Moar Sand Honeyman, moar sand.

Sand topdressing has been a staple in modern turfcare practices since the 1870's. This is thanks to a very fortunate accident when Old Tom Morris accidentally spilled a wheelbarrow full of sand on one of the greens at St. Andrews while renovating an adjacent bunker. To his surprise the turf in this area seemed to recover and do much better than any other spot on the Old Course. After this important accident Old Tom coined the phrase "Moar sand Honeyman, moar sand." (moar = more in Scottish tounge,and Honeyman being the nickname for his grounds assistant).

The primary objectives of topdressing include:

Smooth surface, finer textured turf, with tighter, more upright growth.

Uniform and consistent putting surfaces.

Thatch and compaction control for better shot holding characteristics.

Modification of the surface layer of soil.

Control of unwanted grain.

This year at Kamloops Golf Club our Turfcare Department has undertaken a much more aggressive topdressing program. This includes bi-weekly heavier topdressings followed by a greens roller, fitted with double brushes to help push the sand into the turf canopy and eventually into the soil profile. 

Topdressing with a broadcast topdresser incorporates gravity and depressions of the greens surface. As the sand falls and rolls into low spots, the surface is slowly built up and becomes more uniform over repeated applications. This is aided by our roller with brushes.

As you can see, the sand is sitting on top of the grass leaves and after the roller/brush passes over the sand is pushed down into the canopy. This will aid in dilution of the thatch layer, making for better water infiltration and a firmer putting surface. We also irrigate for 4-6 min afterwards to help push any remaining sand from the surface and alleviate wear on our mower reels and bedknives.

The roller is fitted with 2 double brushes to push the sand into voids such a ball marks and uneven surface undulations. This aids in creating a uniform, smooth putting surface. 

Since we have started on this cultural program we have found our greens to be much firmer, faster and smoother. This has been echoed by golfers on the course and we have heard many compliments, including some from our former long time Golf Pro, Mike Graas. 

Irrigation management has also been a part of our effort to firmer, smoother greens. Last week we went 6 days without watering our greens, and the week before we had 5 days, with some light rainfall in between. In doing this we have been dealing with some localized dry spots on the greens which have been lessened by handwatering with a wetting agent called Retain. 

Part of the problem we face with these isolated dry spots is that the thatch layer is preventing water from moving into the soil profile. Water is often seen beading and running off the greens during irrigation.

A short term solution we will be attempting this week is to apply a penetrant chemical to help water move through the thatch and soil profile. Long term solution is to continue on our topdressing program, and incorporate aeration once our turf has reached a healthy enough level.

Drying out the greens has also aided in driving root growth. As we closely monitor the root depth of the greens we have noticed the roots going deeper and deeper as they search for water further down in the soil profile. 

With a heavier topdressing program we have adopted the phrase "moar sand Honeyman, moar sand". We aim to create a firmer, smoother, faster putting surface while increasing water infiltration. This all in thanks to Old Tom Morris and his sand mishap. Thanks Tom!