Drainage: How Hard is it to Get Right?

[Adam_F_Collins]

I've been on a lot of courses that seem to have a tough time draining well. (This is in the north eastern region on North America). Is getting the drainage right on a golf course often a very difficult task? Or is it more often related to budget?

What's the key?

[Joe Hancock]

Adam,

The most obvious factor is soil. Climate would follow closely behind.

During construction, we use a transit (laser level) to check grades as we go. It's to easy to be fooled by looks. Generally, the heavier the soil, the more grade you want to utilize or create to get rid of rainfall. Some sites are essentially flat, so based on soils it may require some type of subsurface drainage.

The fact of the matter is that getting drainage "right" is simple....gravity never fails. However, some soils just hold too much moisture, and regardless of how much drainage is installed, it takes a long time to dry out.

Side note: The golf course I own is as flat as anything you've played. However, after years of drying the place out I have found it really takes the rain much...MUCH better than it did before. When supers quit covering their asses with irrigation they will have much better performing soils on their course. Of course, I'm an owner so it's easy for me to say that....

Joe

[Mark_Fine]

I don't know if I would call getting drainage right simple.  But I would say that it is one of the most important aspects of golf course design.  Here are a few photos of work that went on at one of our projects.  This course had serious drainage problems.  The golf course is basically a collection area for all the runoff from local developments (which continue to expand).  You can tell by the size of the pipe, some serious water management was necessary to correct/mitigate the problem.  The work was done over the winter in some very difficult conditions.  The best part of doing this work was that we saved the club thousands of dollars in cart path work that they wanted to do so they could still play golf after it rained.  We recommended waiting on the paths and only doing them as a last resort!  







The large basin by the way was located in an out of play area.  A pet peeve of mine in basins that are in play and collect golf balls as well as water.  

[Craig Sweet]

Nice shots of some "heavy" soils!  We have a course out here that's built on clay and they put the storm drains right smack in the center of the fairways, and of course everything runs down to those drains....including golf balls...

[Mark_Fine]

Craig,
They are heavy soils.  I hate basins in the center of fairways, in front of greens and on the side of greens (any areas where golf balls are routinely in play and can collect).  

[Steve Lang]

 

1. HOW"S YOUR WATER BALANCE?
---------------------------------
IN - OUT = ACCUMULATION

1a. DO YOU REALLY KNOW HOW MUCH WATER YOU"RE DEALING WITH?
----------------------------------------------------
27152.4   gal/acre inch of rainfall

1b.  and how mother nature and the gca affects your water balance?

1c. and how much run-on and groundwater tables affect your property?


2. HOW BIG ARE YOUR PIPES?
----------------------------
PIPE         Capacity   
DIA.       Min slope      at Min Slope   
(IN)   ft/1000ft      gpm   m³/hr
===========================
48   1.0   17760   4036.4
42   1.0   12490   2838.6
36   1.0   8339   1895.2
30   1.2   5800   1318.2
27   1.3   4770   1084.1
24   1.5   3530   802.3
21   1.8   2720   618.2
20   1.9   2450   556.8
18   2.1   2000   454.5
16   2.4   1570   356.8
15   2.6   1390   315.9
14   2.8   1210   275.0
12   3.5   900   204.5
10   4.1   610   138.6
8   5.4   400   90.9
6   6.0   200   45.5

2a. and do you run them at 50-75 percent full and allow for self ventilating on vertical (& near-vertical) sections?


I believe many systems & drainage features aren't designed correctly to allow for simple maintenance and the affects of component aging.

[Mark_Fine]

Steve,
Good stuff!!  Most drainage is undersized (especially in bunkers).  If the proper amount of drainage is put in bunkers for example, they will last longer and stay cleaner.  The key is to keep your bunkers "bone dry".  Water in a bunker, epecially during freeze/thaw cycles causing big problems.  It causes heaving which helps bring stones and contamination to the surface.  If you can drain them quickly and keep them dry you mitigate this problem.  

[Michael Dugger]

Aside from soil composition and the number of pipes and drains and what not you have/are installing, I was always taught that the grade of what you are draining matters a lot.  

Water does not "sheet" very well on a 1% grade.  Thus, even if you have a freaking 48" pipeline at the bottom of a catch basin, if you are trying to drain a large swath of turf moving at a 1% grade, it isn't going to drain all that quickly.

And, of course, "birdbaths" or collection areas in your fairways are not going to drain worth a damn either.  

[TEPaul]

Adam:

The key to getting drainage right is actually remarkably simple. All you do is go out on a piece of property in a gushing rainstorm and Mother Nature will pretty much tell you everything you need to know about drainage.