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

White 9 Project and Drainage Work

Just as location is the cornerstone to any real estate acquisition, drainage is the foundation to successful turfgrass and golf course management. A well-drained golf course lends itself to improved playability through firmer conditions and healthier turfgrass plants. One of the main points of emphasis on the comprehensive golf course renovation project designed by Ron Forse is to improve the overall drainage at NSCC. While the White 9 project will not be completed in its entirety this fall, portions of the the project have been undertaken, much of it in-house, by the NSCC golf course maintenance staff. Earlier this fall internal drainage was installed to all greens on the White 9, contours were added to the 2nd and 5th greens, four new senior tees were constructed, and the amoebic shaped tees of the White 9 were squared off to match the tees on the Red 9. Following the completion of the drainage work, the NSCC grounds staff will remove forty trees from the White 9. It is important to remember that while we will not be completing all the required drainage and tree removal this fall, all of the work completed this fall will tie into the future improvements to the white 9.

The NSCC golf course maintenance staff has prioritized the areas for drainage based upon golf course knowledge as it applies to turfgrass maintenance and course playability. The drainage will be installed only in areas which will remain undisturbed by future, "large pipe" drainage or fill areas. For example, no drainage work will be completed on 7W near the pond as this area will be filled following subsequent work, nor will drainage be installed before the approach to the green on 2W as a large pipe will be installed later.