The drainage works carried out by sports turf contractor, Niall Foran, have recently been completed and delivered beneficial results to the club. It has been tested by rain storms over the past few weeks and is working well.  The water is clearing off the surface much quicker and the areas that would have normally held water are no longer problem areas.
The 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th holes had historically always suffered from poor drainage, resulting in having to close that part of the golf course in the winter months.
 

Using specialist trenching machines to cut minimum-width drainage trenches to a laser controlled depth and grade; the contractor laid main and lateral drains to allow rainwater to drain freely and quickly. 

 
These drains are fed by gravel bands installed at two meter spacing.

Niall and his team did an exceptional job during their 13 days onsite.  In that time, 2,747 meters of 80 mm pipe, 411 meters of 150 mm pipe, 48 meters of 225 mm pipe and 6,762 meters of gravel bands were laid.  The total cost comes to £37,474.
 

 

The narrow drain lines and gravel bands will be seeded and fertilized with the wider trenches sodded this week.
 

The water feature on the 4th will have a new stand pipe installed to help manage both the depth of the water and to limit the amount of leaf debris and silt going to the outflow pipe

The open drain which crossed in front of the red tee on the 5th was closed in and a 150mm pipe was laid in the vicinity that would historically have standing water after a rain storm.

There was limited disruption to play with daily hole closures.  Most of the time only one hole was closed but there were a couple of days that required multiple hole closures due to the fast pace of the drainage machines.

Jason Podris