I wish the pictures depicting this accomplishment were better, but this was exciting and worth sharing.  The 17th pond annually had run out of water resulting in in the condition depicted below:

 

 

There was also a problem of the base of the dam leaked a good deal of water making the area from the dam all the way to the 17th approach a bog. 

 

 

 

When I was hired, the plan on the drawing board was a $100,000 dredging of the pond and an additional $5,000 in drainage work on the approach.

 

 

Working intuitively, we repaired the spillway, patched the wall, identified leaks in the pond, and restored old drainage.  The resulting repairs cost about $75 in materials, the pond stays full all summer, and the approach does not swallow balls anymore, in fact the run up shot is very much an option here now.