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Topdressing: A Key Cultural Practice


Peter Braun

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Topdressing is a common cultural practice done to golf courses throughout the year. The extent of topdressing varies widely between courses. Some are on extensive programs topdressing every 2-3 weeks on greens, once a month on fairways and tees. While others only topdress after aerification and this could be done once a year to greens only. The variation is due mainly to budget restrictions. If the money is not there then the job will not be done. No matter how much or how little topdressing is done it is a necessary cultural practice to achieve healthy turf, reduce thatch build up and achieve a stable root zone in addition to better drainage. 

 

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At Mount Juliet Aidan uses an rigorous program to achieve healthy turf and good playing surfaces. Greens are topdressed regularly through out the season, tees a couple times a year, and fairways are done about once a month. This past Monday I was able to see first hand the greens topdressing program. To me this was much easier than the tee topdressing following the coring of them. Again the topdressing is done manually, only fairways use a machine to cover the larger areas. Manually topdressing can look like an art form. When everyone knows what they are doing the flow is great everything moves smoothly. To the outsider it looks majestic seeing 4 guys throwing sand on a greens covering the surface with a light coating of sand. This was a great experience and could be useful in the future. 

 

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In the middle of the week the bunkers got a depth check. This occurs periodically as sand moves around from the bunker pro, rain creating wash outs, and normal golfing wear and tear. The desired depth in each bunker was 4 inches. This was checked by digging with a shovel till you hit the soil and seeing the depth. Then sand is manually moved from high spots to low spots followed by the Smithco with a plow to break up the hard sand layer. After this the sand should be equal depth all around and more fluffy. 

 

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With rain predicted for late Thursday and into the weekend, I decided to topdress the putting course. This was the first time the putting course was topdressed since I have been here. With the help of Martin, Keiran, and Adrian we topdressed all 18 greens in just under 2 hours. After lunch we used a drag mat to drag the sand in as much as possible. Then I hand watered the greens to help with the sand stay down in the turf because the irrigation system will not reach all greens evenly. Luckily there was a little rain Thursday night/Friday morning and today there has been a steady rain all day. The greens will be mowed on Tuesday and I will be able to see what is happening. 

 

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