x
Skip to main content
Golf Logo
InsideGolf Join Now  / Log In
Dirt Diaries: What it’s like embedding with a golf-course design crew (hint: intimidating)
SHARE
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share by Email
Golf Logo
  • News
    • Latest
      • News
      • Features
      • Shows
      • PGA Tour Schedule
    • Series
      • Tour Confidential
      • Monday Finish
      • Hot Mic
      • Rogers Report
    • Shows
      • The Scoop
      • Subpar
      • Seen & Heard
  • Instruction
    • Game Improvement
      • Driving
      • Approach Shots
      • Bunker Shots
      • Short Game
      • Putting
      • Rules
      • Fitness
    • Series
      • Top 100 Teachers
      • Rules Guy
      • The Etiquetteist
    • Shows
      • Warming Up
      • Play Smart
      • Short Game Chef
      • Pros Teaching Joes
  • Gear
    • Clubs
      • Drivers
      • Irons
      • Hybrids
      • Fairway Woods
      • Wedges
      • Putters
    • Other Gear
      • Balls
      • Shoes
      • Apparel
      • Golf Accessories
    • Series
      • ClubTest
      • Winner’s Bag
    • Shows
      • Fully Equipped
  • Travel & Lifestyle
    • Travel
      • Course Finder
      • Courses
      • Resorts
    • Lifestyle
      • Accessories
      • Celebrities
      • Food
      • Style
      • Betting Advice
    • Shows
      • Super Secrets
      • Destination Golf
  • Shop
    • Shop
      • Clubs
      • Shafts
      • Training Aids
      • Balls
      • Bags
      • Technology
      • Apparel
      • Accessories
      • Our Picks
      • Shop All
    • Collections
      • The GOLF Collection
      • The Birdie Juice Collection
      • The Fully Equipped Collection
      • Shop All
  • Newsletters
    • Sign Up for GOLF’s Newsletters
      • Hot Mic
      • Monday Finish
      • Play Smart
      • Our Picks
      • Top Stories
      • Sign Up for All
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Features
    • Shows
    • PGA Tour Schedule
  • Instruction
    • All Instruction
    • Driving
    • Approach Shots
    • Bunker Shots
    • Short Game
    • Putting
    • Rules
    • Fitness
  • Gear
    • All Gear
    • Drivers
    • Irons
    • Hybrids
    • Fairway Woods
    • Wedges
    • Putters
    • Balls
    • Shoes
    • Apparel
    • Golf Accessories
  • Travel & Lifestyle
    • All Travel
    • All Lifestyle
    • Course Finder
    • Courses
    • Resorts
    • Accessories
    • Celebrities
    • Food
    • Style
    • Betting Advice
  • Series
    • Tour Confidential
    • Monday Finish
    • Hot Mic
    • Rogers Report
    • Rules Guy
    • The Etiquetteist
    • ClubTest
    • Winner’s Bag
  • Shows
    • The Scoop
    • Subpar
    • Seen & Heard
    • Warming Up
    • Play Smart
    • Short Game Chef
    • Pros Teaching Joes
    • Fully Equipped
    • Super Secrets
    • Destination Golf
  • Shop
    • Clubs
    • Shafts
    • Training Aids
    • Balls
    • Bags
    • Technology
    • Apparel
    • Accessories
    • The GOLF Collection
    • The Birdie Juice Collection
    • The Fully Equipped Collection
  • Newsletters
    • Hot Mic
    • Monday Finish
    • Play Smart
    • Top Stories
    • Our Picks
    • Sign Up for All
InsideGolf Join Now  / Log In
InsideGolf
Travel

Dirt Diaries: What it’s like embedding with a golf-course design crew (hint: intimidating)

By: Desi Isaacson
February 3, 2021
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share by Email
Overland park aerial view

An overhead look at Overton Park in Tennessee, where construction started last month.

Desi Isaacson

Ed note: GOLF contributor and architecture nut Desi Isaacson is cutting his design teeth as an intern for King-Collins Golf on their redesign of Overton Park, a nine-hole muni in Memphis, Tenn. How are courses actually built? What moves are made behind the scenes? Here, in Dirt Diaries, we’ll pull back the curtain on how design decisions come to life.

***

It’s 8 a.m. on a Wednesday, my third day on the job, and I’m stuck inside a skid steer. Ten minutes pass, then 20, and now we are approaching 30. I’m laughing, a mix of fear and embarrassment. This is not how I imagined starting my first week interning for a prominent golf-course design company.

Turns out the bucket, which hadn’t closed properly, was blocking the door from fully opening. But because it wasn’t shut, it wouldn’t allow me to move the bucket, either. Eventually my boss, Paul, figured out we needed to trick the machine into thinking the door was closed. So he handed me a wrench and told me to touch the door sensor with it, because the metal would activate the door. Boom! I lowered the bucket and escaped.

Man, this project is going to be a wild ride.

You might recognize the name King-Collins from its first celebrated design, Sweetens Cove, on the other side of Tennessee. More projects are in the works, including the one I’m tagging along on here at Overton Park, in Memphis. The municipal course originally opened in 1904 and is in dire need of some updates. The plan is to keep the 9-hole routing the same as it weaves through a park that also has jogging trails, a dog park, a zoo and an art museum. But the holes are uninspired, there’s not a bunker to be found and every green is a small circle tilted slightly from back to front. The goal: add fun and strategic elements to tee shots, approaches and the area around the greens, while still making it feel like the course could have been built in the early 1900s.

overton park rob collins
The design plan of Overton Park in Memphis, Tenn. Courtesy Photo

My first day on site was Jan. 18, and everyone — Rob Collins, Tad King, some shapers and a few others — was ready to go. We huddled near the clubhouse just after 7 a.m. in 35-degree weather. There were some quick introductions, but no walk-through, no group meeting or rally speech. Things were underway almost immediately. I was nervous. I had little idea what to expect and was surrounded by new faces who had no idea I had never worked a job like this before. I had never driven a bulldozer. Never worked a saw. Heck, I’ve never even worked a job that required me to be outside.

A bunch of equipment had just arrived and it needed to be moved near the 3rd and 4th holes. One of the shapers I’m living with, Lucas, yelled, “D, get in that skid steer. I’ll teach ya how to run it!” I didn’t know what a skid steer was, but in a matter of minutes I learned the basics and was following him across the property. Just like that, we were off. I had no misconceptions that this job would be easy. I knew the hours would be long — 7:30 to 5 Monday through Friday and half days on Saturday — but is there really any great way to mentally prepare yourself for a first day like this?

Part of the design crew at Overton Park.
From left, Overton Park site manager, Paul, shaper Lucas, and four interns. The author is second from the right. Courtesy

For my first assignment I joined other newbies in laying silt fencing to prevent water from running off into the pedestrian way and the precious Memphis drinking water. My housemate, Bruce, a fellow 23-year-old but veteran from King-Collins’ Landmand site, started up the trencher, which is essentially a scary machine that digs, well, a trench. Next, we hammered in fence posts one by one for about 1,500 feet. Three of us got on our hands and knees and shoved the dirt back into the trench to cover up the bottom of the silt fence, crawling foot after foot. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more ridiculous.

Walkers and joggers passing by, glancing over at the land, would surely be drawn to the excavator digging a massive hole, another ripping down trees, or a third tearing up turf. They probably didn’t even notice the fencing four of us spent our entire morning installing. I never would have considered it either.

The morning flew by, mostly from the adrenaline of everything finally starting. When we finished lunch, I couldn’t fathom grinding like that for five more hours. My feet hurt, my legs were sore, my arm felt like Jell-O from hammering so many posts. I was envious of the guys sitting in machines, listening to the radio and letting the equipment do all the heavy lifting. But they are the experts, they have been doing this for years. Tomorrow, Lucas said, he’d teach me how to use the excavator.

I listened in as Rob and Trevor, one of the shapers, discussed the redesign of the 3rd hole. It was like they were talking in code. “If we just melt it off of this contour from this high spot to this lower area,” they’d say, making gestures with their hands and pointing about. Trevor asked what I thought. I was lost.

A skid steer at Overton Park.
The author operating the skid steer. courtesy

I spent much of the afternoon putting up more fencing around trees that were going to be saved. There are some beautiful old magnolia trees on the property, and the people of Memphis (rightfully so) are very protective of them. Near the end of the day Paul handed me a screwdriver and told me to take out the metal plates with each hole number. They’d make great souvenirs from the first day on the job, I thought, but don’t worry, I didn’t take any!

The rest of the first week was full of learning experiences. Now I can pick up tree trunks with the skid steer (photo above), use a grease gun on excavators and bulldozers and I’m really, really good at putting up fencing. That’s not to say everything went smoothly at first (like getting locked in that skid steer), but I think I’m getting the hang of this. Each new task with a new machine is nerve-racking. Lucas notices, and he’ll yell, “Ya can’t be scared of the machine!”

But every time I’m so tired and start to think I can’t do it anymore, someone will start talking about how excited they are for The Links at Overton Park to come to life. And I’m just as pumped to be a part of this awesome team making it happen. There’s plenty more to do, and lots more to write about. Until next time!

Staff picks: The best GPS devices

Bushnell Tour V5 Shift Patriot Pack Laser

Bushnell Tour V5 Shift Patriot Pack Laser

$324.99
View Product
Garmin Approach G10

Garmin Approach G10

$129.99
View Product
Garmin Approach S60 Watch

Garmin Approach S60 Watch

$299.98
View Product

Latest In Travel

17 hours ago

Destination New Zealand: Your dream 7-day golf itinerary

4 days ago

Charlotte golf guide: 5 top public spots around the PGA host city

2 weeks ago

Royal Dornoch names designer for ambitious masterplan

2 weeks ago

St. Andrews golf guide: a 5-day dream trip to the Kingdom of Fife

generic profile image

Golf.com

Related Articles

Lifestyle
Peyton Manning is a co-owner at Sweetens Cove.

Why Peyton Manning is making cold calls about this 9-hole golf course

By: Dylan Dethier
Travel
Sweetens Cove in Tennessee.

Does Sweetens Cove live up to the hype? GOLF senior writer Michael Bamberger investigates

By: Michael Bamberger
Travel
Sweetens Cove Golf Club in South Pittsburg, Tenn.

America’s Best Golf Road Trips, Part II: The Appalachian Mountains Trail, from the Homestead to Sweeten’s Cove

By: Josh Sens
Travel
Sweetens cove

The 50 best 9-hole courses in the world, ranked!

By: GOLF Editors
Travel
Sweetens Cove Golf Club in South Pittsburg, Tenn.

Field guide: Sweetens Cove Golf Club is as good as advertised (see for yourself)

By: Christian Hafer
Lifestyle
Poster famous golf courses

These awesome watercolor-style prints of famous golf courses make perfect last-minute gifts

By: Josh Berhow
News
Shinnecock Golf Club Clubhouse

Golf community comes together to raise $100,000 for New York City COVID-19 Relief Fund

By: Tim Reilly
Sign up for GOLF's Newsletters
Get the latest news, the hottest instruction tips, new product releases, golf media insider reports and more delivered directly to your inbox. Choose your favorites now.
Sign Up
Categories
  • News
  • Instruction
  • Gear
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
Services
  • Masthead
  • GOLF Media Kit
  • GOLF Magazine Customer Service
  • TERMS OF SERVICE
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • Opt-out of Ads/Sharing
  • Your Privacy Choices
Social
  • facebook
  • x
  • instagram
  • youtube
Membership
InsideGOLF Logo
More than $140 Value for JUST $39.99

INCLUDES 12 SRIXON Z-STAR XV GOLF BALLS, 1 YR OF GOLF MAGAZINE, $20 FAIRWAY JOCKEY CREDIT - AND MUCH MORE!

LEARN MORE

© 2025 EB Golf Media LLC. An 8AM Golf Affiliated Brand. All Rights Reserved. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy a linked product, GOLF.COM may earn a fee. Pricing may vary.

Go to mobile version