The 2023 U.S. Mid-Amateur started with unseasonably hot and humid weather – several days with a heat index about 95 degrees. Heat gave way to several bouts of wet, stormy weather resulting in weather delays and saturated soils. While the maintenance teams at host sites Sleepy Hollow Country Club and Fenway Golf Club did a wonderful job keeping the courses playable, eventually the “bathtub” filled and there was nowhere for water to go.
This underscores the importance of good surface and subsurface drainage. The most efficient way to move maximum amounts of water is with effective surface drainage. But in the absence of that, subsurface drain lines are needed to give excess water someplace to go. At Fenway, the club’s investment in annual drill-and-fill aeration and installation of XGD drainage on all their greens paid off by keeping the putting surfaces free of standing water despite heavy downpours, which would not have been the case prior to implementing these programs.
At Sleepy Hollow, there are two particularly challenging fairways when it comes to drainage, the 8th and 12th holes. They have a shallow layer of soil over shale, and with almost no internal drain lines water has nowhere to go after more than 2 inches of rain. However, we still had a championship to conduct and in an effort to provide the best conditions possible the decision was made to apply a zeolite product (Ecolite) on the surface to absorb as much water as possible. The moisture retention capability of this product is normally a benefit in amending putting green rootzones, but it can also be helpful when dealing with surface moisture that just won’t go away.
The product was applied via push spreader at the wide-open setting. This technique isn’t going to completely dry an area but if you are running low on options and are willing to try anything to dry a playing surface, this is a good tip to try.
Northeast Region Agronomists
Darin Bevard, senior director, Championship Agronomy – dbevard@usga.org
Elliott L. Dowling, regional director, East Region – edowling@usga.org
Brian Gietka, agronomist – bgietka@usga.org