Setting Up For Success

The Maxwell greens are sandy, but for a good reason. A heavy topdress to start the season will support the long hard grind of the summer golf and tournament season with numerous benefits. It has been a long winter. First it was dry and we hosted many rounds of golf on dormant turf. The latter part of winter has delivered moisture and cold temperatures. As we are settling into April, turfgrass is now coming out of dormancy.

Monday we were successfull getting holes punched, cleaned up and all of the sand spread on 20 greens. With the rainfall coming on Tuesday, it was important to put in a long Monday so the course would be open by Wednesday. Working with wet sand is always going to delay the process. As the sand has dried over the last couple of days we are seeing some nice improvements.

There is a myth out there that turf managers take the sand off the green after topdressing. Those that do, they may want to reconsider as they might be sacrafising some major benefits to aerification. It is highly important that all channels are filled with sand completely to the surface and the holes are not bridged.  A full channel of sand is the best method of getting water through the soil profile which provides the best medium for plant health and root development. I urge you to watch this short old video from Washington St. University in 1959 that explains this process in more detail.

This is obviously not a new practice, we are just going about things the right way. As for playing conditions, this a short term hinderance for long term success.