This past weekend, the course accumulated 1.4 inches of rain over 48 hours, most of it came down in 5 hours with heavy downpours. I came to the course early Sunday morning expecting the worst in our new mulched and sanded turf removal zones. I knew the mulch would be fine, it always is. The steepest, mulched portion is around the tee box on the fourth hole which suffered no erosion at all.I was relieved to find that most sections of the sand held up very well like this portion of number 3 (below), there was no cleanup needed.
Portions of sand that did erode highlighted the need for drainage improvements. In the photo below and left is the area between the tee and fairway on the third hole. This tracking was a result of a plugged cart path drain that sent water across the sands. Cleaning up of this area took about 20 minutes using a mechanical rake, so it was a quick fix.
A more troubling problem was along the path by the fifth hole where sands were eroded badly. We have reviewed this area and will install some new drainage to divert the flow of water. This rain was a wonderful test of our new design. Problem areas were identified, stability was tested, and cleanup efforts were put through a trial run.
Of course, the best part of this unexpected rain was the impact to our turf. The rough, fairways, tees, and trees received the most uniform irrigation in months. Our out-dated irrigation system and even the newest irrigation system is a poor substitute for real rain. Also, rain is not heavily polluted by salts, so the flushing power can clean out the garbage that's piled up in our soils. The putting greens looked refreshed on Sunday and our handheld EC meter, which records salinity content, was proof that the rain worked wonders.
