From Mid-May through October, your fairways are sprayed every 21 days with a couple of plant protectants. One is a fungicide to protect the turf from a number of diseases. The mix also contains a plant growth regulator and the liquid fertilizers. These products help keep the turf in great shape. If you play early on these days (we always spray fairways on a Tuesday morning), you might notice foam balls every 30 feet or so. Fortunately they dissolve quickly because they can make finding your golf ball in the fairway a little frustrating! The purpose of these foam balls is to mark the edge of the sprayers last pass. That way, when the operator turns around to make the next pass, he can see exactly where he needs to spray to. The sprayer is equipped with a nozzle at the end of each boom that drops the foam marker every so many seconds. We do not use foam markers when we spray greens and tees because instead, we use a spray tank additive, green dye. As the spray technician treats the putting greens, the dye is evident on their previous pass. So, if you ever wondered why there is foam on the fairways every so often, you now know!
