XGD Fairway Drainage at CDGA

I wanted to expound on this really cool picture that XGD supervisor took at the Sunshine Course in Lemont, IL at the Chicago District Golf Association, in it shows the systematic approach we take at XGD Systems to cutoff/eliminate high groundwater table issues at any turf facility...


Mark must have been right down at turf level to show the fine fairway sod we were able to pull up and restore at the CDGA. One portion of the CDGA has the 3 hole Sunshine Course we were helping with some greens/fairway drainage restorations and this aids in research conducted by CDGA Turf Researcher Dr. Derek Settle and Tim Siblicky, Nick Devries, among others here based at the Golf House in Lemont,IL.

And as I point you to the picture above to show how the XGD fairway drainage laterals curved and followed the fairway contours in a design to eliminate the wet areas in the bottoms of the swale. It was obvious even good positive surface drainage was not the answer on its own in this situation, the area needed a supplemental subsurface internal drainage system designed/spaced to specifically move groundwater through the wet soils and high groundwater in this specific area. As I have always said, drainage in not a top down traditional philosophy that you learn at turf school, rather it is a lifelong learning curve trying to gain a better understanding of soil groundwater movement. At XGD it is more about controlling the gravitational groundwater table, than getting surface water in to a catch basin and out of site immediately, because at XGD we use the soil and its pore space as water holding space to fill up the bathtub before reaching field capacity and entering our laterals.
We have the soil there as storage capacity.  WHY NOT USE IT.
            Just a different way to skin a cat, so to speak..

Cheers, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer


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