Dirt

Last week we took advantage of a closed golf course and performed some research. Prior to a driving range renovation it is important to understand what is going on under the surface. It amazes me every time we dig a hole on the property that we can even grow plants. The top soil is heavy clay which which does not hold much water or nutrients and can be troublesome for root systems. I often wonder if we are aerifying or topdressing enough. Obviously after 60 years of cultivating the soil in playable areas has certainly benefitted in the long run.  Improving these soils is a long term commitment.

Beneath the clay is more clay or shale. We find this on almost every dig below two feet. It is extremely difficult to break through when hand digging. When using heavy machinery it is much easier but it still can be a task. This exercise was done to determine if the soil in this location truly is what we believe it to be.

Not knowing the exact history of every spot on the property it is important to perform a little scouting to help future projects flow smoother. Fortunately we found no issues with this area. 

We did find part of the old irrigation system which is abandoned. So there is no concern with disrupting our existing system.

We dug 80 inches to get a fair assessment of how much excavating can potentially happen in this location. There were no surprises that we found which is good.