In the photos below you will see some additional drainage being done on #4 tee. Why here? Unfortunately when many of the tee boxes were built they used ground swales instead of drain pipe to help with water runoff. Over time these areas have developed a lot of thatch and water just collects there with virtually no runoff at all; making it difficult or essentially impossible to mow or maintain to a good standard. The drains will help get the water out of these areas faster and make for a more acceptable appearance. We use the small pea gravel to fill the ditches in the turf and alongside of the cart path we use a inch and half size washed drain rock. The larger rock along the cart path will be able to catch more run off from the path and get into the drain much quicker and if a cart tire should get into the ditch the larger rock keeps the tire from getting stuck in the ditch itself. We may install some plastic drain grates along this area to help with collecting the water, which will also help with cart tires and the over all look.
In the picture above, in the distance you can make out the crew starting to work on an area by the ladies tee. This area had a water line leak for some time, which was fixed last summer. This did solve some of the wetness in this area, however it also is a low area and the water tends to collect here making it difficult for the ladies to get to their tee with dry feet. The drainage here will help dry up a lot of the sogginess in the turf and make for a lot dryer pathway. When finished here we will proceed to some additional drainage in the fairway/rough on #4 and beyond, stay tuned!
