Recently we have been able to take advantage of the mild weather, and move along with sand channel drainage on the South Course. Over the past two weeks we have been able to drain the area by the fairway bunkers on number 18 and a second area of number 3. It has become apparent that the profile of the fairways are much different from one fairway to the next.
While working on number 18 we encountered a very heavy clay. This clay holds large amounts of water and is very slow to drain compared to other areas of the fairway. By adding the drainage we have given the water an outlet in this area and it drains much faster now.
Working on number 3 we came across clay and an abundance of rocks. The removal of the rocks was challenging at times because the trench is only 4 inches wide and in most cases the rocks are significantly larger than the trench. By creating a continuous channel for the water to move through, the fairway is able to drain at a much faster rate in this area.
This picture shows the clay (highlighted by the red circle) that causes the drainage issues on 18 South fairway.
Here is all the rock that we removed from 3 South fairway while the drainage was being installed.