I'm looking for suggestions and photos illustrating what people have done to solve a fairway that must go through a slight marshy area.

I'm installing a course this fall that has 2 holes crossing an area in the woods that is dry most of the time, but does get very muddy after rains. I'm thinking of outlining a 10' wide fairway with railroad ties through the area (about 80' long) and filling it with mulch. Has anyone done this or something similar?

Better yet, does anyone have any photos of a something like that?

I'm looking for suggestions and photos illustrating what people have done to solve a fairway that must go through a slight marshy area.

I'm installing a course this fall that has 2 holes crossing an area in the woods that is dry most of the time, but does get very muddy after rains. I'm thinking of outlining a 10' wide fairway with railroad ties through the area (about 80' long) and filling it with mulch. Has anyone done this or something similar?

Better yet, does anyone have any photos of a something like that?At that really nice course in northern Kentucky, name is escaping me, Idlewild, they made slag or crushed limestone paths down some of their muddy fairways. This not only helps players stay out of mud they can throw over, but it concentrates the foot traffic in a narrow area so ground cover can come in. Otherwise, players walk anywhere and the ground cover that would stop erosion get tramp out.

I've never seen anyone build a causeway across a muddy fairway. I've seen pallet bridges more than once.

I am abandoning a couple of holes on Renaissance Original course because of muddy fairways. If the holes were on more level ground I would have built a narrow boardwalk for players to use. With a boardwalk or a defined mulched or gravel pathway the players can walk on it until they need to split off to where their shot landed, kind of like the 90 degree rule in ball golf. That would eliminate churning up the fairway where every player walks until they have to go out to their disc.

If you come up with some other good ideas, please share them. This is not an uncommon problem on many courses. Mulch works for a time but since it decomposes quickly the problem just keeps coming back. Some areas are so muddy that you can keep hauling gravel and it sinks down in time. I hate hauling buckets of gravel.

Good luck and keep us posted with new ideas.

I can think of a few holes like this that we decided not to build because of the marsh problem. Here in Virginia, with the Chesapeake Bay Act in full force to protect such areas, we probably would have had to build a bridge, at great expense, to traverse the area in order to comply with the Act. If wetlands are protected in your state, you may find yourelf in a similar situation. Building a raised area through wetlands is going to potentially damage the wetlands eco system. The bridge is less damaging over the longer term of time, but will cost much more.

These are the types of holes that you sometimes have to give up on due to cost and/or damage to the land.

Thanks for the input. I don't think the area is too bad actually. It is dry most of the time but just gets a little muddy. I think I'll try laying down railroad ties along the edges of the fairway and filling the area with mulch to the very top.

Hey Brook. So I have worked on trail crews in the west and built bog bridges, used wire boxes like small Jacob's boxes, boardwalks, and other techniques to solve this problem. I would suggest you talk with the local State Park people or if you have a National Forest near you they will have the best infromation on what will work in your area. It all come dow to what is under there as to what will be the best long term solution. If you can't anchor those RR ties to something solid they will roll out of the way.