16 Fairway Drainage

So, what's going on that 16 fairway has been so wet this year, you ask? Well, part of the problem is that we have had back-to-back years of 60" rain fall, when about 40" is our normal annual average. Our water table is very saturated and there's just not a lot of places for any rainfall to drain off to. But, that isn't really what our main problem has been.

We suspected and have confirmed that water is leaking under the dam of the pond on #14 and making its way to 16 fairway. There is (was!) a spot in 16 fairway where we could actually see water percolating up to the surface. That spot was about three and a half FEET lower than the surface of the pond on 14. Two weeks ago we put blue dye into the pond on 14. Within minutes the water that was surfacing in 16 fairway was blue. Our suspicions were confirmed that the water was leaving the lake UNDER the dam and flooding the fairway.

The only real "right" fix for this is to fix the dam. Our Long Range Plan calls for rebuilding the pond on 14, resizing it to include the drainage that crosses 14 rough to the bridge on 16, and in the process lowers the pond by two feet. That is an expensive fix, and not one that we really want to undertake in the middle of our prime golf season.

As a temporary fix we are taking three actions:
1: Drainage will be installed between the cart path and the pond on #16 to intercept the leakage before it reaches 16 fairway.
2: We have packed mud and muck into the spot on the dam we believed was the source of the leak. This has already shown great results.
3: We will add drainage across 16 fairway to replace existing drainage that is apparently no longer working. This way, if water continues to leak and gets past our new drains it should still be taken off by the new fairway drains.

This is at best a temporary solution. "Temporary" might be 5 or 10 years, or it might all come apart next year - it all depends on how well our patches to the dam hold. But, for now, this should allow us to get 16 fairway dried up, and we think based on the things we saw today that it will dry up rather quickly. This video shows how much water was running in the drainage ditch that we excavated between the cart path and the pond. All of this water was previously making its way to 16 fairway.

I'm not saying this fairway was wet, but this guy showed up after we got the leak stopped.

NATIVE AREAS

Just a reminder that the native areas on the course are now marked as LATERAL HAZARDS. This means that if you hit into one your options are different than before.

For example, in the past, if you were playing #6 and hit into this native area between 6/7/8 your most likely option was that it was a lost ball and you had to return to the spot you hit from and hit again. Now, since it is a lateral hazard, you can drop within 2 clublengths of where the ball entered the hazard and add a single penalty stroke.



Man, that grass is tall!

M R Ducks!

UPDATE 6/15/10: Prior to Men's League on Monday night I was able to count 6 duckling heads. There may be more (we think there were 7 eggs) but the chicks were very quick to duck (no pun intended) under mom whenever someone approached.



Nothing terribly "grounds" worthy here, but just to post that the newest LVCC family began arriving today. Just a couple hours before this picture this guy was still inside an egg. At last count we had at least 3 ducklings, but mom was still sequestered on the nest and not giving any ground. There were 7 eggs (we think).

Without giving the exact location, we'll just say the nest is in a very actively traveled area and is NOT on any of the course holes.

Native Areas are now Lateral Hazards

In an effort to improve pace of play and simplify rulings we have recently begun marking the "native" areas on the course with red lines as Lateral Hazards. This includes the large triangular area between 6-7-8 and some other smaller native areas around the course.

So how do we play this? Like any lateral hazard (red lines/stakes) the key element is where did the ball last cross the margin on the hazard? Determine as closely as you can where the ball last crossed the hazard and your drop area is within 2 club lengths of that spot, but no closer to the hole. In the picture above, which shows a slicing tee shot on hole #8, the ball crossed the hazard about when the "X" is. The fact that it traveled another 50 yards and was found at "B" doesn't matter. WHERE DID THE BALL LAST CROSS THE MARGIN OF THE HAZARD?

If you have questions about how these new areas play, ask Dan or Andi for help.

New Fountain

The new fountain in the lake behind #17 green was installed today. Our last fountain, such as it was, bit the dust last year during an electrical storm. This new fountain shoots a series of sprays about 25' into the air and should last for many years. The Men's Golf Association made a significant contribution to the purchase of this new fountain.