Many people wonder what golf course maintenance does during
the winter time. Here is one of the winter projects we are currently working on
for Black Heath #18. The post below shows the first of two sub-drainage
sections that will be completed this winter.
Black Heath #18 has been plagued with pot holes of thin
turf and mud for sometime. These pot holes are the result of poor drainage
on this fairway. As rainwater flows from the higher, right side of
the fairway to the lower, left side, the water is trapped in a
lower area, preventing the water from running off into the lake. The
results of this action are pictured above. The area remains wet and soggy,
and over time the Bermuda turf begins to suffer and thin due to the
submerged environment. As the turf thins our mowing equipment create
ruts in the thin, muddy turf making the problem even worse. To solve this
problem we, the maintenance staff, designed a sub-drainage system to install
on #18 fairway to channel the rain water into the lake.
The maintenance staff began the project Wednesday, January
13th and completed the first section on Thursday, January 14th. The first section
comprised of 500 ft. of trenching as shown in the picture above. The trenching
machine is followed by one staff member checking the depth of the
trench, then followed by a few others cleaning the spoils left by the
machine.
This picture shows the day after trenching was complete. The
next step was to add pea gravel to the trench then add 4 inch drain tile to the
hole and then add more pea gravel on top of the 4 inch pipe. Then we added 6
inches of sand to fill in the remaining trench line and level it with the
ground. This design will allow water to infiltrate into the drain tile and
provide a soil structure to grow a health stand of bermudagrass.
As we were working on this project the trench began to
fill with water, despite the lack of rain fall. The picture above shows by the
end of the second day water draining from the newly created drainage system.
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