Today we made the final adjustments to the Maxwell rolls in the green. Jim Urbina is explaining his thought process on how Press Maxwell would have designed this green for pure golfing enjoyment. However there is no delay. We need to move with drainage and irrigation.
First we mark all of the drain lines. We use the level to determine slopes and where the water is going. We will install drains in toes of all the slopes to move water out of the green profile. Drainage is the most important aspect of any golf green for today's standards. When the golf course was built in the late 1950's greens were not maintained the same way as today. The lack of drainage is one of the major reasons why poa annua is so dominant as it thrives in wet conditions.
Excavators start at the top of the green and work their way out. A 12" trench is dug and pea gravel is used to bed the 4" perforated drain tile. Then the remaining area of the trench is topped off with gravel.
As we move throughout the green it is important to be mindful of the floor of the green and the previously installed drain lines. Plywood is used to protect the drains so they are not crushed. Material haulers are careful as the move throughout the green. The crew will rake and clean up the bottom of the green as they go along to maintain the design that Jim Urbina created.
Before burying the drain line it is highly important to make sure that there is enough slope to move water. Having water flow in the opposite direction will back up the drainage and can cause big problems down the line. A tracer wire is also placed in the trench to locate the drains.
Let's not forget the irrigation. This is a 22,000 sq. ft. green and due to this size it requires three irrigation heads in the green. Above you see us excavating a sleeve for one of the sprinklers. We put the sleeve below the cavity surface so it does not get damaged from aerification. The sleeve is important in case we need to replace the pipe some day, this way we do not have to dig up the green.
The smaller heads in the green are not pressured to the sprinkler like most of the sprinklers on the golf course. Instead the valve is outside the green. This is also important as we do not want pressurize lines underneath a green. If something were to go wrong it is always best to have a leak or break outside the green compared to inside the green.
Above you see the crew compacting the irrigation sleeve line so the soil does not settle. It was compacted three times.
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