Project Recap

The main goal of this project was to remove any standing water in fairways that appeared after rains or after the spring melt. We identified six fairways that needed attention. Holes included in this discussion were 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, & 14. After much planning and discussions, it was agreed to take on the project ourselves. After acquiring the right equipment, the actual project began October 22 with some preliminary digging. This was necessary to identify existing tiles that could be used in the project. All the materials were then ordered and actual trenching began November 4. We started by the tree on Hole 14 and added laterals and mainlines all the way up to the green. We ended up installing 1185' of drain tile. The totals included 20' of 6" pipe, 345' of 4" solid pipe, 140' of 4" slotted pipe, and 680' of 3" slotted pipe. It was great to see that on Saturday November 16, the course received about .5" of rain and that on Monday, there were no puddles!

From there, we headed over to Hole 6. We had previously installed 350' of slotted and solid 4"pipe from the holding area at the dogleg on the left side and brought the tile back toward the tee. Included was also a short lateral at the beginning of the fairway. We trenched two lines, from the rock area on the left(which will be replaced with a steel grate) to the pond by the green. We ran another line from this area along the left side of the fairway and extended 3 laterals into the rough to dry up this wet area. Totals on this hole were 150' of 4" solid pipe and 835' of 4" slotted pipe.

With the weather closing in, I decided to head over to Hole 4 instead of finishing Hole 7. We had previously trenched in 110' of 4" solid pipe from the pond up to the fairway. I was hoping to finish this area but didn't think we had the time. We were able to tie in some existing tiles on Hole 4 and added 90' of 4"slotted tile in the area in front of the green. On Thursday November 21, we were able to trench in 25' in the 9th fairway to dry up the wet spot in front of the green.

So, the final tally looks like this:
20' of 6" pipe
495' of 4" solid pipe
1200' of 4" slotted pipe
680' of 3" slotted pipe

That is a grand total of 2395' installed in just under 3 weeks. There will be much clean up in the spring and we will complete the project with an additional 340' on Hole 7 and then have some decisions on Hole 2. There are 2 possible scenarios to get the wet area at the beginning of the fairway drained. One way is to dig a deep hole and back fill it with all the rock we uncovered and let the water seep into a porous layer. The other idea is to bring in soil and raise the area to surface drain and perhaps add a foreword tee. These ideas will be discussed with the Golf Commission.. Wok on Hole 7 will begin in spring as soon as able. We have the rental equipment on site so we can get started as weather permits. It should only take a few days to install the tile.

That's a wrap for this year. Hoping to finish as quickly as possible in the spring.