If you played golf on Thursday you probably noticed us working with an excavator on some drainage repairs. Some of the older drains that are situated near trees have been damaged by tree roots. On the 3rd hole we replaced a drain next to some poplar trees that had been completley plugged with roots. This drain tile was the main feeder line from the 3rd tee and 4th green complexes. Tree roots are incredibly good at invading drain tile. They can find their way into every opening, connection and hole that is in the pipe. In the picture here you will see what I mean. The roots have made a fully functioning drainage system non existent. Once the area was trenched we removed the old pipe and lined the trench with a synthetic liner, then installed new solid drain tile, with minimal connections. This should give us some longevity out of this drainage system.
Last fall we utilized a “new to us” method of revitilization for our practice tee. Our contractor TDS, fraize mowed the surface of the tee to remove organic matter as well at to aid in leveling. The tee was then aerified and seeded to a new variety of creeping rye grass. We chose this type of turf grass as research shows rapid recovery and a low growth habit. We were able to get some great growth in the fall, but the tee is still not ready for traffic and full use. The plan is to utilize the mats until growth has filled in some of the voids etc. We will then begin to slowly set up hitting areas on the grass tee. For a while we will alternate between grass and the mats with a 50/50 ratio of use. Once the grass tee is established and is in adequate recovery mode, the practice areas will be back to normal. As always our membership’s patience is appreciated as we try to improve these areas for use.
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