Entrance ditch revitalization

As you drive down our entrance road towards the tennis and soccer facilities, you drop quite a bit in elevation. As water comes down the slope towards the creek at the bottom, it has brought a lot of silt over the years. We just completed the task of reopening the ditch on one side of the road to better allow the water to make it into the creek.

When you are driving down the road, the last stretch of the ditch along the right side of the road had become clogged with debris and soil. This section flattens out considerably before reaching the creek, especially in comparison to the slope of the road. Water had moved silt and other material down the hill very effectively, but then had bogged down in the flat area. The soil had deposited here and had begun to create a dam. Water always finds a way to flow downhill; in this case it was turning out towards the road.

We wanted to clear the ditch and reestablish the direct path for the water to enter the creek. First, we needed to remove the brush that had been encroaching for years. The next step was to remove all the built-up soil, sticks, leaves, and other detritus that had accumulated. Following the path that the water would naturally want to travel, we began excavating a new trench.

The final step was to place stone in the trench to help control erosion in the future. While we did not lay the rip rap the entire length of the hill, we did fill in the last 30 yards, which includes the last steep section, as well as the entire more level area.

This was a relatively minor and simple project, but one that needed to be done. The trench is much cleaner in appearance and will function much better now.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

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

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org