I GO TO RIO - Interview with Aussie shaper Ben Hillard

When Gil Hanse was awarded the contract to design the 2016 Olympic Golf Course in Brazil he had a problem. He had never been to Australia, but had sold to the International Golf Federation the concept of a Sandbelt-style layout on their selected site. Set near the ocean in the Baja area of Rio de Janeiro, the property features some gently rolling sand dunes and vegetation that is reminiscent, in many ways, to what you find in Melbourne.

For Hanse and his design associates, their first priority after winning the Olympic job was to visit the Sandbelt and study some of our most celebrated layouts. During a whistle-stop tour of Australia in early 2013, the designers spent time at a number of leading golf clubs here, looking at various features and solidifying the ideals that would underpin their Olympic design.

The next step for Hanse was to put together a construction team capable of physically building the golf course. Included was one young Aussie shaper, Ben Hillard from Melbourne, who is now 30 and with a couple of major international projects under his belt.

A graduate of the University of Melbourne, with a degree in Landscape Architecture, Hillard is part of the new wave of golf course shapers and designers, who are prepared to travel to foreign fields and perform a variety of roles in order to get the experience necessary to work their way into the industry. Hillard started out at the Ivanhoe public golf course in Melbourne, working part-time on the maintenance team. He then head overseas to Scotland and the home of golf, where he was a greenskeeper for the St Andrews Links Trust. Following a stint back in Australia at Ratho Farm in Bothwell, Tasmania, he then spent two years at Cabot Links in Nova Scotia, Canada, where he transitioned from greenkeeping to his passion, course construction.

In a short space of time Ben Hillard has established himself as a shaper in demand, and been fortunate to work on a couple of iconic projects in both Brazil and Canada, and with respected designers like Hanse and Bill Coore.

At home in Australia between jobs in South America and the USA, Hillard sat down recently with Australian Golf Digest to discuss his career to date, and hopes for the future.

 

AGD - Describe your background in golf, how you got into the game and ended up shaping golf courses?

BH - My first taste of golf was following my father around the golf course with a cut down iron when I was six or seven years old. But I didn’t truly fall in love with the game until I was 21. I joined Rosanna Golf Club, played a ton of golf and was fortunate enough to play in their Pennant team for three years. It was during this time that my passion for Golf Architecture developed.

I finished university in 2010 when the golf industry was nearly at a stand still. I wanted to develop a worldwide appreciation for golf and, heeding the advice of several golf architects, I applied for greenkeeping jobs in the UK. After two years of maintaining courses in Australia, Scotland and Canada (and seeing around 200 golf courses) I got my chance to work on Cabot Cliffs, a course designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. A dream start!

After a stint at home to catch up on some Australian sunshine, Gil Hanse offered me a job on his team for the Rio 2016 Olympic Golf Course, where I’ve spent the last 14 months. Whilst in Rio de Janiero, I also got the opportunity to work at the Gavea Golf & Country Club.

 

AGD - Hanse’s concept was sold to the International Golf Federation on the premise it would resemble the Sandbelt layouts. Describe how Hanse has stayed true to that design philosophy - how do you think it reflects the Sandbelt and how does it differ?

BH - The most obvious similarities to the Sandbelt would be the bunker styling and that one of the par threes was inspired by the 16^th on Royal Melbourne’s West Course!

But there are other elements like the short grass surrounds, the shaping of the greens, use of long and short holes bordering on different pars and the importance of course management, which is paramount on the Sandbelt.

But it is also its own golf course and the site dictates the flow and character of the course. One of the biggest differences with the Sandbelt would be that there are five holes that are bordered by lakes.

 

AGD - To what degree did Hanse call upon your knowledge base to shape the Aussie elements of the Olympic course, seeing as you grew up in Melbourne?

BH - Everyone on the Olympic project (Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner, Neil Cameron, Kyle Franz, Ben Warren and myself) has spent time on the Sandbelt and developed a feel for how they could shape Sandbelt type features.

One advantage of being from Melbourne is that I could refresh my inspiration from the Sandbelt before I started in Rio and then again during my trips home.

 

AGD - In regards your own input on the Olympic course, are there elements or features you can look at and say, ‘that was my idea, or my work or my suggestion that Gil ran with?’

BH - I certainly hope after a years work there is something out there that I worked on!
But in terms of ideas and suggestions I enjoyed being part of the conversations in the decision making process. The whole team would take part in on site discussions. Someone would throw out an idea to be discussed and the final concept would be decided on by all of us and approved by Gil.

The shaping of the course really was a team effort. For example the process for building a bunker would be:

• rough shaped by a dozer
• detail shaped with an excavator
• finer shaped with a mini excavator
• have the lips hand revetted (stacked sod wall)
• have the face and base shaped by excavator
• then finished by hand

It’s quite a lengthy process and sometimes each member of our team was involved in one or more of the steps.

 

AGD - Describe your day-to-day duties shaping the Olympic course for those golfers who don’t quite know what a shaper is?

BH - For most people ‘shaping’ refers to the use of varying sizes of machinery, as well as hand tools, to build and detail the architectural elements of a golf course.  However depending on the stage of the project there are any number of jobs you can find yourself doing, including building and removing haul roads, hand raking areas directly before grassing or transplanting trees.

A typical week for us in Rio was Monday – Saturday and about 60 hours a week. I spent most of my time working on the bunkers, native grass areas and preparing green surrounds for grassing. But towards the end of a project it is all hands on deck as much as possible to make sure everything is getting done and each part of the process (shaping, irrigation and planting) is happening.

 

AGD - The course was reported to be behind schedule. How did this affect your role as a shaper and were you under pressure?

BH - Any major delays in the project were before my involvement. And honestly it was perfect for me because I had work commitments in Canada and any delays meant that I could be involved in both the Olympic project and at Cabot Cliffs.

 

AGD - Describe the Olympic course in general. A course on a nature reserve in Barra da Tijuca, on sand dunes close to the ocean, with inspiration from the Sandbelt sounds breathtaking?

BH - You’ve set the scene pretty well there Darius! The course doesn’t have much elevation change but it’s almost always moving which means you won’t find many flat lies.

Unfortunately you can’t see the ocean and there are only hints of the Marrapedi Lagoon. But the mountains, Olympic village and surrounding apartment towers make for a very unique and spectacular city golf setting.

 

AGD - In your mind, what makes a good quality shaper?

BH - Passion!!!!

Shaping a golf course is a huge job where acres of land are worked over months or even years. Being passionate about your work and the game of golf is key to getting the most out of the site and delivering the best possible golf experience.

 

AGD - What sort of freedoms do Gil Hanse and Bill Coore afford their shaping crews?

BH - Both Gil and Bill give their teams a lot of freedom and are receptive to their inputs. They encourage their shapers to try different things but will also reel their teams back in if required. They both have very talented teams of shapers. Whilst I have learnt a lot from both Gil and Bill, I have also learnt a lot from their shapers.

 

AGD - Is the ultimate goal to be a lead shaper, or a guy that can design and build?

BH - Right now I love the path I’m on. The learning curve is really steep and the experiences that come with working internationally are amazing. I want to keep shaping and take on more responsibility on projects and hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to do some design work in the not too distant future.

 

AGD - You’ve worked mostly on good land, are you eager to test and stretch yourself on more difficult sites?

BH - I think everyone in the industry would love to work on good land all the time!

Having said that there are some amazing golf courses that have been built on average land. Working on difficult sites can force you to come up with some creative solutions and some really unique golf. I think it would be a good challenge and a great experience.

 

AGD - What sorts of opportunities do you see for Australian shapers in the years ahead?

BH - I doubt we are going to see a boom in the business in the near future. But I believe there will be more opportunities over the next few years than the last few.

As long as you're willing to travel to where the action is, there are plenty of opportunities out there for shapers. And hopefully there will be some exciting projects coming up in Australia.

 

AGD - Does it frustrate that you had/have to head overseas to work on quality projects?

BH - No, because the last five years have given me a worldwide understanding of golf. The projects and teams I’ve worked with have been the best I could hope for, and I've had the opportunity to work with awesome people.

 

AGD - Finally, how do you see the local Australian industry at the moment? What can we learn from how you’ve seen things done overseas?

 

BH - It seems the local industry is starting to pick up. It’s great to see more courses undergoing renovation or restoration work.

I wouldn’t presume to critique the guys in the industry that are much more experienced than myself. But if I had to comment on the different approaches between work done in Australia and abroad, the teams I have worked with have really focused on the last ten percent of the project. When the end goal of the project is permanence, really nailing the finishing touches is crucial.

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