The summer of 2025 was, without a doubt, one of the most challenging in recent years. Extreme weather conditions – especially excessive rainfall – placed a considerable amount of stress on turf. Issues were compounded at many golf courses with poorly drained soils and/or inadequate drainage infrastructure.

If your course experienced turf thinning or loss this summer due to a saturated rootzone, investing in drainage should be a top priority moving forward. It may not be possible to address all your drainage needs in a single offseason, but developing a course-wide drainage plan makes it possible to address the most problematic areas initially and then expand to other portions of the golf course in a systematic way. While there is not a lot of curb appeal when it comes to investing in drainage, the value cannot be overstated.

A quick tip for any upcoming drainage work you may have planned: If you are going to surround the pipes with gravel, consider trying to match the pH of the gravel to that of the rootzone, or at least consider using a neutral-pH option because iron oxide layers can form more quickly at the gravel interface if a low-pH rootzone is placed over high-pH gravel materials such as limestone or dolomite. It is important to note that layers may form in any soil type with a prominent textural boundary and wet conditions. A similar but distinct issue is clay layering, which is caused by the migration of clay particles through the rootzone where they accumulate at the gravel interface. Visual layers are not always indicative of infiltration issues, but if your drainage does not function as you expect, it is worth exploring why.