We are well into our winter projects as you may already be aware on certain parts of the golf course. Our teaching tee extension is just about ready for sand with some minor sub-grade work to promote adequate fall into our drain lines. This will make a great addition for the golf pros adding more square footage.
Our fairway top dressing program has begun starting 18 and going backwards. There is a new addition to the fleet, our new top dresser that can carry more sand, has a lighter foot print and is just all around versatile for our needs.
One other project that we started last week was preparing the third green for a drainage inspection and re contouring the approach to facilitate surface run off. The main line is currently being exposed so that we can examine the fall and see if there are any other issues that can contribute to the front holding water. And what do you know as soon as we hit the gravel a strong rotten egg smell erupted. This is definitely a sign that water is not leaving the green and building up toxic gases that turn the profile into an anaerobic zone (no oxygen) rather than aerobic zone (oxygenated). As we hit the gravel layer we noticed that there is a very small layer of sand that has crusted over the gravel creating a sealed barrier for the water to not enter and drain properly. At this time i do not know why this has happened but we are on the phone currently to see what may have caused this and hopefully its not the entire front of the green. One positive note is it seems that the crust is in sections. We do know that at the back of the green the gravel looks fine.
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| clean gravel |
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| See how my finger can sweep into the gravel here, this is good. |
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| Another spot, I am trying to sweep into the gravel zone and I cannot without using a lot of force. This is the crust I am talking about. |
Our next objective is to add in another lateral pipe into the right side of the green. This area constantly holds water and there is no drainage currently installed. The lateral lines are just spaced to far apart considering the amount of water that comes down the green congregates at the front. In the photo below you see the measuring wheel standing up, on the far left side is an existing pipe and on the far right side is an existing pipe. We will add another right in the middle (next to the measuring wheel) where we have the standing water circled in the back of the photo with dotted lines. Stay tuned for more updates.
