The Longue Vue Club EXisting Greens Drainage

Posted January 9, 2012

I wanted to show a few pictures of this grand old club in the Pittsburgh area, The Longue Vue Club . This sleeper of a club also boasts one of the golf worlds top 10 clubhouses, for those that are in to that kind of thing. Most of my readers are in to golf course architecture, and this club boasts a virtually untouched(greens) A.W. Tillinghast gem:

The above pic shows a work in progress, but notice the mild berm/mounding around the back of the green which does continue around the entire left side. Several of these types of greens exist at Longue Vue which serve to cut off the surface water from the surrounding hilly terrain before it gets close to the greens surface. As well, the club has already installed interceptor drains inside the mounding to try and cut off the gravitational groundwater which is causing sidehill seepage on to the greens surface. But, that has not even proved to solve the entire problem, as the club has chosen to move forward with our internal, subsurface greens drainage system as the last step in their process to firm up their classic putting surfaces for the long term.

This finished pic above illustrates the walk down from the cart path where I took the pic. There is no berm or mounding encircling this green as the terrain behind is only rising 10′, and not close to 100′. However, an interceptor drain is still needed here in the collar to prevent the subsurface groundwater from bleeding on to the greens surface between our XGD laterals.

So again, reach out to us as hundreds of other clubs have, to discuss a possible solution to your clubs drainage issues. And stay tuned as I show some more miraculous fairway drainage pictures where we have allowed clubs to provide premium playing conditions immediately after heavy precipitation events. Lets face it, for the sport of golf to continue sustainably, the ability to provide more playable golf days on the calendar will serve both public and private facilities well over the long term.

Bye for now, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer