What Is The Green Sand Mix Used To Repair Divots

For golf generations, divots accept been the blight of golfers and superintendents, making divot repair and divot direction programs an integral part of golf course maintenance practices. In a 1941 installment of the "Greenskeeper's Reporter," a story even quoted 3 greens chairmen as saying, "divots were the "No. ane pest."

Oddly enough, despite this loftier-profile identify in turf maintenance register, footling research had been done on the methods and materials used to control this "pest" – at least until a recent study past the Academy of Illinois.

Among the findings published in 2005 by the GCSAA, respondents spent an average $3,671 in labor and materials to repair divots on course tees, $4,240 on fairways and $3,383 on range tees. There was a wide range in almanac divot-related expenditures, ranging from $500 to $33,000, according to the GCSAA.

7 years later, vast differences keep to exist in the scope of superintendents' turf practices in regards to divot repair. For instance, superintendent Jason Adams of Blue Colina Country Order in County, Mass., takes a measured arroyo to repairing his private grade divots, including the use of a special mix supplied by New England Specialty Soils.

Adams says i critical tip in ensuring healthy divot repair is picking the "correct mix that works for you lot." In the case of Blueish Colina, Adams uses an 80-10-10 mix of sand, peat and compost material, respectively. He also dedicates an private every twenty-four hour period to fill up in divots not just on range tees, only the entire form every bit well.

Another fundamental practice that Adams employs is making a point to give par-3 holes and range tees a "little extra moisture" a couple times a day just to "proceed the mix a little bit on the moist side."

Another ingredient Adams finds helpful is the EarthWorks Renovate Construction Mix. Adams mixes in the amendment with his seed-soil mix and finds the actress source of minerals heals his turf quicker.

"For us we feel similar we go quicker germination when we mix the Renovate in with the seed soil mix," Adams says.

On the Southern California coast, superintendent Steve Thomas of the Resort at Pelican Hill implemented several changes to his divot repair regimen after Pelican Loma completely renovated its upscale courses in 2006-07 and converted the property from a ryegrass-Bermudagrass fairway mix to 100 pct Tifway 2 Bermudagrass fairways. For example, Thomas at present uses direct sand to fill in fairway divots that no longer need to exist overseeded.

Thomas is experimenting with a darker custom divot blend to help speed up recovery because the darker compost fabric tends to "heat up the basis temperature and assist the Bermuda recover a little quicker."

In fact, when Thomas drew up the pros and cons of fully resodding Pelican Hill'due south fairways with Bermudagrass the outset con he came up with was divot repair, specially in the wintertime months when the Bermuda goes semi-dormant.

"So we fill (the divots) as fast every bit nosotros can with sand," says Thomas, who'southward inbound his tenth year at the Tom Fazio-designed resort course. "Nosotros however overseed the tees so we send a crew out typically as a second chore and fill the tee-tops, especially on the par-3s that get a lot of atomic number 26 play. Our 2nd jobs are ordinarily effectually ix-10 o'clock. At that place'll be some play, but we'll become behind them and take intendance of the divots from the day before."

Likewise the new Tifway 2 fairways, two other noticeable changes to Thomas' daily divot repair schedule are painted sand and re-filling divot boxes. Neither of these divot practices is deployed anymore.

Thomas stopped painting divot sand for cosmetic reasons equally a price- and labor-savings measure out. He also got rid of his "tacky" divot boxes because golfers never utilized them, or didn't know what to do with them, according to Thomas.

"We tried to use them in different locations but (golfers) seemed to ignore them, kick them and merely put their drinks on 'em," says Thomas, who's in his tenth twelvemonth equally Pelican Colina'southward superintendent. "We just never really gotten use out of them. So our guys volition do the remainder of the divots in-firm. Nosotros go pretty adept command that way."

At ane of Florida's newest individual golf clubs, Bella Collina in Montverde, Fla., superintendent Jeff Helms doesn't have anywhere virtually the budget or crew that Thomas enjoys. And so Helms goes nigh his daily divot drudgery the old-fashioned fashion: divot-past-divot, and hoping members and guests fill up in their part, too.

Helms relies on the golfers to replace and fill fairway divots due to his short staff state of affairs. For the tees, especially during the winter overseed months, Helms goes out 1-two times per calendar week and simply fills in divots with Florida's ubiquitous light-green divot sand – mixed with a 5-to-1 ratio of sand to ryegrass seed in large 5-gallon buckets.

"Information technology'due south non a big scientific discipline project going on out there," says Helms.

Simply it works for Bella Collina for now. And probably dozens of other cash-strapped superintendents driven to control those dastardly divots.

Scott Kauffman is a Clermont, Fla.-based freelance writer and a frequent GCI correspondent.

Source: https://www.golfcourseindustry.com/article/gci0512-divot-repair-tips/

Posted by: mcneilfroffelf.blogspot.com

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