Fairway Topdressing

This past week we completed the spring topdressing of the fairways, approaches and tees. So why do we topdress fairways?

There are a number of very good reasons. Interestingly, some benefit the golfers and others benefit the grass. The following article from the USGA explains the benefits:

GOLFER BENEFITS
Firmer fairways. As topdressing sand accumulates, soft and sometimes puffy bentgrass (and Poa annua) fairways become firmer. This makes for better ball roll and overall fairway playability. Increased turf density also occurs, along with nice tight lies. Firmer fairways also mean . . .

Drier fairways. Due to a combination of factors, such as less thatch and better rooting, fairways need less water, and water that is applied soaks in better. With topdressing, sand intermixes with thatch, as opposed to there being a mat of organic matter that can hold water like a sponge. Topdressed fairways hold less water near the surface and are drier underfoot compared to non-topdressed fairways. Water percolates better through thatch that is diluted with sand. This means . . .

Fewer traffic restrictions. Golf carts and turf equipment can return to fairways sooner after heavy rainfall events, which are so common in the eastern United States. One of the major benefits in the Pacific Northwest has been firmer and drier fairways during those extended periods of soggy weather so common in that area. In the East, it is much more common to have thunderstorms with large amounts of rainfall in a short period of time, causing flooding and saturating everything. Then, the sun comes out and the golfers want to play and ride their carts on fairways. The benefit of the return of traffic on fairways was made clear to me while making a Green Section Turf Advisory Service visit to Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, the day after torrential rains. These storms dumped more than 2.5 inches of rain on the course. Guess what? The fairways were firm and dry enough for them to be topdressed after heavy rains that would normally have left them saturated for days! I became a believer. Sure, there were a few drainage swales that were still wet, but the vast acreage of fairway turf was incredibly firm and dry. This means . . .

Happier golfers. How can it not be worth the cost of topdressing when golfers now can use their course more fully more days of the year? Maybe, just maybe, with fewer complaints during wet weather, this means . . .

A happier superintendent!

TURFGRASS BENEFITS
Improved drainage. In conjunction with a good fairway aeration program, sand-diluted thatch, and sand accumulation over heavy topsoil, water percolates through the soil profile better and faster. Again, less water also is held in the thatch layer.

What about fairway aeration? Initially, traditional core aeration should continue until such time as the sand begins to accumulate. Then, fairways are aerated more with solid tines and less with hollow coring tines. The thought is to not contaminate the sand as it accumulates. In reality, an eventual switch to the use of solid tines is one of the real benefits of this program. Traditional core aeration is despised by most golfers, even though it is a necessary operation. Potentially, fairway topdressing with sand can allow traditional core aeration to be replaced by less-disruptive solid-tine aeration. In the long term, especially as the sand accumulates, there can be a return to core aeration when all the material that is brought up in the aerating process is the accumulated topdressing sand. That's years away. In the final analysis, each course must adjust its fairway aeration program to its own conditions.

Stanley J. Zontek, Director of the Mid-Atlantic Region, has visited courses in the transition zone for more than 20 years.

Greens aerification with Ryan Greens Air 24

Now that we have finished the deep tine aerification it is time for us to come back and complete the small tine aerification. This process removes 12.56% of the surface where as the deep tine operation removed 4.2%. Both processes have very different purposes with the end goal being at least 20% removal per year. We have laboratory data to confirm that we are doing all of the right practices with the aerification process. The data consists of the physical evaluation of the soil structure, the evaluation of the root systems, and the measurement of the organic matter by layer. Remember when you’re watching this that each one of my posts on this blog start with my latest posts first. So if you haven’t watched the video below on the deep tine operation you should go watch it first.