Course Update 5/26/21

 All 29 greens were verticut, mowed, and topdressed today prior to the heavy rain forecasted for tonight.  Verticutting is a common practice in the spring to remove excess leaf tissue and Poa seedheads.  It also helps stand the grass blades up for a cleaner cut, which results in faster and smoother ball roll.  After the greens are verticut and the debris is blown off, the putting surfaces are mowed to cleanup the longer grass blades, then a light sand topdressing is applied.  Now that we're in season and mowing greens daily, only a small amount of sand is applied weekly.  We refer to this as a "Sugar Coating" and it has minimal effect on the mowers.  If a heavier amount of sand is applied it would dull the mowers after the first green and take longer to be incorporated into the turf canopy.  We normally apply heavy amounts of sand in the spring and fall in conjunction with aerification.  Frequently topdressing greens in season has become more common as the benefits of light applications of sand are better understood.  Firmer, smoother, and drier putting surfaces can be expected by golfers, while Superintendents are seeing healthier turf that requires less water and can withstand increased foot traffic and extreme weather events.

One of our older, riding greens mowers is fitted with special verticutting heads so any of our equipment operators can perform this important task. Most of the leaf tissue and seedheads removed during the process are collected by the grass baskets mounted in front of the verticut heads, but some debris is left on the putting surface and needs to be blown off before topdressing occurs.

Here's the putting surface immediately after verticutting where the individual rows created by the verticut blades are visible.

Lakes #8 green after lightly topdressing.

Here's a closeup of a topdressed green with a golf ball in the center of a small area brushed in by hand to give a better idea of the "Sugar Coating" reference.