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8 • The Morrisville and Preston Progress, Wednesday, May 29,1996 Designing golfer Preston resident shapes jungles into fairways, rice paddies into greens By Ron Page The sun was bright and (hrectly oveihead. It was time for lunch. But Preston resident Rick Robbins wasn’t anywhere near a restaurant or diner. He was sitting in a thatched tree bouse, deep in a wilderness in Northern Cbaing Mai, Thailand. His moming had been spent tramping through a thousand acres of a dense fcuest laced by rivers and rice paddies locdring for a place that was to fill a special need. Robbins, you see, has a some what unusu^ job. He’s an interna tional designer of golf courses and resorts. This particular day be was with bis hosts, Asian businessmen who bad invited him halfway around the world to find a site just right fa* such a ^ility. They bad been scouring the countryside since early moming. Rollins was getting hungry and asked one in the group when they were going to eat "Quite soon," the man answered, politely. "Lunch wiU be here shortly." "Now, since we’d been hiking all moming in as dense an area as we were in, I couldn’t imagine having a resavaticm for a restaurant" he said. "A few minutes later a motor scooter appeared as flxnn nowhere, drove up tdong the dirt path, carry ing a bunch of plastic envelopes filled with rice, vegetables, and as sorted meats. We bad lunch and it was quite good. It’s an experience I won’t forget I recall sitting there and thinking how lucky I was to be doing what I was doing." Robbins heads his own company, Robbins & Associates Intemadon- at which designs, plans, and man ages construction of golf courses and golf resMts in the United States and the Far East Headquartered at 100 Hardaway Court in Cary, with a second office in Bangkok, Tbailand, the firm also has active projects in China, Turkey, Sri Lanka and Mexico. His life today is a far cry from his early years as a Watauga County High School golfer in the mountain area of Boone, N.C. His father, Spencer, and two uncles were de velopers of golf course com munities, projects that harmonized the sport by crafting its lands with residential areas. In the winter, his father was general manager at the Pine Needles golf resort in PinehursL "I can remember playing golf from daybreak to sundown," be said. So when he graduated from N.C. State University in 1973 with a degree in Environmental Design in Landscape Architecture, the transition was "one of the easiest." During his college days, he lived at the Eastside Mobile Home Park in Cary. That was the early 1970s and the area was quite different than today. "High House Road as nothing more than a narrow two- lane roadway, and aH of Cary had a population of 7,600," he said. "Today it is 65,000 and growing to the point where Raleigh could be a suburb of Cary in the not-too- distant future," be laughed. Robbins and his wife Ginger have a daughter, Erin, 14, who is in the eighth grade at West Cary’s Davis Drive Elementary School. The fam ily moved to Preston Trails in July 1993 from Florida. He and his fam ily had spent a year earlier in Hong Kong developing a project in that area. "It was our first time in Asia, in a very dynamic city, and a very exciting experience," he said. "It was a big jump for a North Caro lina boy, from Charlotte to Hong Kong, a big deal to say the least" Today he makes two- and three- week trips to projects in the Asian area several times a year. Robbins’ work experience began with the firm of von Hagge & Dev lin (first in Miami and later in Houston) and continued for 13 years during which he rose to vice president and lead designer. He was instrumental in the design and \ AT WORK ON THE GREENS-Rick Robbins is owner of an inter national company that designs, plans, and manages construction of golf courses and golf resorts in the United States and the Far East. His headquarters are in Cary. master planning of more than 25 major golf course develoixnents in the U.S. and Mexico. Some of the projects he worked on during these years include the Doral Country Club-Silver Course in Miami, the North & West Courses at the Woodlands Country Club in Hous ton, Admiral’s Cove East in Juniper, Fla., and Tucson National Country Club in Tucson. In 1986, Robbins left von Hagge & Devlin to become vice president of planning and golf course devel opment at the Nicklaus/Sierra De velopment Corporation, the real estate and community development division of Golden Bear Interna tional. Jade Nicklaus designs the golf courses for Golden Bear Inter national, and J. Robert Sierra (recognized as one of the U.S.’s leading residential community de- velopCTS) handles all of the devel opment aspects. As vice president with the Nick laus/Sierra group, Robbins was responsible for golf course con struction schedules, golf course budgets, master planning of new developments, and coordination of all golf course activities and site visits. Among the developments that Robbins was affiliated with while in this position are Wynstone Country Club in Chicago, English Turn in New Orleans, and Avila Golf & Country club in Tampa. In 1990, Nicklaus asked Robbins to become a senior design associate in the Golden Bear Hong Kong of fice. It was here that he was responsible fw the design of golf courses in the expansive Far East market. He served as senior design associate on courses in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. After almost two years in Hong Kong, he returned to the U.S. to pursue his ultimate goal - the formation of Robbins & Associates International, a design and manage ment company dedicated to the de velopment of golf courses "par ex cellence." Among the golf facilities he’s designed is Mill Creek Golf Club in Mebane, a semi-private facility named by North Carolina maga- Pine needles a mulch of choice Straw’s neat look, inexpensive price make it popular Drive around Preston and Morris ville areas now that the days are getting wanner and you'll notice freshly mulched trees and flower beds everywhere. The need- les-called "pine straw"-are a sought-after commodity among landscapers who use them for mulch. Also, building contractors spread them at building sites to reduce soil disturbance by equip ment But now a study by the Depart ment of Agriculture suggests owners of vacant land might also find "pine straw" a valuable com modity. In the Mid-South, pine straw yields can reach 150 bales per acre at 30 to 40 pounds per bale, selling for as much as $8 per bale, begin ning when the trees are about eight years old. Robert and Regina Wood operate Triangle Pine Needles on High House Road just west of Davis Drive in Morrisville. They lease land in Harnett County where they rake and bale their own needles. "We have automatic balers, but also bale some by hand," Mrs. Wood explained. Bales cane in a variety of sizes and cost from $3.45 to $5.50 in this area. "They differ in size, ranging from 14- by 18-inches by eitha 25 or 28 to smaller 12-by 14-inch packages," Mrs. Wood explained. "We know one contractor who ac tually brings a bathroom scale with him when buying, because there can be a difference of up to 10 pounds in a bale." James Powers, who owns Beauty Lawn, Inc., a landscaping firm in Morrisville, says pine straw has be- ceme the matoial of choice insofar as mulch is concerned. "It has a fi-esh, crisp appearance, a just- finished look and sells weSl because it gives an immediate gratification to the site," he says. He explains that no one grows pine in this area for its straw and ttiat most of the growth found in vacant lands are freld pines that have reproduced themselves over the years. "SevCTal of the larger base ferms in Harnett have set aside 100 or 200 acres to grow the long-leaf pine which is excellent for mulch ing," said Mrs. Wood. She said pine-tree farms also can be found in Sanford, Rockingham and Moore County. ResearchCTS at the U.S. Depart ment of Agriculture in Beltsville, Md., explain the pine straw must be raked into piles, taking care to avoid sticks and other trash that can lower the value of the product. But it can then be baled with the same machinery used to bale hay. Straw can be harvested anytime during the trees’ shedding season from August to January, but maximum yields generally come during Octo ber and November. Mrs. Wood expimned that while pine straw protects a tree or plant’s root system, it doesn’t collect mois ture as other mulches such as peat moss, shredded or double ground To place a classified, call 362-8356 Paintless Dent Removal • Tree Nut Damage • Parking Lot Dents Hail damage erased from Roofs. Hoods. and Doors Without Paintwork! John Tracy’s PDR 6200 C. Daimler Way, Raleigh 919-859-5225 "The AREA'S only locally owned ond operated P.D.R. Business." DANCING FOR LOOKS AND MORE-Pine needles are comnx>nty used as mulch around shoibs and trees. Not only do they reauce soil Dis turbance but give yards a neat appearance. SLesMS Por’lO • New Adult Students Onfy No Partner Necessary , 233-3869 Waverly Place » Cary zine’s golf panel as the best new course opened in the state in the past year. It beat out the new Arnold Palmer-designed Oak Val ley course in Advance. Mill Creek is part of a 665-acre development in an historic area that straddles the Alamance-Orange county line. Among the latest and more intri cate courses Robbins has perfected is Sukaharta Golf and Country Club in Jakarta, Indonesia. The area experiences wet monsoon sea sons, so the course was designed to be separated from home sites by a continuons lagoon system. The course is entirely contained within the lagoon which allows for water drainoff from the course in the wet season, as well as water storage for the dry periods of the year. The fill ranoved to carve the lagoons was used to shape the land contours on the greens and fairways. The difference in tradidoos and bdiefs in the Far East were in evi- doice to Robbins one day at Kuala Lumpur where he was involved at a new golf course and resat. The day’s events had been hampered by a continuing rainy spell. A Hin^ group was quite adamant about changing the weather pattern through a ceremony in which a goat was to be sacrificed by cutting off its head. Robbins watched them sacrifice the goat on the side of a nearby hill. "Within no more than five minutes the rain came down so hard and heavy as to almost wash away the whole course. You literally couldn’t see the course," he said. "I told those next to me it might be time they change religions." Jerry Miller hardwood, ground cypress or ground palm trees, nor does it sta bilize soil, or provide any soil addi tives. But for locAcs, it can’t be beat. The Department of Agriculmre cited field tests fi:om 1990-1995, in which pine straw yields fiom 16- year-old loblolly pines averaged 480 pounds per acre in August, slightiy more in September and Oc tober, and a maximum of 1,603 pounds po" acre in November. ART GALLERY, LTD. Opentng July Quality Custom Framing • The Jerry Miller Collection Fine Art Prints and Originals • Over 20 Year Experience Maynard Crossing Shopping Center (Comer of N.W. Maynard Rd. & High House Rd.) Come Browse Our Gallery! b/ aittp sawings Campaign The Pippin Motors Pledge: “Give us the chance to help you buy your next cur your way." 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Morrisville and Preston Progress (Morrisville, N.C.)
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May 29, 1996, edition 1
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