Our fairway topdressing sand (orange colored sand above) is being delivered to the Club and staged in the Clubhouse parking lot. The sand used for fairway topdressing is that of lesser quality and therefore less expensive, costing about $30/ton. To put this into perspective, a dump truck can carry about 10 tons. This means a dump truck load of this sand would cost $300. The gray sand on the other hand, is the 90% sand 10% peat mix that is a guaranteed particle size analysis to meet the USGA spec for putting green construction. Do to the fact the sand is sieved for this precise analysis, the cost of the sand quickly increases. A good USGA sand would cost approximately $50 per ton, just shy of double that of the fairway sand. These sands were purchased from Bulk Aggregate...a company based out of Atlanta. The sand comes from a variety of places, with most of it being mined. This particular sand comes from Howard, GA, a small spot between Macon and Columbus where clean silica deposits are found at the beginning of the coastal plain fall line. Sandersville, Georgia is another hot location for mined sands and where our bunker sand originates. Golf courses use a small portion of sand materials- I've heard roughly 5% or so of the market. Other industries, like manufacturers of porcelain or glass use a majority of the sand mined in the world.
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