Thanks to all of you who take the admonition to "leave the course in better condition than you found it" to heart. I certainly appreciate the efforts to fix ball marks, observe traffic stakes, minimizing the # of carts on the course and the divot fill. The divot fill is a tricky one as unfortunately the best laid plans of mice and men can sometimes be counter productive. Take a look at the following 2 photos and note which one indicates the best filled divot
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| (1) PYRAMID POWER |
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| (2) PYRAMID POWER + ACCENTS |
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| (3) SWEET!
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If you chose #3, you are correct. It is actually the same divot! The dilligent golfer poured the divot mix into the divot in pictures #1 and 2. Unfortunately it is way too much, causing the dreaded pyramid ( I get it, sand and pyramids right. They seem to go together). The problem is that this sand then passes through the reels on our fairway unit. Picture operating a pair of scissors in a bucket of sand. You can imagine the abrasiveness and the dulling of the blade that results. The goal with divot fill is to only replace the soil removed. Picture 3 displays the correct depth. Please note that it is not to the top of the grass, but rather to the top of the soil, which is below the thatch. The bermudagrass will simply creep over the sand, returning the playing surface to its original condition. Voila! Filling to the grass top will result in crowning, a phenomenon cleary evident on our par 3 tees (example #17 White)
The finished product shown in #3 was achieved by simply kicking the excess sand with a sweeping motion into the surrounding turf. It's actually a "personal topdress"! Unless you can perfectly meter out the correct amount of sand from the bottle, the sweep will be a necessary additional step. Please note that if the thatch layer has merely been tufted up and no soil is showing, you do not need to add sand.
Hopefully this helps and thanks again to all of you who support Dept 40's efforts here at WR.