We are going to resume a top dressing program that we started 10 years ago but unfortunately, backed off of. Rather than using sand to topdress the fairway turf, we’ll be using an organic compost amendment that will add valuable nutrient and water holding capacity to a relatively sterile environment. River sand can make an excellent rootzone but it can also make a poor rootzone if it's not properly tested. Historically, it was used more often used in the golf business because of cost. It's a lot less expensive compared to other sands and can usually be acquired from a local source, where river dredging is ongoing. The problem with it is, you never fully know what you're getting. There is no way for quality control between one load to the next at many local operations. The safer alternative, and more costly alternative, is using a mined sand that was sifted and comes with the assurances that it meets a USGA spec in terms of particle size analysis. While it sounds like a small detail, this can dictate the quality of a playing surface.
By incorporating small amounts of compost, we will be improving the ability of the root zone to hold onto nutrients, that are ultimately available to the grass. It also will allow the root zone to have more ability to hold onto water, also used by the turf.
The 12th fairway will be cart path only, just for today. This organic soil will stick to cart tires and track up the fairway really bad if carts are allowed on the turf. Thank you for your patience today while we work to improve this surface.
