Golf course drainage project

Summary: An overview of an intensive fairway drainage project in Massachusetts.

We started a golf course drainage project on Wednesday, August 26,2009.  I’m working with a golf course contractor on slope control and survey.

We’ll install 4500 linear feet of drainage tubing on a private golf club in Massachusetts. Detailed plans provide working elevations and slopes. This plan includes 35 inlets, or catch basins.

Day #1

Excavator digs and sand trailer follows closely

Dry weather created ideal working conditions. We mobilized two Cat-307 excavators and three John  Deere tractors pulling Pronovost trailers. One laser provided slope information, and another, set a few feet higher, generated elevation data.

I’m working with experienced golf course laborers. The existing sod is cut two strips wide. The rolled sod is store ten feet from the trench. We’ll reinstall the sod after pipe installation.After painting the pipe run, laborers installed sheets of plywood on the trucking and equipment route.

All equipment will work on plywood. An excavator with a narrow trenching bucket loaded excavated spoils into a tractor and trailer combination. A skilled grade foreman worked in the trench providing depth of cut information to the excavator operator. Several trucking routes provide options to avoid golfer interruption.

We first constructed a swale along the first 85 feet, then we began the pipe installation with 10 feet of double wall solid pipe. The excavation begins with a 2.5 feet excavation, but it will vary based on pipe inverts (bottom of trench elevation).

We’ll use double wall and single wall perforated tubing with a geofabric sock covering the outside of the pipe. We will backfill with high-percolation drainage sand obtained from a local sand and gravel operation. The sugar sand percolates  at 40 inches per hour.

A jumping-jack compacted the installed sand, and a 6″ layer of screened topsoil surfaced the trench.

The project will take 20 working days. I’ll update as the work proceeds.

For additional information:

Drainage backfill

Drainage swales

Golf course drainage inlets