how to solve golf course drainage issues

The best solution, according to Kelly & Ami, is a slit drainage approach consisting of a 3-inch wide trench, 10 to 22 inches deep, with a drain pipe measuring 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter to channel excess water to a larger collector pipe to carry it off-site. Depressional areas.

Full Answer

Can a golf course drainage problem be fixed?

While drainage issues, like most golf course maintenance problems, are rarely solved forever with a one-time fix, there are some generally accepted solutions to the most commonly encountered drainage woes. From the start, superintendents need to correctly identify the cause of their drainage issues.

What is the best type of drainage for a golf course?

every golf course and is the most eco- nomical type of drainage. Adequate surface drainage allows areas with soils of low permeability to perform relatively well during periods of moderate precipi- tation and can reduce the need for costly subsurface drainage.

Should golf course superintendents do drainage projects in-house?

Since greens, and to a lesser extent bunkers, draw the most attention from golfers, John Pollok, Southwest agronomist for Ewing Irrigation, says many superintendents want to do drainage projects involving those areas in-house where they can oversee every detail of the work.

How do I keep my golf course drain tiles from sinking?

West suggests courses install a tracer wire with the drain tile and stake tile outlets. Pollok adds superintendents need to know where those inlets and outlets are located so they can find them and flush them with fresh water and air once a month or so to keep them free-flowing.

How can we solve the problem of drainage?

Listed below are the top five solutions for poor drainage in your home and landscape.Improve Soil Permeability. Soil permeability should be a priority when dealing with drainage problems in your lawn. ... Divert Excess Water. ... Improve Your Yard Topography. ... Yard and French Drains. ... Work on the Nature of Your Landscape's Soil.

How can I improve surface drainage?

Here are some ways to improve your garden's drainage.Pricking, slitting or spiking. ... Grow more plants. ... Build raised beds. ... Improve soil drainage. ... Manage surface water. ... Use bark chippings. ... Install artificial grass. ... Install land drains.

Do golf courses drain well?

Drainage is fundamental to golf course architecture. If a course doesn't drain well, it will rarely play well. So figuring out how to move water off fairways and greens is nearly always at the top of an architect's mind.

How fast do golf courses drain?

According to Ramsay, they are roughly halfway through a 10-year drainage-overhaul process. "Each hole takes between 10 and 14 days," he says, adding cost varies significantly. "At Yale Golf Club, it is between $10,000 and $80,000 per hole, depending on the severity of the issues."

How do I make a rock drainage ditch?

How Do you Make a Gravel Drainage Ditch?Plan your trench to collect flood and stormwater and channel it downhill.Dig a trench 18 inches deep (45 cm) and 36 inches wide (90 cm).Line the trench with landscape fabric.Add a layer of gravel 8 inches deep (20 cm).Fold excess landscape fabric over the top of the gravel.More items...

How do you stop waterlogged grass?

Pricking, slitting or spikingPricking or slitting the surface can improve a waterlogged lawn. ... Hand spiking tools are available for the purpose, but an ordinary garden fork can be used. ... Pricking and slitting are best carried out once the excess water has drained away, especially where machinery is to be used.More items...

Do golf courses use GREY water?

In fact, an increasing number of courses are using effluent water – often referred to as “gray water.” Government regulations and water availability have led to the increased use of gray water at golf facilities, says Brian Vinchesi, design engineer at Irrigation Consulting Inc., Pepperell, Mass.

How do you install herringbone drainage?

Herringbone drainageMark the position of the main trench. ... Mark the position of the side trenches and ensure that they join the main drain at a 45 degree angle to form the herringbone pattern.Space out the side drains at either 3 metre intervals (for clay soil) or at 7.6 metre intervals (for loamy soil);More items...•

How much water does the average golf course use?

90 million gallonsIn California, an average 18-hole golf course sprawls over 110 to 115 acres and conservatively uses almost 90 million gallons of water per year, enough to fill 136 Olympic-size swimming pools, said Mike Huck, a water management consultant who works with golf courses statewide.

How do you dry out a golf course?

Of course, you don't want to be tracking mud and wet grass in the house. Take newspaper (assuming you have newspaper) or some paper to dry it out, roll it up in a ball and put the paper inside the shoes. It will help them dry. As an alternate, consider a shoe tree to put in your golf shoes.

How long do golf courses take to dry after rain?

Most of the time, the system will allow golfers back out on the course when a twenty- to thirty-minute period of time has passed with no lightning strikes. Lightning can travel very far, and it is a very high risk for golfers.

Is it bad to golf the day after it rains?

You can play golf in the rain provided it poses no threat to player safety, and if the course remains playable and not waterlogged. If water begins pooling on the fairways and greens, or if lightning is present, it is recommended to halt play until conditions improve.

How does water move on a golf course?

Water – whether starting its journey as it falls from droplets from a cloud, flowing in mass as a mighty river, or puddling on a golf course – moves as a consequence of gravity. As such, rainwater that finds its way onto a course will follow the natural contours of the land until it is (hopefully) able to drain away. This is why a thorough understanding of a course’s topography is so vital to developing an accurate picture of the way water moves across a course, and considering effective remedial measures against waterlogging.

How does secondary drainage work?

In cases where functional, but inadequately spaced primary drainage systems exist, secondary drainage solutions such as sand-banding or ‘earthquaking’ may prove effective in encouraging surface water that moves across the pitch to find its way more efficiently into the primary drains, thereby increasing the rate of drainage . This can lend a new lease of life to an aging draining system, increasing the rate at which surface water can find its way into the primary drainage system, thereby improving its performance at relatively low cost.

How does water enter a plastic pipe?

Water enters the plastic pipe through its perforations, before being carried away to outfall via the main pipe. As a consequence of the size of these perforations however, plastic pipes can run the risk of blockage through the cumulative build-up of silt particles that enter the drain. Consequently, it is crucial that plastic pipe drains are ...

What is primary drainage?

A primary drainage system consists of a series of ‘lateral’ drains installed across the area in question, connecting to a ‘main’ carrier pipe that channels the water collected by the system to an outfall. So far, so simple.

Is golf turf porous?

Natural sports turf, such as on a golf course, is porous, with tiny pockets of air between the particles of soil, sand and vegetation. These pockets of air are what the water moves through, and consequently they are crucial to land drainage – as we will discover in the ‘Solutions’ section below. Under ideal conditions, gravity’s pull will see ...

Does water travel through soil?

In almost all cases, the answer to poorly draining ground lies in the pockets of sub-surface air we discussed earlier, through which water travels (or – in the case of poorly draining ground – doesn’t!) Water’s movement through soil, sand or gravel is slow, with droplets seeping through the ground through one air pocket after the next.

Is Turfdry a good drainage company?

Turfdry does not stand alone in the industry when it comes to embracing new technology to develop new solutions to sports turf drainage problems: it is unlikely that Hydraway Sportsdrain will be the only ‘miraculous’ solution you will ever hear about from a drainage contractor. Furthermore, experts may differ on what particular solution or combination of solutions is most appropriate or cost-effective for any particular issue.

What is the importance of drainage in golf?

Drainage should be an important consideration at all golf courses and, especially for those situated on impermeable clay soil, a properly designed, correctly installed, accurately recorded, and well maintained drainage system can be the key to a successful golf club.

How deep should a fairway drain be?

Fairway drainage does not generally need to be deep, with 450mm being typical for plastic pipe laterals and 500mm minimum for 100mm carrier drains. The use of quality drainage aggregate above the laterals is vital: clean 6mm, or 4/10mm gravel is ideal and widely available.

Why is bunker drainage important?

Bunker drainage can sometimes suffer because some course designers fail to realise the difficulty of finding suitable outfall points for deep bunkers. The installation of bunker drainage is one area where ‘in-house’ installation can be cost effective compared to using outside contractors though as with all drainage, it is essential that pipes be laid to correct falls.

How far away from drains should trees be planted?

Trees should not be planted within six metres of drains and species with far-spreading fibrous root systems, such as Poplar and Willow, should be avoided altogether. Irrigation pipework and other underground services should not be installed without considering if existing drainage could be damaged as a result.

How many hectares are in an 18 hole golf course?

A typical 18-hole course may cover around fifty hectares and to properly understand actual or potential waterlogging problems it is necessary to appreciate how water moves onto, across, and off the entire course. Knowledge of surface contours is essential and a professional topographical survey will provide this data, and a range of other information to aid general management of the course. All existing watercourses (streams, ditches, ponds, main carrier pipes, etc.) should be plotted to enable an assessment of the existing arterial drainage system.

Do golf courses in the UK have waterlogged greens?

Many UK courses have clay-based greens and tees which can be prone to severe waterlogging. Whilst some, like Wentworth recently, have resorted to a complete greens rebuilding programme, most clubs do not have the necessary finance available. Fortunately, good quality professionally installed greens drainage systems are available for around £6k per green which, whilst not matching the performance of a USGA green, will transform the playability of greens during winter.

Abstract

Between tee and green, areas of a clay loam texture with little fall (less than 3%) are prone to waterlogging at the soil surface during prolonged wet winter months. Drain lines with porous material to the surface do not readily remove surplus water between drains unless they were very closely spaced (.4-1.00mm apart).

Introduction

In 1997 a newly constructed Ian Woosnam golf course was opened in Flimwell, East Sussex, England. The entire site was reshaped, the greens seeded to Providence creeping bentgrass and the fairways and tees seeded with Lex 86 and Lorina dwarf ryegrass in a 50:50 mixture.

Investigations

No underground water was located within 1.5 metres of the surface. Possible options for overcoming the problem were considered. They included random drains to numerous soakpits, ‘fin’ drains (geotextile wrapped polypropylene moulding 200 x 20mm), gravel band slitting (gravel inserted in slits opened without removal of material) and mole ploughing.

Procedure

The entire area was sprayed with Glyphosate and sufficient time was allowed for complete breakdown of the grass cover. The removal of the topsoil was undertaken with a 12 ton 360o excavator with the aid of a 6 ton tipping dumper vehicle. Preferred equipment would have been a D4 with tilting blade which might have been quicker.

Conclusion

In appraising the established reshaped landing area a year after completion during the winter of 1999-2000 there was no doubt that surplus surface water was quickly removed so much so that the ryegrass covered did not suffer.

Why do golf course drainage systems fail?

There are several reasons drainage systems fail. Poor design or improper installation can lead to drainage failures. The effectiveness of existing drains also can be compromised by lack of maintenance or accidental damage during construction projects. Furthermore, tree roots can clog drain lines, rendering them useless. Sometimes existing drainage can be overwhelmed by increases in storm- water flow. Entire drainage systems can be compromised by changes that occur outside the golf course property. These can be the most complex and difficult problems to contend with, especially when the solutions require cooperation from adjacent property owners or government entities. Chal- lenging or not, drainage issues should not be ignored. Conditions will only get worse if drainage issues are not resolved.

What is surface drainage?

As the name implies, surface drainage involves the flow of water over a sur- face, including playing surfaces, cart paths, roadways, and the swales and open ditches that are used to carry water through a golf course. Surface drainage is a critical component of

What type of pipe is used for seepage drainage?

There are many pipe options available for subsurface drainage projects. Most slit and seepage drainpipe is perforated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe. However, solid pipes are used to transport the water collected by a drainage system and also are useful where tree roots are a concern. Gen- erally, drainage pipes are corrugated and either single or double walled. Double-wall HDPE pipe is stronger than single-wall pipe and is becoming more popular for golf course applica- tions. Single-wall corrugated pipe is flexible and easy to work with but is not as strong as double-wall pipe. Single-wall pipes should be buried with a minimum of 20 inches of backfill to prevent crushing. Double-wall corru- gated pipe can be safely buried with a minimum of 12 inches of backfill. Keep in mind that double-wall smooth-interior pipe can discharge water more quickly than pipe with a corrugated interior. For seepage drains, 4-inch perfo- rated pipe is the most common choice. However, 2-inch perforated pipe can still be used to address seepage issues. Smaller pipes typically are used when seepage lines are installed at shallow depths or when minimal disturbance is desired. Larger pipe is utilized to drain larger volumes of water. Most drainage engineers and specialists recommend using geotex- tile-wrapped pipe encased in sand for subsurface drainage projects. Using sand and fabric together creates a stable system in virtually all soil types, extending the performance and work-

What is drainage design?

Drainage design and installation are extensive topics that cannot be fully covered in the framework of this article. The fundamental principle of drainage design is simple: water flows downhill. However, challenges can arise when adapting this principle to local conditions because every golf course is unique. Fortunately, there are various design solutions available for addressing drainage issues.

What is slow draining soil?

Fine-textured soils that contain high proportions of silt and clay are inherently slow to drain. These soil types also are prone to compaction, which further slows water infiltration. Hardpan layers within a soil profile also can inhibit water infiltration. Cultivation practices that alleviate compaction or break through sealed surfaces can improve water infiltration, provided the subsoil is permeable. However, if the entire soil profile is relatively imperme- able, water will linger near the surface, causing frequent ponding in depres- sions. Often, the upper soil profile will remain saturated while the subsoil remains relatively dry.

Who said the best greenkeeper in the world cannot maintain perfect turf unless their course is well drained?

The best greenkeeper in the world cannot maintain perfect turf unless their course is well drained,” declared Wendell Miller, a drainage engineer, in his advertise- ment in the National Greenkeeper in 1924. Miller’s statement is even more relevant today, as many golfers have higher-than-ever expectations of course conditioning. Poorly drained areas are challenging to maintain at a high level of conditioning on a con- sistent basis. Unfortunately, it is easy to underestimate the negative effects of poor drainage until playing conditions deteriorate or regular maintenance is disrupted.

What are the three ways that water is transported?

There are three options when it comes to transporting water: gravity, pumps, and siphons. The vast majority of drain- age systems use gravity to transport water. However, there are times when sufficient relief is not available and alternatives to gravity drainage are necessary.

Features - Water Issues

Assess and tackle common drainage problems through proper diagnosis and timely corrections.

Insufficient slope

Both course architect Jeff Brauer and Joel Weinan, a senior designer with the McDonald & Sons golf course design and construction firm, stressed that in most cases, pooling of water in chronically wet areas can be avoided by ensuring that both fairways and greens have a proper amount of “pitch” or slope built in to enlist gravity’s help in moving water off the turf in those areas..

Standing water in swales

West, Weinan and Brauer all noted that many courses run into problems with soggy areas in swales, which can be caused by either rain or excessive irrigation. All three stated more is usually better in terms of surface drains in swales.

What is drainage in golf?

Drainage is a fundamental piece of golf course architecture. If a course doesn’t drain well it will rarely play well. Therefore, figuring out how to move water off the golf course is a golf course architect’s primary worry. There are two ways that an architect can move water; the natural land or through manmade drainage systems.

Why is surface drainage important?

The benefit of using surface drainage is it is the most cost effective method. It delivers the most natural and best visual aesthetics. It will also lend itself to the best playability because of the lack of drains. Drainage systems – It is ideal to avoid drainage systems when possible.

What is surface drainage?

Surface drainage was the method used by the Golden Age Architects. Seth Raynor and George Thomas (and his construction partner Billy Bell) were renowned for their abilities in this field. A great example of surface drainage is Riviera C.C., long time host of the L.A. Open. When it receives rain water runs quickly off the golf course ...

What type of soil is best for a golf course?

The best soil to build a golf course on is the sandy variety. Sandy soil allows shapers and construction crews to easily move and contour the ground to their desired specs. The sand also plays a pivotal role in drainage and playing conditions. Sandy soil drains better, allowing a golf course to play firm and fast on a more regular basis.

What is design build golf?

Design-Build is a philosophy that has had a resurgence at the hands of Coore & Crenshaw and Tom Doak. These two changed the industry by controlling all aspects of a golf course build. As its name suggests, Design-Build this approach involves the architects designing and building the course. The architects will work with a group ...

Why use a drainage basin?

One issue that arises with using drainage systems is the water tends to settle around the drain. This will create a softer area where grass doesn’t grow as quickly and firm conditions cease to exist.

How can an architect move water?

There are two ways that an architect can move water; the natural land or through manmade drainage systems. “Pete Dye once told me that 95% of the job is making drainage look good, and there’s a lot of truth to that.”. – Tom Doak. Surface Drainage – The most natural and preferred method of drainage is surface drainage.

Why is drainage important in golf?

On a golf course drainage is needed to remove water away from the playing surfaces allowing it to remain playable following and even during heavy downpours. Good drainage will also help prevent damage to the turf which can occur when water accumulates into puddles and is left standing for too long. From the outset establishing how ...

Why is green drainage important?

Green drainage is especially important to avoid puddles and general wet areas which will impact on play. Green drainage consists of perforated pipes or drainage tiles laid out in a herringbone pattern. To make the green drain efficiently it’s important to lay out drainage pattern perpendicular to the flow of water across the slope.

What is a slit drain?

The slit drains connect to collector pipes laid in a lattice of lateral drains which then link to main drains that tend to run parallel to the fairway (except where slopes do not permit). The lateral drains consist of a trench with a perforated pipe at the bottom and backfilled with gravel.

What is the purpose of gravel sumps?

Turf is placed over a permable membrane which makes them almost invisible to the eye. Gravel Sumps are another means by which to collect water in low areas. Gravel sumps are commonly used in out of play areas where the topography does not permit the use of a piped drainage system.

Can a slit drain a golf fairway?

To reduce this problem slit drainage can be used to drain fairways.

Primary Drainage

Lateral Specification

Lateral Spacing

Secondary Drainage

• In cases where functional, but inadequately spaced primary drainage systems exist, secondary drainage solutions such as sand-banding or ‘earthquaking’ may prove effective in encouraging surface water that moves across the pitch to find its way more efficiently into the primary drains, thereby increasing the rate of drainage. This can lend a new lea...

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Importance

Topographical Survey

Arterial Drainage Improvements

Fairway Drainage

Greens & Tees

Bunkers

Miscellaneous