2nd Drainage

We have been busy installing drainage into a couple of areas over the last couple weeks. The two main areas have been the right of the 2nd green and the left of the 3rd. I blogged about the works done on the 3rd but thought I would let you know what's been getting done since.

As some of may have noticed over the last couple of years the area to the right of the 2nd green has slowly become a pond feature that we don't want. So we decided that this had to dealt with as we were losing grass coverage. After digging the old drainage to see if we could fix it, we made the decision to install all new pipe work as the old one had to many breaks in it. These were mainly caused by irrigation being ploughed through it a few years ago breaking the pipe into sections.

The main out let for this is in the left of the green and this had a major break meaning that water had been going slowly through the stone ( but not the pipe) until it finally silted up and the pond started to appear. If you look at the picture below you will see the volume of water that came down the trench, once we had cleared the break. We then trenched all the way into the 'pond/wet area' to the right of the green. Next we removed all the waste, added a gravel base, added the pipe work , topped this up with gravel and then added the 12 inches of root zone.



This means we have now replaced the pipe work from the right to the left (including in front if the green). We have also added to gulley pots on the right to help remove surface water quicker.

We will now turf and seed the areas and work on getting them up to standard for the start of the golfing season.

Drainage on the 3rd

Finally the sun has come out and the course has not had any rain for 3 days. The forecast says there is no rain this week, I can't remember the last time that was said!

As you know the drainage around the 2nd was started last week and when our digger arrives we will be able to complete the task.

Today we started the drainage on the left of the 3rd green. You may have also noticed during the new bunker development we dug a small soak away at the rear of the green. We trenched from the new drainage at the bunker round the left hand side trying to pick up the low spots and connect in to the soak away.
Once we had done this we then carried on past the rear of the green and towards the
4th tee path. It was here we found a broken clay pipe that could have been causing a lot of the problems.

Next we will stone and pipe the drain and connect it up with the bunker drainage before top soiling and re-turfing the area.

14th Bunker

The 14th bunker has now been finished following the snow. After the revetted turfs were placed around the shelf the top soil was brought back in and shaped. Following this we then turfed the bunker and the site of the old green side bunker. On the site of the old bunker we have shaped the surround up to take water (and maybe the odd stray golf ball!!!) away from the right of the green. Once the turf has rooted, the sand will be added to the bunker and watered in to consolidate the it ready for play. We think this will improve the hole and hopefully it won't need doing for many years...