The functional uses of drainage ditches at Oakmont

[wsmorrison]

This past week was the National Flynn Invitational at The Country Club in Pepper Pike, OH.  On the way out there, Craig Disher and I stopped at Oakmont CC, Fox Chapel, and Pepper Pike Club before seeing The Country Club next door to PPC.

I had never been to Oakmont so I can't compare the previous look with the one today.  However, we did walk the course with the Green Chairman that was in charge of the changes and the superintendent, John Zimmers who met us on a few holes.  The lack of trees and the terrific ground for golf is exposed to the elements and in full view.  One thing that was evident was the extensive use of drainage ditches that act to move the water off the playing areas and also act as hazards that provide stern consequences to slightly wayward shots.  Many of the ditches are along the edges of the fairways.  So if you hit a bit wide and don't go in some of the many flanking bunkers, a ditch might await.  The ditches are a bit clogged now.  John mentioned that they will be clearing them out sometime soon.  I have never seen a course with this many ditches that serve the dual purposes of water removal and hazards.  Given that Oakmont was a seminal achievement in golf course architecture, were these features used as extensively on other golf courses?

[Adam_Messix]

Wayne--

You make some great observations about Oakmont and I might even take it one step further by saying that it appears as if the one goal that Henry Fownes had building the course was to get water off of it as quickly as possible.  This is both in the fairways and on the greens.  Anyone who has seen a highlight tape of an Oakmont major will see this as the rain water quickly form rivers running off the green.  Oakmont seems to have as much internal fairway slope as any course that I have every played without being too severe.  It always seems as if there will be at least one or two drives around that appear to be really good and end up in the first cut of rough or worse.  A player who can curve their drives into some of these slopes, particularly on 9, 10, 12, and 15, really has an edge.  The drainage ditches where the water runs were starting to get really deep in grass a couple of years ago and it sounds as if they are only getting thicker.  Mr. Fownes was well ahead of his time at Oakmont.  

[Jeff_Mingay]

I've always been intrigued by the drainage ditches at Oakmont, too.

I'm currently involved with renovating an older golf course. One of the problems involves solving a drainage problem on the left side of the sixth fairway. It's a flat area, and the superintendent's original idea was to cut a swale in that area that would channel water to a nearby pond.

My concern is the swale he has in mind will look very unnatural, and out of place. Oaklmont came to mind. I thought, hey, if we're going to solve this drainage problem with a ditch, let's just build a ditch rather than trying to "mask" it as a "fancy shaped" artificial swale.

We haven't made a final decision, but Oakmont's still on my mind!

[TEPaul]

I'm not sure exactly where Cornish & Whitten got their information on Oakmont (probably from the club) but in the first section of their "The Architects of Golf" there's a few excellent pages on the evolution of Oakmont. According to C&W it was Henry Fownes's son, William C. Fownes, who early on took it upon himself to begin to strengthen and toughen Oakmont which he continued to do for perhaps the next 30-35 years in numerous revolutionary ways with the help of greenkeepers McGlynn and Loeffler. It's said in the summers W.C actually lived at the club so he could better dedicate himself to this effort. The drainage ditches were part of that effort of W.C., according to C&W. Fownes's mission, apparently was to continue to make Oakmont as difficult and penal as possible under his well known credo;

"A shot poorly played should be a shot irrevocably lost."

[Michael_Stachowicz]

My worry about ditiches is when they fall under the wetlands protection act.

[Tom_Doak]

Oakmont needed drainage ditches more than most courses because the soil is heavier, and so it was more critical to get the water away.

Their use as a hazard is okay, but not inspiring visually, particularly on flattish ground where they can be very hard to see.  They also serve as a gathering place for mosquitoes, which are not a feature you want on a golf course.

We did create a few naturalized drainage ditches on the flatter finishing holes at Tumble Creek in Washington this summer.  They are there for an environmental purpose as well ... to get the surface water from the fairways into the ground, instead of letting it run off a slope to the river below.  You're likely to see more such work in the future for the same purpose.

[TEPaul]

I spent about half a day officiating the Pa State Amateur on the drive zone of the 10th hole and that tee shot is some bear, particularly with that drainage ditch right of the right fairway bunker. You don't want to be in any of those bunkers left or right and it's worse in that drainage ditch. The fairway itself is tough as hell to hit it seemed. With the trees gone it seems to me a safer way to play that hole just may be to bomb a drive left of the left bunker and down into the front of the 11th fairway. From there you're actually playing right into the right to left slope of that green that acts like a bolster. There's also a bit of a turbo-boost from the tenth tee down that 11th fairway!!  

[mark chalfant]

Wayne,
There is a very interesting feature at  Essex ( ross) in  Lasalle, Ontario.
Perhaps its more subtle  and shallower  than Oakmonts ditch but its
interesting .  Maybe Jeff Mingay, Tom Doak , or  Bruce  Hepner could
elaborate...................  Essex  has some wonderful greens too. !

[Jeff_Mingay]

Hi Mark.

Essex plays over a flat property. There's probably little more than 3-5 feet of elevation change across the entire 130 acres or so, naturally.

Donald Ross designed a series of "drainge swales" throughout the property, to channel water off the course, generate fill material, and create the illusion of some topographic relief. But the swales aren't really ditches, like Oakmont's ditches. At least not anymore. I think at one time they might have been though - ie. filled with a bit of water, and heavy grass.

What's most interesting about Essex' swales is the topographic relief they provide. You walk down and then up through a swale at 2, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, and 18. These "dips" do create the illusion that the property isn't as dead flat as it actually is.  

[Craig Disher]

Wayne,
The hi-resolution photo shows the ditches clearly. The small photo I brought didn't give enough detail. Most of them are parallel to fairways - between #1, #9, and #10; between #4 and #5; right of #7, left of #8, both sides of #12. Some were cut across the line of play - in front of the tee on #15, for example. They are quite visible and weren't covered with long fescue. I'd estimate they are about 2-3' across - definitely not subtle. I'd suggest they may also be unique to Oakmont. I don't recall seeing anything like this on other contemporary aerials.

The photo also shows a large number of filled-in bunkers (and the filled-in mini-church pews on #15) which were not obvious on the small photo. The evolution of the bunkering at Oakmont would be an interesting story in itself.