Sand... Arrrr... part rant..

[vkurup]

Played Merrist Wood with a member. I like the course and it has its quirks. However this time round, I was amazed at the amount of sand on the green. Some of the approach shots would land with a puff of dust. Could not read any breaks and speed. Sometimes it would speed up and sometimes it would'nt.

When we finished, spoke to the pro and he said the sand was for 'maintenance and act as fertiliser'. Never heard of that one before. Thoughts from any greenfingers? also anyone struggling with the sand on the green.

 

[Slab]

Played Merrist Wood with a member. I like the course and it has its quirks. However this time round, I was amazed at the amount of sand on the green. Some of the approach shots would land with a puff of dust. Could not read any breaks and speed. Sometimes it would speed up and sometimes it would'nt.

When we finished, spoke to the pro and he said the sand was for 'maintenance and act as fertiliser'. Never heard of that one before. Thoughts from any greenfingers? also anyone struggling with the sand on the green.

My bold: Maybe just lost in the conversation with the pro but sand for maintenance is easy to understand but agree not heard it used as a fertilizer (I never thought it you'd class the sand as such even as part of a mix)

For putting i'd be reducing the influence of any break I saw and aiming for a good 2ft past on longer putts

 

[duncan mackie]

very common - old Tom Morris started it all by doing this every Sunday on the Old Course.....fertiiser will depend on what else is added to the dressing.

 

[Deleted member 15717]

It's top dressing. very common. should be part of every golf club's maintenance plan, especially at this time of year. It will help smooth out the imperfections in the green, from things such as pitchmarks

 

[pokerjoke]

Our course does it once a year.
Its like putting on a beach,however it seems to work as the greens are good at the mo.

 

[Foxholer]

Seems to be top-dressing rather than sand, though there may be sand in with it.

It's that time of year!

They may have been sliced or tined as well!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have our greens top dressed a couple of times a yearand it just needs the donkey to be like Blackpool beach. The members moan like buggery for a few weeks but I try and be pragmatic and accept making putts will be impossible and they won't get above 4 on the stimp (ok that may be an exaggeration)

 

[pbrown7582]

Played Merrist Wood with a member. I like the course and it has its quirks. However this time round, I was amazed at the amount of sand on the green. Some of the approach shots would land with a puff of dust. Could not read any breaks and speed. Sometimes it would speed up and sometimes it would'nt.

When we finished, spoke to the pro and he said the sand was for 'maintenance and act as fertiliser'. Never heard of that one before. Thoughts from any greenfingers? also anyone struggling with the sand on the green.

All part of routine maintenance not helpfully to play but an essential for good quality greens long term.

 

[John Boy Saint]

Playing at the Golf processing plant on the Algarve we had the pleasure of having to putt on every other green that had been dressed like this. You had no chance of getting any rhythm, and this added to the whole disenchantment.

 

[Scrindle]

My club has just done this on the greens! I wondered what was going on but was playing a twilight round and the pro shop had closed by the time I finished.

As well as sand on top of the greens there is a matrix of tiny holes printed into it too??

 

[Andy808]

My club has just done this on the greens! I wondered what was going on but was playing a twilight round and the pro shop had closed by the time I finished.

As well as sand on top of the greens there is a matrix of tiny holes printed into it too??

The matrix of holes is where the greenkeepers have hollow tined (removed a small rod of the green to aerate them) or solid tined ( still to aerate the green but wit smaller holes). They take about a week to heal over but the greens will be much better after it has been done.

If the course is near the coast then they might use sea sand which has nutrients in it naturally. Farmers use it a lot on the fields to help fertilise and to help condition the soil but I would suspect on a course then the fertiliser is added so they know the mix that is on the greens.

 

[vkurup]

I learn something new everydady... It felt like I was playing in Dubai or something.. Luckily a bit of overnight rain, so weekend should be a much better place.. Got a match on Friday..

 

[Sid Rixon IV]

Almost every hole on our course was like it yesterday.
You could see the path of every ball putted along with the borrow.
I holed an uphill 20' cracker using that info
Our greens are generally superb so we accept it as a necessary pain for a few games.