This is a plug I took on the 16th tee, one of the new tees constructed last winter. Here are some observations that might interest you. Most people think that roots are growing in search of water when in reality, they grow were oxygen is plentiful. In the case of a brand new sand, like these tees were built on, oxygen is plentiful in the pore spaces between the sand particles. As the tee ages, the root mass won't look near this massive because that pore space becomes clogged up with organic matter, leaving less room for roots. This is why periodic aerification of tees and greens in necessary- to remove the existing soil and replace the plugs that were pulled with new sand, complete with nice large pore spaces, ideal for roots and water movement.
You can see right below the grass line is a 3/4" layer of soil on top of the sand. This is what came with the sod. In situations like this, where we are constructing a sand based tee or green, we would rather use "washed sod" as opposed to what you see here. Washing sod is the process of using a pressure washer to remove the soil from the sod, after it is harvested at the sod farm. What you're left with is just the grass and roots. Of course, this adds to the cost because it is a time consuming process (washing sod adds approximately $0.40 per square foot to the cost of the sod). Washed sod is delivered on a refrigerated truck to prevent it from drying out during transport. After the sod installed on the golf course, water management becomes critical because there is no soil on the sod to hold water for the turf to use. If the sod is to be placed over a sand base (like a tee or green), it's always best to remove the soil, mostly for drainage purposes, which I won't get into on this post. Soil Physics is a whole area of study itself. During the winter, the sod farm was not able to wash the sod because the machine that removes the soil was winterized to prevent it from freezing. Therefore, we'll rely on aggressive aerification (pulling plugs) to remove that soil layer over time. Hopefully this gave you some insight into some of our practices here at Highlands CC.
On another note, we are using the next 3 days to get caught up from the long Holiday weekend. With the golf course incredibly busy, we didn't even attempt to mow rough and other areas during the afternoons. Because of inefficiency and safety concerns, it's best to let the golfers have it when it's that busy and then catch up when things slow down. Greens and approaches are receiving a light sand topdressing this afternoon.
