16 Fairway wet spots due to plugged drain lines

This is a continuation of the last blog discussing possible reasons for wet spots on fairways. We did some digging the past two days along the 16th fairway where I showed photos in the last post of the two wet areas. We found a drain line going through the middle of one wet spot, and followed it to the creek.  It stopped three feet short of the waters edge and was buried two feet deep in sand. The stream channel has moved three feet since that drain line was installed less than ten years ago.

You can see in this photo where Josh and Frank dug up the line and followed it to the stream. The line was plugged solid with mud and rocks.

 If you look close you can see the end of the line near the top of the photo, now three feet away from the stream.

The creek is there, it's covered with blackberry stickers and knotweed. There are several more drain lines to the left of #16 fairway that we will find in the upcoming week. We'll flush them out so they are clear of debris and can carry water again. We are also going to take a piece of painted angle iron and pound them into ground where the drain lines discharge into the stream. In the future we'll be able to easily locate the line. Why didn't we think of that 10 years ago?
Steve Kealy
Golf Course Sup't