Yesterday was a fantastic Monday. Our team had planned to spray greens and finish a herbicide application in the fescue but the wind prevented that from happening. The wind and drying weather did allow for a lot of mowing and other work. We mowed all of the fairways and got a dry cut on the greens. After examining mowers this morning, I can say that the dry cut helped and we are finally starting to see a decent cut on greens following aeration. Our equipment manager, John Anderson, has sharpened the reels on the greens mowers constantly to battle the dulling affect that the topdressing sand has on the mowers.
Our staff spent a long time on the range but the main project that was accomplished was a drainage project in #13 fairway. The swale in the left part of the fairway about 75 yards from the green has been very wet this winter. There are natural springs around this fairway as well as old drainage that has surfaced in this swale. The need for drainage is obvious on certain fairways and the dry weather has allowed us to start fixing the problems. In my mind, we have four habitual offenders that prevent cart traffic due to wet conditions. In order of worst to best, #3, #13, #12, #4. #3 has a myriad of issues including shade, natural springs and poor drainage design. We have installed many, many feet of drainage in this fairway and along the cart path but a major drainage project will have to happen to fix every problem. So we decided to start tackling the fairways that I knew we could fix. Over the next few weeks, you should see drainage projects on #12 and #4 as well as small areas like behind #9 green. These projects will encourage turf health and playability. Closed Mondays allow us to complete vital projects that would not be possible during play. This project will be wrapping up this morning and today's weather allows us to spray greens and fescue. The fairways are really coming to life and we are excited to announce that today will be the first day of 90 degrees on the fairways. I will be writing another blog post today about other issues but please be mindful of cart traffic, direction stakes, and on/off posts while driving in the fairways.
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| Edgar is trenching in the laterals off the main line. The main line carries the water to an existing catch basin. The area to the right has laterals on 10 foot centers while the left will have 5 foot centers based on how wet each area stays. |
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| Our staff cleans out every trench and removes the soil. The soil will be replaced with drainage gravel and sand. The team is careful to remove sod and lay down plywood to keep the fairway as clean as possible. |
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| The scope of this project is extensive but this area will definitely be dry. |
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| Remember this small wet spot in #13 fairway? This area is where an old drain line has surfaced and water is finding its way here. Water is constantly running in this area due to natural springs. We tied the old drain line into our new system. |
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| After pipe and grave are installed, the lines are sand capped to encourage drainage. These lines will be tamped and resodded. |
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| This is a good picture of the entire project. This drainage project is installed in a herring bone design to catch water running through the swale and into this catch basin. The drainage installed during the renovation is extensive and very inclusive. We are adding to it and improving areas as issues arise. |
