Three Weeks, 18 greens

We did it again, and this time on some of the most undulating putting surfaces I have ever seen, and I've seen my share. The original Walter Travis greens at the CC of Scranton http://www.ccscranton.com/ needed some assistance to take them to the next level, and the club chose XGD to help them do just that.

Terry Hart and crews arrived in early October and were done in three weeks time, even with 2 days lost to inclement weather. Kudos also to the Scranton maintenance staff who were a pleasure to work with, and it is with their cooperation that the project was pulled off in such a timely manner.

Later, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer

Standing Water Over Top of an XGD Lateral??

Folks it happens, and almost always in the fall installation period. Let me explain the circumstances leading up to this terrible, disheartening situation!

1. The XGD process is different than most have learned in school and with experience. Water moves from the bottom up and rarely from top down.
2.After a season of rolling,compacting and little to no aerification before our crew arrives a layer of surface tension is created at the sod/air interface.
3.The surface tension is further increased by the compaction steps in the XGD installation process, which occurs over the entire green with our extensive plywood use.
4.Once XGD is complete further rolling is completed to open for play, again increasing the surface tension.

So, from time to time I will get the call from clubs that the process isn't working when truly beneath the turf the water table has been lowered. When conditions are favourable an aerification needs to be scheduled to break through the surface tension. In all XGD situations this relieves the surface water problem. Now I can't speak to XGD knockoffs, as there are a host of other variables involved that could cause a failure in their systems, that I won't get into.

Please feel free to comment or question this position.

Out, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer

Westchester CC XGD

Here are some shots of one of the crews at Westchester CC completing the final 18 greens there this fall. The condition of the putting surfaces is a testament to the fine maintenance staff they have here, especially since the county received record rainfall over most of the summer period.

These XGD staff members are on Mark Rowan's crews and they are certainly finely attired in the latest XGD green, complete with the tri-national flag XGD ballcaps.

Hopefully the weather at all our sites continues to mildly cooperate to keep the crews on schedule. Stay tuned for some more recent XGD install pics from some of the countries finest major championship venues.

Divots, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer

Project Notes

Some more grass/dirt in the back left here. This is the second green at Toronto GC where alterations were made to the grade in the back of the green by TDIGolf http://www.tdigolf.com/ just before our crew arrived and we were able to install the XGD System in to both "Dirt & Grass". the crew has just 2 greens laft at this historic old tract, after a brief sojourn to Barrie CC, to complete an install there.

Terry Hart's XGD crews are wrapping up 18 surfaces at CC of Scranton on Monday, before travelling to Oak Hill CC to begin their 6 green endeavour, finally heading to Chicagoland for November.

While at Westchester CC, Mark Rowan's crews are nicely underway on the last 18 greens here, which in 4 weeks will complete all 36 greens with XGD.

Our hope is that Mother Nature keeps cooperating even a little bit in to the late fall season so the crews can stay close to schedule. it has been several years since our last early freeze out around Thanksgiving in southern MD, and trust me we are due, but hey, who really knows for sure.

Regards, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer

Question: Why doesn't XGD use gravel/peastone backfill?

This query comes up quite a bit in my travels. I believe it gets asked because it goes against everything learned or taught to golf course superintendents. To most outsiders looking in drainage moves on a top down basis through the soil?
Really. Well yes it does in surface flow catch basin situations dealing with excess surface water after the pore space in the soil is filled with gravitational groundwater.
Otherwise, we here at XGD believe groundwater moves from the bottom upwards through the soil.
Hence, a peastone/gravel layer sounds good in theory, but practically water moves from the bottom upwards.

More specifically though the blog topic is "Why doesn't XGD use gravel/peastone backfill?"

1. Pipe design is for direct sand backfill. Folks, the micro-slits are a unique concept.

2. So, why initiate a step in our process when it is not required?

3. Our own studies have shown that over a period of over 15 years, our XGD pipes have remained open and operating, and completely clean, without gravel!

4. The concept of peastone backfilling or enveloping the pipe is old and tired in the golf industry. Case in point, Farmers have been using native backfill without gravel backfill for 100's of years, and billions upon billions more miles of drainage tile, than golf courses.

5. Peastone/gravel backfill is also used by XGD knockoffs to help in grade errors in their trench? Again, XGD guarantees 1%slope on all their pipe installs, and we don't require the use of peastone to fix grade errors, because we don't make them.

6. This question is tied in to guaranteeing XGD clients receive a long term agronomic tool for their golf greens. XGD realizes our process is a significant expense for each club, but each club will realize a minimum 20 year return on their original XGD investment.

In conclusion, XGD is unique and different from all others in the industry, and we are constantly striving to be more efficient, and come up with new ways to service our clients. Please feel free to pose any more questions on this topic and/or initiate a discussion.

Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer

Thanksgiving

Having worked with both the US and Cdn Thanksgiving over the last 20 years or so an observation from me might suggest I prefer the later date of the American version, and how it molds in to a four day weekend weekend late in November when you really need it most, which in turn begins the consumer cycle to Christmas Day. No national pride partiality involved here, I call it as I see it between our 2 countries. How do I see it? Both countries are eerily similar and need to get over themselves from time to time.

I am going to take this truly unique Canadian holiday to give back to our customers and include perimeter/interceptor drains where needed at no extra price. Just something we have been doing all along but never truly realized it is another way to distinguish ourselves from any XGD knockoffs that may exist out there. Our installation staff http://www.greensdrainage.com/ has decades of training in how to review each greensite as a mini watershed, and thus take in to account the various ground and surface water tendencies of each.

The above picture indicates one of the undulating green sites at CC of Scranton http://www.ccscranton.com/ . Having performed our process on over thousands of greens from Florida to Maine, I must admit the greens at Scranton are in a class of their own, with curvy movements you won't find anywhere else. The XGD project with 3 crews is progressing well and should be complete in about 2 weeks, before these crews move on to Oak Hill CC http://www.oakhillcc.com/ and Westchester County, NY.

Until Next Time, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer

Fall Colors

On site views this week from the 8th green looking backwards at CC of Scranton. We have 3 crews here and are working to be complete in 3 weeks.

Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer