Why So Much Sand??

After the aeration process, we remove soil cores with snow shovels. When we began turfgrass improvement programs a few years ago, our goals were to change greens' soils, not because our native soils were bad for golf, but because we know that growing greens' turf in sand provides the best possible conditions for golf and reliable turfgrass.

After greens are aerated we add 20 to 25 tons of United States Golf Association (USGA) tested and approved sand. The sand is dried in an oven and is worked into aeration holes as aggressively as possible without bruising and injuring turf.

The sand injection process adds another 15 tons of identical sand to the greens for a total of 35 to 40 tons each time we complete this process.

Research behind 100% sand greens was funded by the USGA and has become the accepted standard for new golf course construction since the 1970's. Properly built sand based greens drain excess water within the soil profile much faster than native soil greens. While a good native soil green may percolate water at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour, sand based greens drain 12 inches of water per hour. Sand based greens also are firmer, provide uniform pore spaces for water and increased root mass, warm faster for better recovery in spring, accept a well played golf shot, are easier to irrigate, and can better withstand lower mowing heights.

I wrote earlier this season that Golf Course Superintendents prefer to have control when it comes to water. Greens grown in a sandy soil medium will drain water more efficiently. Greens that drain are better greens because we have more control of the amount of water in the soil profile.

The final step in our aeration program was the deep tine aerator. This machine aerated our greens to a depth of 10", as opposed to the other two methods that aerated to 4" and 7". Together with the added sands, all the 4 to 10" aeration channels that are created also help to drain excess water from the soil profile.

Why is there so much sand on the greens? The best method available to older golf courses like Potowomut that desire great modern greens is to aerate, remove cores and add sand! We are still "switching" soils the greens are grown in, from native soil to sands, with the goal of providing great reliable greens that are a joy to play golf on.