above flash file.
Click the arrow hands until your spot is highlighted.
Read the measurements to the target greens.

If you have an i-phone give this link a try:
http://www.mnuzzo.com/flash/swanson.swf

Thank you Charlie & LearningEngineer.com

The Bat Cage Before and After

The Bat Cage was the old range at what is now the Swanson Golf Center.
Every club in your bag would hit a net, unless you were practicing 7 iron stingers.
The satellite dishes did have some sort of appeal - not sure to who.
Here is the short game area that resides over the dead bones of the Bat Cage. The new range is on the other side of the clubhouse.

Houston's best golf school!

Congratulations on the opening Matt.
It sure was a great project.
www.swingpure.com

On the Road Again

I thought this traveling roadshow was very cool. Swanson's recently had their high tech trailer decked out. If you see them on the road get your clubs tuned - or you can visit them at Matt's new center - almost completely open. http://www.swingpure.com

Come win a million dollars at the Swanson grand opening!

We are coming to the end of the project. It has turned out as good as I hoped. Some more very nice pictures to come.

2 Days Early

It has been a busy summer.
We got the driving range opened in time for Matt's soft opening goal. Looking at my original schedule tonight - August 10th was the date I had planned.
We beat it by 2 days.
There is still a bunch to do by the September 12th grand opening. http://www.swansongolfcenter.com/
It looks really good.

The last owner recently commented that he thought it was one of the top ranges in the country.

The previous image was taken in the same location 4 months ago.

Sellinger's

I wanted to post one more picture of the old course.
Unfortunately? I never did play any of the holes.
The one pictured above was 140 yards - all carry - to a tiny green that slopes away - a bit much for a beginner course. The 8th was a 190 yard carry to a tiny green...
Note the netting protecting those on the tee from the surrounding holes.
Lots of cart path for such a short course.
The lakes are gone too - relocated I should say.

Recently someone told me the new range was the coolest practice facility they'd ever seen - 25 years building golf courses under their belt.

Please read Matt's blog here

My first N.L.E.

A NLE is a golf course that is No Longer in Existence.
It wasn't my course that went NLE, but the weirdest & hardest par 3 course I've seen in some time. Probably the hardest beginners course ever built. The holes were so compacted and each tee and green needed to be separated by netting.
Fortunately my good friend Matt Swanson purchased the property and had the great idea of transforming the old course into the finest practice facility in Houston - maybe Texas.
Please read Matt's blog here
and keep up here for the next month - I'll be able to chronicle the whole project rather quickly. The results are great.
Happy Open!

Clearing a "fairway" at Swanson's

Most ranges have a big tee into a bigger hitting area. We're leaving in many tall pines to create fairway corridors - except for the one above. The above video is more of a test of my new youtube channel. The view is from the Swanson Golf School tee - they have a nice tight fairway.

I'll be back down to Wolf Point soon - I wish they had our rain.

Busy on new summer project

It has been a busy month getting construction started as soon as possible for a new project. Matt Swanson has purchased an old par 3 golf course that was barely playable. We are transforming it into a new Golf Center - golf school, driving range and short game practice area.
Only 18 miles from my house, I will be spending a lot of time on site. It will also be the best place to practice when finished - I haven't practiced in years - there are no good alternatives. The final location is fantasticly near a great deal of skilled golfers - it is only 2 miles from Champions - the site of last years summer project.