Golf
entire course by Christmas at the latest, to get the best results. Finishing this early also gives the clay a chance to seal back up along the slits during the winter, thereby reducing the likelihood of large cracks appearing the following summer. Textbooks generally recommend spacing
between channels should be around 1.5m to 3m apart. But, in practice, spacing is dependent on the width of the tractor, simply because the wheels should be running over the previous line so that the weight of the tractor, bearing down on the slit, will press the ground back into place again.
If the mole run is to drain into a ditch, then obviously you need to lower the bullet into the ditch and pull away in the uphill direction. But, if draining into a backfilled pipe and trench, then drawing downhill towards the pipe will ensure the bullet is at maximum depth when crossing the pipe. The mole channel should remain unbroken along the entire length to function properly, therefore closing the hole you’re working on to golfers is imperative as you cannot raise the mole out of the ground once you have started a line. Various sizes of bullet are available; as a
general rule, a smaller channel will take less water. Opting for too large a bullet is likely to create so much heave that surface damage will occur, which may not bother our farming friends, but is best avoided on fairways. We have found the optimum size to be around 40mm, as this is large enough to carry excess water away from any average size fairway without causing severe damage to the surface.
Another important benefit of mole ploughing is the fissuring effect it has on the soil. Walk behind a tractor drawing a mole plough and the heave it creates to the ground either side is plainly visible. In slow draining clays, I have found this to be a more effective method of aeration as conventional tine holes, that fill up with water with nowhere to drain away, can become saturated and create excessively soft ground conditions. Trees growing close to the edge of
fairways may be a problem where roots are close to the surface, which may prevent an unbroken run with the mole. If they are too thick for the mole blade or coulter to cut through, this needs to be considered when assessing the best direction to run the machine across your fairways. Ideally, you should be looking for a steady fall along the length of the channel, but this may not always be possible. Blades wear out after about six fairways
and will need to be replaced but, fortunately, they are simple enough for any well equipped workshop to fabricate new ones. We have found that treating both sides of the blades with hard facing rods is a worthwhile expense as it markedly prolongs the life of a blade When we embarked upon our programme,
a few sceptical members didn’t believe it would make any difference, but even I was surprised at the change it brought about. As
can be seen from the statistics, the system worked extremely well. The benefits don’t stop just at extra days open. Apart from drier fairways, it becomes possible to get maintenance equipment out on the course most of the year. There was a time when playing in winter just meant the difference between members using wide wheel or narrow wheel trolleys. The difference now is the course has to cope with members’ powacaddies, ride on buggies and golf buggies throughout most of the year; a situation that would have been unimaginable at one time. The improvement in drainage to the
course has proven to be the catalyst that brought about a period of investment on the course. Greens, tees and bunkers all came under scrutiny as a result of members’ greater expectations of the course. Greens that had never been drained since the day they were built were now expected to be playable under conditions where, in the past, the course would have been closed. So the installation of a network of pipe drains under the greens was now considered a high priority by the members. Similarly, every tee on the course was completely rebuilt with a
EFFECTIVENESS OF MOLE PLOUGHING SYSTEM ADOPTED AT WEYMOUTH GOLF CLUB ON THE RECOMMENDATION OF ROB BAYLISS, COURSE MANAGER
Season 1993/94
1994/95 1995/96
1996/97 1997/98 1998/99
1999/00 2000/01 2001/02
2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13
MENDATION OF ROB BAYLISS, COURSE MANAGER Comments
Days Closed
83
46 8
15 25 25
18 37 0
1 0 0 0 9 0 3 1 4 0
20
Rainfall mm July1-June30
963mm
779mm 734mm
566mm 796mm 746mm
786mm 926mm 616mm
838mm 617mm 571mm 655mm 836mm 767mm 710mm 784mm 626mm 672mm 1105mm
Including Easter Bank Holiday weekend! Holes 10 to 14 were closed for 108 days! That was more than a quarter of the year we couldn't play the full 18 holes
Holes 10 to 14 closed for 52 days
Committee agreed to allow trolley restrictions, prior to this trolley bans were forbidden following an AGM ruling
Holes 10 to 14 closed for 31 days Cross country course open for 12 days. Mole ploughing over the road had started to work and, therefore, play was focused on playing holes 10 to 14 in order to protect the front 9.
Drainage contract work started 29/10/01 in time for winter season. First time since 1978 the course had never closed in a season and probably the first time ever
full drainage carpet to allow play for a much longer season than was previously possible. As an economic method of draining clay, I doubt it could be bettered.
A bit of a blip probably caused by a spell of wet weather in late winter 1 day of which was due to snow 2 days of which were due to snow
For winter rain alone the course was only closed for 15 days. 2 days in July 2012 were due to exceptionally wet weather and 3 days in winter were due to snow. This was the year the highest ever annual rainfall was recorded. It all started on June 3rd when the heavens opened and then barely stopped all year. We were unable to mole plough the course in autumn 2012 due to soft ground conditions
2013/14 2014 ...
2 0
1011mm
Plus a half day due to fog! We mole ploughed the course late summer early autumn 2013 and you can see from the figures the difference it made
So far, so good PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016 I 39
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