I am back! I know many of you have been anxiously waiting another “Turf Talk” post (sense the sarcasm), so I appreciate your patience. I had great intentions to resume regular blog posts a few weeks ago, but autumn is always a busy time around here. Our summer help leaves us just in time for aerification and over seeding, which means I often find myself taking part in the work too. I am not going to pretend that I am busting my butt as hard as the rest of the crew, but I do get out there a little more often than normal which pulls me away from things like the “Turf Talk” blog. Sprinkle in a busy 1-year old toddler to supplement our 3-year old, and spare time has been hard to find lately. We had a pretty good fall, minus all the rain, and the course is in good shape right now. This is hands down the best season to play so get out here before the weather turns.
I had a great question posed to me the other day that I wanted to share. The question was whether to replace a divot, or use the sand and seed bottles provided at the pro shop and our first tee complexes. Sometimes I forget that what seems like common knowledge to me is not something that most golfers know (or should know for that matter), so I wanted to take a quick minute to answer the question.
In almost every instance, use the sand and seed mix provided to you on your carts, at the clubhouse, and the first hole of every nine. Ninety-nine percent of the divots taken on the course do not contain enough root mass to survive the reestablishment period. What doesn’t succumb to displacement by a mower or drag mat will most likely dry up and wilt before a solid root system can take hold. Also, remember we have ryegrass fairways and ryegrass has a very quick germination period. This, combined with a higher seed to sand ratio of our mix, allows divots to recover from seed very quickly.
If you don’t happen to have the sand and seed mix with you and your divot is substantial, then by all means replace your divot. There is a small chance for reestablishment and a small chance is better than no chance at all. If you have mix with you and your divot lacks any realistic chance of survival, toss it out of the fairway. This keeps things looking cleaner and a member of our crew will fill it while on divot patrol.
Thanks for the question! You know who you are and keep them coming. I will continue to address topics that I feel are important and interesting to you all, but remember I do this for a living so what may be obvious to me may not be to you. Your questions and comments go a long way in steering the direction of this blog so keep them coming. After all, the goal of this page is to inform, entertain, and provide insight to the golfer.
Autumn is the prettiest time of year on the course so enjoy some photos from the other day.
