2. Introduction
“simple solutions are often the best”
We want to play golf all year round, but climate change brings new challenges
with hotter summers and wetter winters predicted. Recent years have brought
intensive rainfall in the autumn and winter months and our courses are not
well equipped to deal with the resulting flooding and saturated fairways.
However, there are ways to improve playability and keep our courses in better
condition all year round that don’t cost the earth to implement or maintain.
Some ideas and techniques are outlined in this presentation, based on
proposals developed for Lurgan Golf club and several others, with a focus on
drainage improvements.
3. General Principles
From my experience, I’ll outline some simple measures to improve your
existing drainage, ensure it functions to its full potential and to improve playing
conditions throughout the year, but mainly in the winter months.
Modest investment within your normal budgets and a few changes in practice
can help develop dryer, firmer and more durable surfaces that will greatly
improve member satisfaction and enjoyment of your course.
In most inland courses, summer playing conditions only last for 5 to 6 months
of the year so we need to prepare better for autumn and winter golf, to
improve the course condition. I’ll highlight various key proposals to improve
playability and drainage later in the report.
“simple solutions are often the best”
4. My Golf Background
I’ve spent a lifetime involved with golf as a player, team manager, selector
and club official. Two times Greens Convenor and two times Honorary
Treasurer of Shandon Park golf club, I have intimate knowledge of the
challenges of running a golf club in difficult economic times and in dealing with
drainage, construction and maintenance works on the course.
A Civil Engineer by profession, I’ve been involved as a designer, supervisor
and project manager with a wide variety of projects with many drainage and
other challenges. This includes the construction of several golf courses,
playing fields, training facilities and landscaping projects.
“simple solutions are often the best”
5. My Objective
I’ve been fortunate to have had involvement with a wide variety of projects
over many years, virtually all of which involved drainage to a greater or lesser
extent.
And one major theme of all these projects in recent years has been delivering
“value for money”, which means economic, efficient and effective solutions.
My objective is to bring this experience of golf course management and
professional project delivery to help clubs improve their courses. All within the
limited budgets available, due to the current pressures on clubs from climate
change, increasing rainfall and falling membership numbers.
“simple solutions are often the best”
6. Proposals to Follow
The proposals in the following slides are based on my experience and taken
from previous reports, particularly the recent one for Lurgan Golf Club.
The full report covered drainage and course improvement proposals for all 18
holes but these samples will give you a picture of what could be produced for
your course.
These are based on tried and tested techniques that can produce significant
improvement in the drainage and playability of your course, within your normal
budgets.
“simple solutions are often the best”
7. Lurgan Golf Club
Drainage Map
This is a map of the existing drainage at
Lurgan Golf Club, picked up from a drone
survey during the drought summer of 2018.
An interactive version of this map can be
found at the link below.
Contours and drains can be switched on
and off using the tick boxes and you can
zoom in or out using your mouse wheel.
Measurements can be made with the icon
top right.
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/lurgangc/index.html
(Note the link above may not work well with Internet Explorer
but should be fine with any modern web browser)
8. Most clubs will have a similar network of drains but often their location and condition are
unknown.
But all is not lost if you didn’t get a drone survey during the dry weather. Drains can be picked up
by survey on the ground and from aerial photographs.
Once you have a map of your existing drains, you can start to plan what can be re-activated or
extended, which will be much less expensive than installing new drains if they are not required.
9. 1st Hole Lurgan Golf Club
This may be the most important hole on any golf course,
with the 18th not far behind. These are the first and last
impressions that players get and you don’t get a second
chance to make a first impression!
1.Your first tee could be slightly bigger, levelled and
extended back a few yards. A small “championship” tee
might be considered left of the access lane.
1.Wet areas between the tee and the fairway can be fixed
at little cost by refreshing existing drains, with perhaps
some additional laterals or sand slitting. Replacing the
manhole covers in the dip with open grids should
prevent future ponding. Proposals for drainage in this
area are shown in the later sketches for the 9th hole.
1.Tapering the fairway back to the tee is an easy way to
firm and dry up the carry to the fairway. No-one likes
trudging through long wet grass from tee to fairway in
the winter.
2.The driving area is not well defined from the tee and a
bunker on either side would help frame the hole. The
graphic on the next slide shows how this might look.
Drainage Opened
and Refreshed
And some additional
laterals installed
New
Fairway
Bunkers
Old Trees
Removed
New Trees
Between 1st &
9th Fairways
Fairway
Tapered Back
to the Path
Tee Extended
Back Slightly
Existing 1st Hole Proposed 1st Hole
New Back
Tee
10. Existing 1st Hole
The target area is not well defined.
Proposed 1st Hole
New bunkers and additional tree planting
will help frame the opening tee shot.
11. Key Point 1 - Make Your Tees as Large as Possible
Tees should be made as big as practical to allow year round use. Most modern courses have large
flat teeing areas, rather than the small uneven tees of the older established courses, caused by
minor extensions over the years that settle and become uneven.
Simply levelling out any humps and bumps and stretching your tees by a few yards can give you a
significant increase in usable area. I’ve enlarged some tees by up to 40% with very little cost or
effort.
Tees are usually raised up slightly and rarely get saturated, unless constructed from heavy clay. You
can get a lot of benefit from simply lifting the turf, rotavating in some coarse sand, levelling and
stretching the tee then replacing the turf. You’ll see great improvement for a cost of a few hundred
pounds per tee, rather than the thousands of pounds that consultants might advise.
It’s best to do this in late autumn to allow the tee to get established before the following season and if
you do a few each winter you’ll soon have the complete set.
“simple solutions are often the best”
12. 3rd Hole - Drainage
1.This fairway has been extensively drained in the past
but the existing drains need to be opened and
refreshed with gravel to the surface. Heavy sanding to
follow and renewed every few years will keep the
drains functioning.
Some new laterals running along the contours in the
drained area would help catch surface flow.
2.A gravel topped cut-off drain in the rough along the
top side of the fairway, shown in red, would catch
surface flow in heavy rainfall, reducing saturation of
the fairway.
1.Some additional drainage is needed in the wet area of
the carry from the tee to the fairway.
1.Cutting the grass to fairway height in the approaches
and exits from the bridges will firm up these areas,
which could be further improved by sanding and verti-
draining.
3rd Hole Drainage
Cut to Fairway
Height then Sand
and Verti-drain
Refresh Drains in
This Area With Some
Additional Laterals
Along the Contours
and Heavy Sanding
to Follow.
New Cut-off in the
Rough to Catch
Surface Flow
New Drainage
Needed in the Carry
to the Fairway.
Existing Drains
Proposed Drains
13. Key Point 2 - Restore Your Existing Drains Before you Splash Out on New Ones
Like so many other courses, the dry summer revealed an extensive network of drains on your
course, which are probably barely functioning. You may not even have known that many of them
existed.
The problem is rarely that the pipes themselves or even the gravel surround is silted up. In most
cases, it’s simply that the gravel surface has sealed and the water can’t get into the drains, so
surface water saturates the turf and everything turns into a quagmire. Even worse, drains are
often deliberately turfed over, which makes them practically useless right from the start. Unless
you have very permeable sandy soils, water can’t get through the soil as quickly as it falls from
the sky in heavy rainfall.
After checking that the outlets are working, simply scraping the top few centimetres off the drain
surface and replacing with fine gravel will refresh and rejuvenate most drains. I’ll explain later
how to do this with a simple adaptation of your turf cutter and you will see a marked improvement
immediately at minimal cost.
Again, the best time to do this is in the autumn as you’ll get immediate benefit in the following
winter months and the surfaces will have recovered before the next playing season.
14. 6th Hole Drainage
1.The main problem on this hole is the drainage in the
hollow on the left side approaching the green. The
fairway has been extensively drained into this area but
it’s not clear if there is an outlet and I understand that
the area is prone to flooding.
2.It may be that there is sump at this point into which
the drains run or the underlying soils may be
permeable. However, sumps silt up and, even if the
soils below are permeable, it’s unlikely they could
cope with heavy rainfall unless there is an outfall pipe.
3.There may be a very deep pipe running across the
5th fairway and trials pits should be opened to verify if
this main drain has an outfall.
4.If not, the only solutions may be to renew the
soakaway or install a sump with a submersible electric
pump. Could this be powered from the supply pole to
the left of the 4th green?
5.Much of the fairway drainage runs down rather than
across the contours. Refreshing existing drains or
installing new drains along the contours will help catch
surface flows. Existing 6th Hole Drainage Proposed 6th Hole Drainage
Extensive
Existing
Drainage
Contours
Does This
Drain Have
an Outfall?
Hollow
Inside This
Contour
Open Trial Pits
to Explore This
Outfall
It May Need
New Soakaway
or Pumping
Sump
Refresh
Existing or
Open New
Catch Drains
Along the
Contours
15. 10th Hole Drainage
1.The valley short of the green is fed by surface flows
from various directions, shown by the red arrows,
which is a problem in this heavily trafficked area.
2.The drone survey in the summer drought showed up
extensive drainage on the right side on the run up to
the green, but these drains are well sealed over and
will not catch much surface flow into the valley.
3.In addition, flow from the 18th fairway will also gather
into this area.
1.Opening up and refreshing the gravel surface of these
drains and cutting a few new drains in the right rough
along the contours, as shown in red, will greatly
reduce this problem.
1.Follow this with intensive sanding immediately and
repeated sanding over a few years will allow surface
water to find its way into the drains.
2.Better to concentrate gravel drains and sanding in the
problem areas rather than spread limited resources
widely.
Existing Drains
are sealed and
ineffective
Existing 10th Hole Drains Proposed Drainage
New Drains
Along the
Contours
Open and
Refresh
Existing Drains
Surface
flows run
into the
valley
Heavy sanding
over the drains
for a few years
16. Existing 13th Green
Perhaps the toughest hole on the course but
the green is not well defined.
Proposed 13th Green
Addition of a front bunker and trees to
mask the electric pole will improve the
setting for the green.
17. 15th Hole - Drainage
1.There is extensive drainage in the fairway from the
tee to level with the pond on the right but it is
completely sealed over and only partially effective. It
won’t be able to cope with heavy downpours or
persistent wet weather.
2.This area is very flat and therefore liable to saturation
as it won’t shed the water.
3.In the first instance, the existing drains should be
opened at the surface and topped up with fine gravel.
Heavy sanding immediately after will help keep the
surface permeable and greatly improve infiltration of
rainwater into the drains.
4.In future years, gravel banding and sand dressings
should be repeated when funding permits, to build up
a permeable layer that will not seal so easily.
5.Vertidraining in late summer or early autumn each
year when the soils are dry will help relieve
compaction and retain permeability.
Existing Drainage Proposed Drainage
Extensive
Existing Drainage
in the Fairway but
Sealed Up and
Ineffective
Wet areas Close
to the Ditch Can
be Easily Drained
Open and
Refresh the Top
Gravel on All
Existing Drains -
Shown in Red.
Follow Up With
Gravel Banding
Across the
Existing Drains -
Shown in Yellow
Then Heavy Sand
Top Dressings
Existing Drain
New Drain
Sand Slit
18. Drainage Principles
The summer of 2017 was extraordinarily dry and the autumn and winter was mild and much drier than recent years. Despite this and
despite having carried out a lot of sand slitting or gravel banding on this fairway, the drive landing area was one of the dampest parts of
your course.
This illustrates two problems that I have seen on many golf courses. Firstly, sand or gravel top drains seal over relatively quickly,
reducing permeability and ingress of surface water. Secondly, the slits or drains can funnel water down to the lowest point, unless they
connect freely into lateral drains. So, even in the relatively dry conditions of my visits, the area just short of the cross drain was damp
and a sizeable area of the left rough was very wet. On the green side of the drain, extensive older drains were completely sealed, which
allows surface flow to run over the drains and to gather in the lower section causing saturation and slippery conditions.
Unfortunately, all drains start to silt over at the surface as soon as they are installed, gradually losing their effectiveness. Not because
the pipes or the gravel surround have sealed, but because particles of clay, dead grass and thatch will quickly close the spaces
between the sand or gravel particles at the surface. Grass will then grow over the drain and its permeability quickly approaches the
original level of the surrounding turf. Lateral flow in the turf will have improved but the surface will still be saturated in heavy rains and
will dry only slowly.
Sand has much fine pore spaces that gravel so it can very quickly seal over and become ineffective when used as the drain topping.
Gravels will stay open and permeable for much longer, with fine 6mm gravel being ideal for fairways and coarser gravel can be used in
the rough or for cut-off drains above playing areas. Sand will also wash out much more easily in heavy rainfall, a common problem.
Nobody likes gravel drains on the fairways and they soon let them grow over, wasting all the time, money and disruption caused during
the installation works. Some years later, the drainage will have deteriorated and a new committee will repeat the process, creating a
never ending cycle of works and often little long term improvement.
So how do we keep gravel drains working without extensive open drains across our fairways?
Cont’d
19. Key Point 5 - Worm Control.
There was an area just short of the 16th green with heavy worm casting and a number of tees were
also affected. Worm control chemicals are now very limited and cultural control may be the only option
in future. While worms are beneficial to the soil, casting is a problem on fine turf as it smears and
damages the surfaces.
This link connects to an article by the Sports Turf Research Institute on worm control and the points
below give cultural controls that may help. https://strigroup.com/tackling-earthworm-headache/
● Reduce the food source: Boxing off grass clippings and using inorganic fertilisers will reduce
the food supply to worms. Reduction of thatch and organic matter in the soil by regular aeration
and scarification techniques will also reduce the food supply further.
● Reduce soil pH: Using an acidifying agent such as iron sulphate can drive down pH to produce
more acid soil conditions and discourage earthworms.
● Sand top dressing: The application of sand as top dressing may help reduce surface casting,
as sand particles are relatively coarse and are irritable to the worm on passage through its gut.
This may encourage worms to migrate away from the sand top dressed area. Sanding also has
the benefit of diluting thatch/organic matter and improving surface drainage.
20. 16th Hole Drainage
1.The area in the left rough just short of the drain is
very wet and needs new gravel drains installed. It’s
possible that previous sand slitting is feeding water
into this area.
2.Sand slitting across the previous drains in the drive
landing area followed by heavy sand dressings
would greatly increase permeability.
3.Open and restore the top of the drains in the slope
on the green side of the cross drain, particularly
those furthest up the slope. Drains need to be very
permeable on a slope or water will just run over them
and saturate the area below.
4.Vertidrain the problem areas in autumn and spring
when the soils are dry, to induce fissuring and better
surface infiltration.
Existing Drainage Proposed Drainage
Sand Slit Again
in Different
Direction and
Heavily Sand
After
Existing Drains
Sealed and
Ineffective
Wet Area
Needs
Drained
Previously
Drained
Area
Remains
Damp
Open and
Refresh
Existing
Drains
Open
New
Drains
Existing Drain
New Drain
Sand Slit
21. Key Point 7 - It’s Good to Have a Plan
Golf clubs are amazing organisations. Many have existed for a hundred years yet run by an ever changing
group of amateurs with many different ideas and priorities. It’s both a strength and a weakness.
The strength comes from the energy and commitment of dedicated club members but the weakness is that
plans are constantly revised or not followed through. I was very surprised when I contacted many clubs
last year to find that only one club had a record of their drainage systems. I suspect it’s the same for
development plans, as few will have the experience to prepare such plans without employing an expensive
consultant, and consultants tend to be grand planners with a taste for major and costly schemes.
It’s important that you have records of drainage systems, irrigation installations and electrical supplies. If
they don’t exist you will incur wasted expenditure on repairs or replacement in future. And setting out even
a simple development plan will give some continuity and protection against poorly thought out changes in
the future.
We have all benefited from the efforts of past club members but we also suffer from some of their
mistakes. Producing and formally agreeing policies and plans will benefit long term development and allow
more efficient use of funds in the future
22. “simple solutions are often the best”
Summary
● The measures outlined in this report will improve drainage and playability at low cost and with little
course disruption.
● Many clubs have no permanent record of their drainage system. Creating a detailed plan of their
location will allow the system to be refreshed without major capital expenditure and will avoid
wasted expenditure on new drains in future.
● Simply levelling and expanding your tees will allow much more use throughout the year.
● Better preparation of all walking areas will make winter golf much more enjoyable.
● Creating a long term development plan for your course will bring continuity and allow your club to
develop its full potential.
And always
remember……..
23. Maurice McKinley CEng BSc MICE
Civil Engineer & Drainage Advisor mckinley77@gmail.com
“simple solutions are often the best”
