Finally drying out!

 

Amazingly enough the rain skipped us last weekend and we are in week two of not having to deal with any moisture from the clouds. This is the longest stretch in at least 4 months that we have not had rain inside of a 7 day period. The graph above (here is a link to make it bigger) shows us getting pummeled with rain every week, most of the time with 2-3 inch events. We made the most of this dry week by putting over 1,000 feet of drainage pipe in the ground.

The sun has been nice enough to come out as well but we are still seeing temperatures in the 20's overnight. The greens have been freezing and thawing and the bentgrass is as close to dormant as it is going to get. Putting quality is at a premium right now as mowing or rolling when the green is frozen is impossible and very detrimental to the health of the turf. Even as the green thaws through the day, foot traffic plays a negative role, let alone driving a mower or roller across the turf. On warm days we will continue to roll the greens but during freeze thaw cycles just be happy the sun is shining and you are able to get outside! 

The trencher went into the ground on Monday and did not let up all week. The areas around the forward tees on #1 Manakin have been saturated for months. The red clay was just holding water and never wanting to dry up.

Our team hauled away the wet muck from the trench and installed new gravel, perforated pipe, and sand in order to move the water through the swales faster.

Once complete on #1, the trencher traveled over to 8 Sabot tee side fairway. This fairway has been a swamp for months, almost impossible to walk on. There is no slope to encourage surface drainage here and the evergreens to the right of fairway keep this area in the dark all winter.

The low winter sun angle keeps the sun behind the trees on much of the Sabot, but here on 8 it is terrible. 

The crew put over 600 feet of drainage pipe, gravel and sand into the new trenches on 8. The area immediately starting drying up. Take notice to the shade still being cast by the pines.

On Thursday we were able to remove all of the problematic pine trees and the light difference is vastly improved. This landing area will continue to dry up and become consistently playable for years to come.

But wait, there's more! The trencher came back over to Manakin 16 to cut a french drain into the low area towards the pond where walkers go over the bridge. This area was drying out on its own but now it should recover quickly after rains.

The trenchers last stop for the week was on 13 Manakin by the road crossing to 14. Here we had to coordinate with Columbia gas in order to trench over top of three natural gas lines. These lines carry gas from West Virginia all over the east coast. The original soil disturbance from the gas lines is what has caused water to build up in the walk off area for 13 green.

New drainage was installed and then sodded back over. As you can tell we were all very excited to catch a dry week and knock these projects off the list. With the amount of golf play we continue to see, we don't want to have to work around wet areas. In addition we want the Sabot to be a viable option for winter play. Even though the bluegrass has been disappointing this winter, we are stuck with it until the bermuda starts growing again. The drainage and tree work that has gone on so far has helped dry the Sabot up significantly considering all the additional rains we have had.

Jacob and Pete were able to make some solid headway on their stream on 14 this week as well. It is cleaned out and a few dams have been put in place to regulate the water levels. They hope to have everything buttoned up on Friday.

Finally this week, you'll notice some of the old tee markers out and about. We have swapped out some of the new markers in order to get them sandblasted and powdercoated again. The new markers should be back out in a few weeks and ready to go for 2021!