Greatest Clay Soil courses

[Neil White]

Joe,


         

[Joe Hancock]

Neil,

Thanks!

[BCowan]

Neil/Jon,

   Thanks, very good post.  Image is excellent.  How often does this need to be done?  I mean how long before the hole fills in (seasons)?

[Mark McKeever]

A lot of the great Philly courses are on Clay.  Merion, Wissahickon, Aronimink, Rolling Green, etc.  They turned out fine!


Mark

[Robin_Hiseman]

Robin,

have you thought what effect the gravel up to the surface will have on the stability of the surface immediately surrounding the drain? Have not ever looked at this but strikes me it could lead to this area suffering collapse.

Jon

Jon

It's a 20mm gravel up to the subsoil/topsoil horizon. This is capped with a grit and then a cone of sand sits on the top up to the surface. Standard sports field drainage procedure, so I don't have any fear of trench collapses.

[Tom Kelly]

If you do have a clay site then you better have slopes to get rid of surface water. Flat clay sites and you have a recipe for disaster. Royal Mid Surrey!!!!

The main issue at Royal Mid Surrey is the quite large river it sits next to. When there is nowhere for the water to go eventually it will back up. Add to that the tide and discretion of the person in charge of the locks/flood barriers and you'll have a few problems every now and then.


I'd be interested to find out the depth of the water table over the course of the year at some of these courses to see what impact it has. I'd hazard a guess that Walton Heath probably benefits from a fairly deep water table given the clay sits on top of free draining chalk.

[David Wuthrich]

Just got back from playing Wolf Point in Port Lavaca, TX.  It is built on good old Texas "gumbo" clay soil and great!

[Jon Wiggett]

Neil/Jon,

   Thanks, very good post.  Image is excellent.  How often does this need to be done?  I mean how long before the hole fills in (seasons)?

Ben,

the lifespan of a mole drain is very individual. It depends a lot on the soil type though clay where it is mostly used is quite stable. Also dependent on the weather. If there is a lot of frost heave this can disrupt them. I have seen them needing to be redone after a year but also seen them still working in the mid 80's after been pulled in the 30's. Generally though I believe 5 to 10 years is normal which is good to say how cheap they are to do.

Robin,

thanks for the answer.

Jon