A Picture Worth At Least A Thousand Words

Quite simply, drainage is one of the most critical elements necessary to obtain quality turf conditions on a golf course. The picture above, taken of the 7 White fairway, highlights this point. The portion of fairway displayed in the picture is taken from the dog leg looking back to the tee. As most members can surely attest, this portion of the fairway is historically a wet area as it is a low-lying area that actually sits below the water level of the adjacent pond. Golf course maintenance team members would be quick to point out that this area is also a very difficult area to manage due to the problems associated with excess water.

During the colder months of the year, water regularly accumulates in this area during freeze-thaw cycles which occur throughout our Wisconsin winters. The concern over potential winter damage in this area is common due to ice formation which often times leads to significant turf loss. This area also proves difficult to manage during the summer, as excessive moisture leads to saturated root systems which lack sufficient oxygen and increased disease pressure.

Ultimately this are is addressed in the Golf Course Master Plan as presented by Ron Forse. Upon completion, this fairway area will be raised and significant subsurface drainage will be added. Since the time frame for the implementation of the Master Plan has been extended, the golf course maintenance staff added drainage to this area in the fall of 2010. The golf course maintenance staff utilized only our remaining inventory of supplies to complete as much drainage as possible without overextending our budget.

Following winter, one can easily see the benefits of the drainage to this area. The turf in the areas surrounding the drainage remains in good condition, while the areas of the fairway further from the drainage, the forefront of the picture, have suffered areas of damage due to ice accumulation. The golf course maintenance staff plans to revisit this area in the fall, adding additional drainage in areas where ice accumulated over the winter.

Taking Advantage Of The Warm and Dry Weather

This week's beautiful weather afforded the golf course maintenance staff the opportunity to complete some very important fall projects on schedule. Warmer than normal day temperatures coupled with low winds provided us with perfect conditions to make our preventative snow mold fungicide applications. This application is essential in northern climates which see periods of prolonged snow cover. Multiple products are applied in order to protect the turf from two main pathogens. Each product yields its own mode of action to afford the plant the maximum amount of protection. Since the plants are still actively growing due to the warm weather, the turf is easily able to take in the material and translocate the products throughout the plant. All greens, tees, and fairways are now equipped to defend themselves from winter disease.

The warm weather has also provided the golf course maintenance staff to complete one final drainage project. One of the wettest areas on the golf course is the landing area on 7 White fairway. Topographically this is a difficult area to drain since the the fairway actually sits below the irrigation pond's level. There is also very little elevation change to the east of the fairway. Extensive drainage was added to this area in order to move water off of the fairway and into the native area to the west of the hole. This will both improve turf quality in this area, as well as playability.

4 Blue Fairway Drainage Improvements

As the golf course maintenance staff tends to the tasks associated with preparing the course for winter, our attention once again focuses on improving drainage on the golf course. This year, we will install new drainage on the the 4th fairway of the Blue Nine. The existing drainage in this area no longer functioned properly. Tree roots and other debris had rendered the existing drain line useless. The golf course staff will add drainage through the low point of the fairway near the first fairway bunker and down the left side of the fairway. The water will exist the course to the tree line on the east side of the property. In addition to improving turf quality and playability, the fairway will be passable much more quickly following heavy rain events. The project will be completed by the weekend.