A Course Set in Stone

Masonry Fits Golf Development to a Tee

by Bruce Buckley

The core slabs are in place for the Boot Ranch clubhouse (foreground), while the men’s locker and pro-shop buildings have taken shape. (Photo courtesy of Marsh and Associates Inc.)

Hal Sutton made a lot of history on the PGA Tour during his career, including a 1983 PGA Championship. These days, Sutton is looking to create some history in the Texas Hill Country with his new Boot Ranch development.

The exclusive golf course community near Fredericksburg is centered around a village of newly constructed buildings designed to appear as though they've been onsite for nearly a century. Through extensive use of masonry, the project aims to capture a place of permanence in the hills outside Austin and San Antonio.

Work began on the project in July 2004 and is slated to complete in spring 2007. The cost of the structures, not including the golf course, is $17 million. While all of the structures will be completed in less than three years, the goal of designers and crews is to give each building a unique look.

"We changed the way we lay the stone from one building to the next and changed the grouting from one building to the next," Sutton said. "When it's finished, it will look like this was done over a longer period of time. It will have a timeless feel."

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The job's designer, Marsh and Associates of Denver, was tasked with honoring the heritage of Fredericksburg, which was established by German settlers in the 1800s, while making Boot Ranch distinctive.

"We were asked to replicate the German craftsmanship vernacular of the region, but we set out to do it differently than what is typical in the Texas Hill Country," said Zach Smith, project manager with Marsh and Associates. "This has more of an Old World style."

Masonry is used extensively throughout the development to capture the historic feel. The property features 11 stone-clad buildings, stone pavers, stone stairs, fieldstone walls and stone water features. Although the look honors local style, designers chose to use dark sandstone quarried in Oklahoma rather than the local white limestone seen on many structures in the area.

Colors vary from light to chocolate brown with bits of black and khaki in the mix. Specific color variations were selected for each building to help differentiate them stylistically from one another.

"It doesn't look like anything local, which is more a caliche color," said Curt Lundberg, president of Lundberg Masonry of San Antonio. "It's striking."

The Boot Ranch Village is situated on a hill near Fredericksburg where it overlooks the golf course below. (Photo courtesy Marsh and Associates Inc.)

The main buildings on the property include a 23,460-sq.-ft. clubhouse, 15,170-sq.-ft. men's locker, 5,090-sq.-ft. pro shop, two 5,365-sq.-ft. lodges, 710-sq.-ft. gazebo and 550-sq.-ft. gatehouse.

The men's locker features stone sizes that vary from 6 to 14 in. tall in random lengths, laid in a random ashlar pattern with a flush sack joint. A one-eighth in. aggregate was added to the mortar to achieve a rustic look. Crews installed 9,875 concrete masonry units, 257 tons of stone and 163 yds. of concrete.

While the men's locker features rectangular patterns, stone of various sizes and shapes were laid in a random pattern on the pro shop with a .375-in. slightly raked joint. The pro shop includes 8,071 CMU, 296 tons of stone and 130 yds. of concrete.

The general contractor, Hooker Contracting of San Antonio, instructed crews to approach each building differently.

"After each of these jobs is finished, we have to tell the masons to get the previous project out of their head and think in a new way," said Scott Shaheen, president of Hooker Contracting.

With work on the gatehouse, men's locker and pro shop complete, crews have moved on to the clubhouse. The building will feature 18,638 CMU, 637 tons of stone and 277 yds. of concrete.

The clubhouse is scheduled to complete this summer, at which time work on the lodges is expected to start.

The architect, mason and contractor team worked together to make new construction on each building appear to have been built over a period of decades. (Photo courtesy Marsh and Associates.)

Interiors have proved to be the most challenging aspect of the job for masons. Each building features true stone veneers split as thin as .75 in. The stones are set in the same manner as wall tile. Using mastic and notched trowels, they are adhered to concrete board substrate. Patterns are varied in the interiors with accents such as stones splayed to look like headers.

While not easy to work with, the veneers solve several problems, Shaheen said.

"We were able to not eat up as much floor space as you would with full-sized stone, and we were able to use it without creating any structural problems," he added.

The main buildings also feature extensive fireplace work with one in the pro shop, two in the men's locker and seven in the clubhouse, including a fireplace with four-sided access. Firebrick is laid in a herringbone pattern.

The interior stonework is offset by large western red cedar timber, which crews from Hooker Contracting scored with axes so they appear hand hewn.

With the village situated on a hill, setting up scaffolding and moving materials around the buildings is a logistical obstacle for the team, Lundberg said.

To help tackle the job, Lundberg keeps between six and 25 employees onsite. Block and stone crews work independently while the project is under way. "We feel we can control the quality of the work better by doing it this way," Lundberg said.

Lundberg tried to accommodate the commute of his masons and helpers, many of whom live more than 90 minutes from the site. Crews work nine-hour days, Monday through Thursday and a half-day on Friday. Some are put up in nearby hotels to increase production.

"The scale of this project is not any bigger than what we typically do, but as far as quality, this is head and shoulders above other projects," Lundberg said.