How can we make our courses weather proof ???

[madandra]

I have been a club member (3 different clubs) for 12 years now and this is easily the worst year/season I can remember as far as weather is concerned. I know everyone is banging on about global warming but I have a big problem with recent alterations that have played into the hands of mother nature.

I know 3 courses locally that have filled in some drainage ditches in order to speed up play and also the cutting of the fairways (the have to strim the banks of ditches and that means getting off their 4rses and doing manual labour).
My course has also knocked down about 50 mature trees in order to allow the winter sun to thaw the 16th green. I would love to see MORE ditches and ponds on a course that would allow the rain to flow away even if it is a pain in the arse for people who knock a ball in the water.

The course I play was closed on 4 occassions last year. This year so far it has been closed for a total of 15 days.

I remember when I first got into golf that the burns and ditches were always full and flowing, in other words, doing their job, but now the water just sits on the course.

So my question is ... has your course increased the problem we have with higher rainfall by making time saving changes at the exspense of drainage and course playability in adverse weather conditions?

 

[Cernunnos]

Courses built on gravel & sand tend to drain very well, even recovering very well when flooded by rivers that have broken their banks.

Not a general fan of drainage ditches, well not the straight ones. Though anything that looks more like a natural stream I don't mind.

Designers who build courses on clay soil want their heads looking at unless they take remedial action.

 

[time_vans]

Although new to golf but not fishing (also an outdoor sport)
I have noted the changing weather.Last year I played a round on new years eve in a tee shirt .....mad, but I have noticed the summers are definately wetter (more rain) but the winters are dryer (less snow) . I just think nature controls everything ....fight it at your peril. My local course (Hainsworth Park) is a good bet when all others are having problems.....superb drainage (Combination of natural and man-made)

 

[HomerJSimpson]

As a relatively new course albeit on old farmland the course itself is maturing well after only three years play. The management have done a great job in planting out loads of new trees which over time will do a great job in drinking excess water away.

That said the course has suffered in the early years from flooding and has been shut regulalrly over the last few winters. However there has been an extensive drainage programme on tees and fairways and so the prognosis going forward is good.

There are numerous ditches and ponds throughout the course and extending beyond the course limits and into the surrounding Windsor Great Park which have been there for years and were formed either by mother nature or to help drainage when it was farmland. The green staff regularly strim the banks etc and clear these out to allow them to fill naturally and flow as nature intended. As a result the drainage overall should be more than sufficient for the wettest winter (famous last words!)

 

[RGuk]

Mine was closed lots last year.....before I joined....members quit, hence, I got in.
They've tried exceptionaly hard to improve the drainage and much of it has worked.
I have to say that ditches and the like can do a lot to make the course interesting AND help with drainage. If they are giving the players grief, very often they can be filled in with big pipes keeping the water flowing, and the games.
All of ours have been redesigned to make them fairer and the new ones have been carefully placed where no golfer should really be going.

 

[Imurg]

If your course doesn't naturally drain well - ours in Aylesbury is on solid clay - the drainage channels, ditches and lakes seem to be the only solution to me. 10 years ago, a day of rain would close my course for at least a further day. Since then they've dug out ditches and drains and now it hasn't been closed all season. We get the odd puddle that forms in out of the way places that takes a week to drain away but the playing areas are fine. And they make the course more interesting!!

 

[GB72]

My course seems to hold up very well. We did not have a single day of preferred lies or winter greens and only lost one morning to heavy frost. Aside from that the course was in decent nick all year round.

 

[USER1999]

An extensive program of vertidraining, and drill and fill has made our greens more weather resistant, although we are kept off if it is frosty.
The course on the whole drains pretty well, so it is not normally a problem, but there are always going to be a few days when it is closed if the rain is prolonged and exceptionally severe. Most of the time I wouldn't want to play in these conditions any way.

 

[TonyN]

Played a few respectable courses last winter and I have to say, none of them were in as good as condition as the 9 holer at our driving range. It was fantastic. Yes we played off winter matts and had preferred lies but NO TEMPS EVER. Its not a small course for a 9 holer, but the staff do a great job and are constantly out cutting back, trimming and digging in the right places. Greens are always well kept and true.

The bigger courses i've played (I.E Vicars Cross in Chester) where a mess, and the members I believe were going beserk. They closed the course for a whole week. They had JCB's all over the place and holes every few.....holes I guess. Will be interesting to see if they have made any difference this year.

 

[Parmo]

My home course was closed on Sunday morning, but no doubt reopened later in the morning once the 3rd & 9th green flooding subsided. We play off winter mats in winter on most holes and have two very good winter greens that come into play. The course is set in Park Land and does to a degree soak up loads of water, but if the rain is that bad and the course closed for a short period, its something I live with, I wouldn't want the lay out of a natural looking course spoilt just to keep golf in action after heavy rain. I think this is the only time I have known it closed on a weekend, not bad for a municipal.

 

[Dodger]

My course is weather proof!! Well apart from snow which is the only thing that ever closes it.Last week our league match was the only 1 in the county to go ahead as all the others had succumbed to the heavy rain.I count myself very lucky to be able to play all year round golf and never have any problems with mud or clatch like so many near to me.
We had a little bit of water lying at the 11th 12 and 13th where a ditch and small tributary runs by but I was down 2 nights later and it was all gone!

 

[TWM]

My course has been improving the drainage quite a lot.
I played yesterday in the wind and rain. Poor score but not the fault of the course.

 

[vig]

Course was closed 5 days last July due to flooding and fish from pond adjacent to 14th green were on the fairway.
Didn't close through the winter. temp greens on about 10 days throughout the winter, only during frosty morning. Mats on all throughout Dec-Feb.
Loads of work done on bunkers as last year most were flooded, this year no problems with the ones that work was done on, the rest are planned to be improved this winter.
3 ponds on the course, a few drainage ditches.
Would like to see more ponds and fairway bunkers

 

[DCB]

I was supposed to be playing a mixed fours tie tonight but the course was closed. The torrential rain over the last day or so has just lifted the water table too high and parts of the course are very very wet. Whilst annoying that I turned up today to find the course flooded, at least with the course closed sign being up, it will have stopped the damage that would have been done by players playing a wet course. Hopefully things will be better for the weekend. A couple of dry/drier days are needed with a gentle breeze to assist the drying out process.

One big plus is that our greens have stood up really well to this wet summer, result of several years of hard work to improve the greens overall condition.

according to the weather men today we have had almost three times the amount of rain we normally get in August.

 

[viscount17]

closed for about 5 consecutive weeks in winter due to flooding. hardly surprising as the course is bounded by a river, has large lakes and is all low lying - the river has a tendency to flood across two fairways into one of the lakes.

any sustained heavy rain will leave casual water, though through spring and summer we've not been closed. the high water table does mean some greens will be wetter and softer than others and it isn't a pleasure to fish your ball out of a mix of cold water or liquid mud in some of the cups.

not a lot that can be done about it

 

[stevelockie]

My course has handled the rain not too badly IMO. The course is hilly and sits reasonably high up, so there are fewer places for the water to gather compared to a flatter course. Drainage is pretty good too (all hail the head greenkeeper)!

This summer has been pretty desperate, although if memory serves me correctly I think we had more rainy days last summer, but the rain wasn't so heavy. There's been some Monsoons this summer!

 

[Marko77]

you'd think course managers would have learned from recent years experiences....drainage, drainage and more drainage.

Instead, everytime it rains I see the puddles in all the same places.

 

[RGuk]

Instead, everytime it rains I see the puddles in all the same places.

Yes, indeed. We kept getting a big puddle in the garden, so I dug a trench and filled it with a huge pipe, some gravel and turfed it over......problem solved.

At mine, we have an area left of the fairway that always gets a massive puddle.....personaly, I'd stick some posts around it and encourage a small lake.....it would make the hole much better.