Tee Off With Joe: February 2019

By now, many of you have seen or heard that there is an issue with the pond on #9. We have formulated a repair plan and will start as soon as possible.

To recap, just before Thanksgiving 2018, the pipe that drains the pond broke, releasing all of the water in about 45 minutes. The damage “repaired” itself, clogging the exit, and refilling the pond. This temporary fix lasted for 2 months. Then in late January, the clog that blocked the original break gave way and released all of the pond water again.

Diagram of new pipe location. For reference, the red lines converge in
the center of the green. The light blue is the new pipe, dashed lines are old pipe. The
clubhouse is out of view to the right.

After reviewing several options, our best choice will be to install an entirely new pipe. We discussed possibly sleeving the existing pipe, but the work seemed to be uncertain to succeed, expensive, and much more disruptive. Since the pipe is 50 years old, we decided that abandoning it completely will be the best idea moving forward. We will work with our golf course construction contractor, McDonald and Son’s for the work. A new pipe will be dug from the corner nearest the clubhouse, extend around behind the green, and then tie back in to the existing drainage area.

Water draining though hole after second break.

The pond refilling before we cut pipe down.

Unfortunately, the timetable for completion is less than ideal. Due to this being an emergency repair and not a scheduled project, we are subject to our contractor’s availability. Right now, their winter work has been delayed for various reasons, most notably weather, and thus will impact their spring projects. So, any free time they may have had will likely be used for make-up time lost over the winter. As of now, no date has been promised. Nevertheless, this contractor has always been very reliable and will get here as soon as they can.

In the meantime, to prevent further refills and releases of the water, as well as the erosion those events cause, we have cut down the overflow standpipe in the pond. This will permanently lower the level of the pond down to 1.5-2 feet until the work can be finished.

Current view of the standpipe, cut down to eliminate
water refilling the pond.

Thank you for your understanding. We will get the situation corrected as soon as possible.

Also, please note, we will return to weekly posts starting in March.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please stay off all grass surfaces during a frost delay.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Bunker etiquette