Winter Projects are both an exciting and nervous time for the Greenstaff at the golf course. Exciting as Course developments & improvements are something to be proud of and the prospect of 'getting stuck' into the work means long but rewarding days & nervous as at more than ever do we check our weather forecast to see what is forecast and what mother nature will throw at us.
This Winter we are undertaking the drainage of 6 green's across the golf course. Greens 4,11, 12, 13, 14 & 18 will have pipe drainage & rootzone added.
The main reason for the drainage work is to help get water through the soil profile. Being on heavy clay soil after any significant rain events the soil profile quickly fills up with water and becomes saturated. This renders the greens surface unplayable & also has limiting effects on the root development and health of the grass plant.
After a week's delay the greens drainage works got underway this Monday with the contractor's arriving on site. The contractor's bring with them specialised machinery & expertise, coupled with the greenstaff previous drainage experience & enthusiasm which will lead to these work's being completed and the Green's back in play as soon as possible.
We started the drainage works on the 12th green. The first task is to cut the turf, which is then lifted & numbered so it can go back in the same position. Kind of like a big turf jigsaw. All the greens will have drains installed at 3 metre spacings across the surface with the greens surface surveyed to find the natural fall of the land and the drains installed to fit this profile.
The works this week has seen us trench & install pipe, stone & rootzone on the 12th & trenching work with pipe & stone installed the 14th.
We've also managed to get some turf back down on the 12th & water has been running out of the drains allready. That was a truly great sight to see the drains working & drawing water through the profile.
This has been a really good effort by the lads after the rain earlier in the week meant we couldn't get going until Wednesday afternoon. We worked until dark, can't beat trenching in the dark, to try and make up some of the time we lost.
The weather forecast looks fair for next week so more of the same will be required for us to complete the works.
Again thanks for your understanding whilst we carry out these work's. Drier surfaces will follow.....
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