What actually is a Purr-wick golf green and how are they constructed?
The Purr-wick golf green design was first conceived in 1966 at Purdue University by Dr William H. Daniel. The design was attempting to create capillary action from coarse sand to fine sand. Basically a water pool/table on the bottom of the green created by a plastic barrier. This water will be absorbed by capillary action to the finer sand above. In theory you can change the level of the water in the green by adding or reducing risers that are located at the drainage exit. This water table is created by separate tiers on golf greens with contours. So a high area on a green is one tier and a low area is another. Most greens at the Pinery have 3-4 tiers as far as we can tell, since we have locate most of the outgoing drains. The ability to manage the water table on Purr-wick golf greens gives the design an advantage to manage water in extreme weather conditions.
The Purr-wick design was originally constructed for water conservation on sports turf and eventually found its way to the golf industry. There are still many examples of Purr-wick greens construction mostly in the mid west. As far as I know we have the largest examples of Purr-wick construction in the country with 27 golf greens.
#8 green lake course
Note the plastic liner and the separate tiers.
You can see the pipe on right of the green that exits to the right.
Profile View of Purr-wick golf green
Cross section drawing of drainage and riser system
Notice the water table and capillary action to the sand above
