Tree Removal & Planting Update

The tree removals along the roadway on #10 and #18 are completed and the remaining wood will be available to members until Monday, April 18th.  There have been some concerns voiced about these removals with regards to protection from balls on both #10 and #18.  All of these trees were either greatly affecting drainage or declining rapidly over the last couple of years.  Once again, here are some photos that illustrate how aggressive the root systems of willows, poplars and silver maples are:

willow and silver maple roots clogging a drain tile at #3 tees

willow and silver maple roots compromising drainage at #3 tees

shallow poplar roots in #15 green

It appears as though most of our silver maples are of approximately the same age and are nearing the end of their lives.  Silver maples are a very undesirable and weak species of maple and as they age they become very hazardous.  It doesn't take heavy winds for them to lose major limbs which always have the potential of injuring golfers and/or workers.  More desirable and appropriate evergreen varieties will be planted in the coming weeks where there are voids created from the removals.

We hope to resume planting more trees in the next few days if conditions allow.  We will be planting 4-5 more along the left side of #1 and 3-4 more between #1 and #9, closer to #9 green.  As the ground firms up we will also be planting 5-6 evergreens between #10 and #18, close to where the majority of the removals were.  Please keep in mind that if your ball comes to rest in one of the mulched tree wells around any of the newly planted trees, it is to be treated as Ground Under Repair to avoid damaging the young tree.

Lastly, the large pile of tree debris behind #8 green (near our weather station) from the removals at #4 and #15 greens will very likely be chipped within the next couple of weeks.  Our intent was to burn this debris over the winter months, but unfortunately we have not been able to.  Obtaining the permit to burn was not a problem, it's just that we must follow Environment Canada's guidelines on whether or not we can burn.  The days we've been allowed to burn are far and few between.

#18 Green Slit Drainage is Tested

#18 green faced it's first true challenge today since the slit drainage was installed last week.  How did it hold up?  Well, there's good news and bad news.  The good news is that the green was open less than 40 minutes after an 8+ hour rainfall, in which we received over 1/2" of rain in the last couple hours.  Prior to installing the slit drainage, a rainfall like that would have forced us to close the green for days.

The bad news is that the collector drain responsible for the back left portion of that green needs to be fixed as  that part of the green still had standing water on it after the rain stopped.  We have learned that the new collector was tied into an old drainage line instead of being independently run directly to the pond behind the green as designed.  Needless to say, we are not too pleased with this and it will be corrected ASAP.

#18 Green Slit Drainage Completed!

The drainage installation continued yesterday and went very well.  So well in fact that the green reopened for play yesterday afternoon!  I'm confident you'll be amazed at how well the green will roll considering the complete drainage overhaul it just endured.  That being said, it will only get better as we continue to topdress and roll it to smooth the putting surface.

Here are some pics of the finished product:

finished slits

rolling to smooth the putting surface

finished product

#18 Green Slit Drainage (update #2)

The slit drainage installation on #18 is going smoothly, but the 4+ of hours of work lost from yesterday's rain and this morning's frost have us slightly behind schedule.  We now expect the project to be completed on Sunday with the green reopening sometime on Monday.

Here are some more pics of the install from today:

completed slits

completed slits

back right slits ready to be trenched

progressing along nicely

previous aerification holes exposed when sod is removed

#18 Green Slit Drainage

The slit drainage installation on #18 green is now underway.  The cancelled ferries on Wednesday forced us to start a day later as the TDS labour crew was stuck on the island.  This morning's frost has delayed us again, but we still anticipate the project to be completed on Saturday with the green reopening on Sunday.

Here are some pics of the installation:

irrigation marked and plywood used to minimize surface disruption

collector line installation underway

collector line installation

sod carefully removed for slits and set aside

sod removal

sod removal

aerification evidence in the sod

Existing Greens Drainage

Our drainage contractor, TDS, will be on-site next week to install slit drainage on our 18th green.  This green has remained closed throughout the winter due to severe drainage problems.  We are experiencing drainage issues on other greens as well that must be addressed in the near future.  The slit drainage process is completed in only 2 days and the green is typically reopened immediately and ready for play.  Other than the visible drainage trench lines, there is very little affect on the playability of the green.  For more information and photos of the process of slit draining greens, please visit here: http://www.tdsdrainage.com/existing.html

With regards to our greens and their drainage issues, I’d like to pass along some info to help you better understand what we are experiencing and why.

We often hear from members that “our greens already have drainage”.  Yes, this is true.  To my knowledge, our greens were renovated approximately 30 years ago and were constructed with materials that DID NOT meet proper greens mix specifications.  That being said, even precisely built putting greens have a typical lifespan of 20 years that is affected by many environmental, cultural and mechanical factors.  The major factors include climate, aerification and construction. 

A putting green’s infrastructure will change over time from weathering, particularly due to excessive moisture and/or constant freezing and thawing.  Obviously excessive moisture, particularly from October thru mid-April, is our main concern.  When greens are saturated due to excessive rains, they are easily compacted by traffic.  The resulting compaction greatly reduces the drainage capability of the greens.  We must restrict equipment and golfer traffic from the greens under these conditions to prevent unnecessary compaction.  Unfortunately, in the past our greens not only remained open for play when saturated, they were even mowed with heavy equipment under these conditions.  This has caused a great deal of compaction.

Aerification practices and frequency also play a key role in how putting green drainage will perform.  Core aerification is the single most important tool to maintain acceptable thatch levels.  Thatch retains a great deal of moisture which also results in saturated greens.  Core aerification physically removes thatch allowing moisture to better seek out the drainage channels.  We are making significant progress on reducing the thatch levels of our greens, but this does not entirely make up for compaction caused the during the time period when core aerification was abandoned.

Construction greatly impacts drainage, especially when there aren’t any efforts to immediately fix any drainage affected by it.  New irrigation was installed throughout the course in 2007/08.  Part of the installation process involves slicing in new control wire.  Many of our greens drainage outlets were compromised by this process and were not immediately corrected.  That being said, it is very difficult to even know that the outlet has been sliced due to the fact that this process does not involve an open trench.  The impact on the drainage would not be evident until experiencing heavy rainfall.  One very inexpensive way of preventing this is to install tracer wires with the greens drainage outlet pipes to easily locate and mark the drainage lines prior to any construction.  We will be installing tracer wire with all new greens drainage outlets.  

Proper drainage greatly affects the playability of the greens, but more importantly the health of the greens.  Saturated greens are very susceptible to excessive ball-marking, mower scalping, severe compaction and disease.  We currently have 5 greens that have serious drainage issues (#1, 12, 14, 15 and 18).  Of these 5, #18 is certainly the worst and requires immediate action.  The other 15 greens (13 regular and 2 putting greens) are beginning to show signs of drainage failure as well.  

The long range plan is to certainly slit drain all the greens to have consistent, properly drained healthy greens that can remain open 12 months a year.  I believe the best approach for accomplishing this project would be to spread it out over no more than 3 years.  We have 20 greens in total, including the putting greens, so we'd be looking at doing 6-7 greens each of those 3 years.

Root invasion!!!

We've been experiencing some drainage issues lately at #3 tees and along the backside of the newer mounds on the left side of #1.  The culprit?  Yup, that darn willow directly behind #3 tees.  Willows are amongst the worst trees when it comes to their root systems invading drainage lines.

Here is a pic of the affected drainage:

Here is a pic of the willow roots invading the collector drain:

Here is the culprit:

We are now forced to attempt to remove all the willow roots from the affected lines.  This is not a simple task and will likely require replacing sections of the drainage collector pipe where we cannot do so. This willow MUST be removed in order for the surrounding drainage to function properly.  Root pruning is not an option as it will only result in even more aggressive rooting.

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day...

Well the rain started last evening and hasn't stopped.  As of now, the course is closed due to extremely wet conditions.  Here are a few pics to show you how flooded we currently are:

Obviously our drainage is functioning great, but even the most extensive drainage system needs some time to catch up!