Installing new drainage on a golf course that is partially below sea level is limited to few options.  If the grade is right, we can attach to an existing sump pump or tie into one of the lines that connect our lakes.  If all else fails, we dig a giant hole, fill with crushed rock, top with landscape fabric and some sand.  This type of drain will handle some wet spots and light rains, but will do little to remove water from a major winter storm.  Anything more than an inch is probably considered 'major' when we only average 16 inches per year. This place can get wet in a hurry.

This past weekend we recorded about .35" of rain and the course was CART PATH ONLY for one day.  Today we are back open and checking out our new drain lines to see what else needs to be done.  Over the last three weeks, we have installed over 300 linear feet of drains.  175 feet of this was installed on October 31st on the driving range.  We've been forced to close the range during wet periods in the winter and hope to stay open year round with some new drainage.

We went with a french drain since this is out of play and the gravel will not be visible from the tee or from the 18th fairway.  Towards the trees in the background, we have some more wet areas to attend to.  Next Monday, we will fire up the trencher and add some new lines to the ones you see here.  Our outlet is positioned at the lowest point of the range, so we can drain everything to one central point.  The water then heads to the sump pump at the back of the range and is pumped to the pond on #2.

When we installed this drain, we cut through three old drain lines.  We found a large, 10" concrete drain line that was filled will soil.  We found another clay drain tile that was heavily deteriorated.  The last one was corrugated plastic, the same material we are using and a modern marvel compared to the other pipes we encountered.