White 9 Drainage Projects

The North Shore Country Club golf course maintenance staff has concluded the White 9 drainage projects that were designated for 2009. The completion of these tasks will help improve course playability and conditioning.

At times, golfers may relate drainage projects to course accessibility, more specifically cart availability. While this is a definite advantage to installing drainage on a golf course, most turf managers look beyond cart availability to the benefits that a well-drained golf course offers the grass plants themselves. Dry conditions are preferred when managing a golf course. Simply stated, it's easier to add water through automated irrigation and hand watering, than removing excessive amounts of water following heavy rainfalls. Overly wet turf fosters an environment in which harmful turfgrass diseases can flourish. Physiological problems such as lack of oxygen in the soil, scalding, and mower scalping are common in the turf. Soil compaction also rises to the forefront, especially at a course like North Shore with its heavy clay soils. The longstanding impact that these problems bring on are a much greater problem to the course than the short term affect of not having carts.

As stated earlier, the drainage projects completed this fall focus on areas that will not be disturbed by future White 9 work. Areas where larger subsurface drainage pipes will be added, as well as low areas that will be filled have not received drainage this year. These areas will be finished in conjunction with the completion of the White 9 renovation project.

While smaller drain lines were installed in other areas, the drainage project focused primarily on the following areas:

• 1 White fairway near the pond
• 2 White fairway in the landing area
• 3 White fairway
• 5 White fairway in the landing area