Winter Projects on Hole 4

One of our many winter projects was recently completed on hole 4.  The project involved shoring up a stream bank and drainage pipe to prevent erosion, constructing a guide rail along the cart path, and replacing our old deteriorating bridge.

As you can see in the following photo, the soil around this drain pipe, located just past the white tee box, has slowly eroded away, compromising the integrity of the cart path.

To remedy this problem, we used a backhoe to re-route the flow of water.  It now runs more directly in to the pipe, as opposed to hitting the soil under the cart path first.  We then placed large pieces of stone, known as rip-rap, on the bank and around the pipe to further prevent erosion from occuring during major rain events.

The other issue with this area is that the cart path curves sharply around the creek.  There have been instances in the past where golf carts have driven off the path and in to the water.  With this being such a safety risk, we decided to install a guide rail along the path.  Our mechanic provided us with his carpentry expertise and we were able to fashion a nice looking, sturdy fence that should prevent accidents from happening around this turn in the future.  Take a look at this finished product!

Many of you know the bridge on hole 4 all too well.  Like when you drive over it and spill your beer because of the large bumps on either end.  As we began to inspect the bridge to fix the bumps, we realized that all of the boards were water-logged and rotten.  The bridge was taken out of play with cart traffic diverted on to the fairway and all of the wood was replaced.  We also changed the curvature of the bridge so that the bumps on both ends will be less severe.  We have plans in the near future to repave several cart paths and when this one is done, the transition from cart path to bridge will be seamless, which should save a lot of crying over spilled beer!

 In progress:

Completed:

Welcome!

I would like to welcome everyone to the Laytonsville Golf Course Maintenance Department blog!  My name is Galen Evans and I am the golf course superintendent here.  A lot of exciting things are happening and have happened at Laytonsville and I hope to use this blog to inform everyone that plays golf here about what is going on throughout the course.  There are several general questions that golfers have that I want to answer through my postings.

These include:  What are they doing?  Why are they doing it?  How are they doing it?

I will try to answer these questions through explanations, photos, videos, and links to professional websites of the turf community.  I will also occasionally write special postings with the heading, "Did You Know?"  Look for these postings to provide facts and useful information on subjects such as frost damage, golf course etiquette, and so on.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!  I hope it provides insight in to everything that is happening here at Laytonsville Golf Course.