Alterations to Greens via Topdressing

[Jeff Goldman]

I spent some time this year looking at the greens on my courses, and whenever the super or someone on his staff showed me a soil sample, the first x (2-4-6) inches is sand (I assume from topdressing), with maybe soil mix topdressing below that.  Therefore, it seems hard to say we are putting on the original greens, regardless of the fact that many have not been intentionally modified, and have been brought back to original shapes and sizes.  Is this true at almost all classic courses?  Do some courses try to minimize this somehow?  I recall Tom Doak saying a while ago that one of the best things about Chicago Golf is that you putt on 18 original Seth Raynor greens; not restored, not expanded back or anything -- his greens.  Is that really true?

As my own counter, I have a few pictures of some of our more severely undulating greens from the 1920s, and the contours look very, very similar to what's out there now.  Maybe just raised a few inches.

Jeff Goldman

[Brent Hutto]

I've often wondered the same thing. It seems impossible for regular topdressing not to have some net effect on contours over a period of decades.

I'll ask a more speculative question. Would a superintendent ever deliberately shade the topdressing heaviness to tone down or accentuate a certain contour? Or would that just be asking for trouble drainage-wise or turf-consistency-wise?

[Anthony_Nysse]

Jeff and Brent,
  When we topdress, we stress the importance of having even distribution-You're not just throwing sand on the high spots, but also the lows-USUALLY, there has been some grooming of verticutting done which allows the sand to get down into the thatch layer and not be dispursed unevenly. The sand then works it's was into the soil profile.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[David_Tepper]

Also, don't forget that sand thrown from greenside bunkers over time can alter the contours of a green, as well as change bunker lips. I believe one of the reasons the Road Hole bunker on #17 at TOC gets redone from time to time is to take off some of the height of the bunker lip that gets built up by sand thrown from the bunker.    

Obviously, this situation is more accute on public courses that might get 50,000 to 100,000 rounds of play a year.

[TEPaul]

That's true---particularly fronting bunkers can have their tops (and the slope of the green over them) grow 3-4 feet over time. Really good examples of that are Merion's #8, #13 and PVGC's #17.

We have a few pretty radical contours on a green at my course that was just rebuilt. Those contours need toning down. Our choices were to strip the sod and get Gil Hanse (our restoratoin architect) to tone them down or just tone them down over a few years by topdressing and aeriating.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Good Point-We actually resod our the green area directly in front of the bunkers on our practice putting greens alsmost ever spring.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Donnie Beck]

Most heavy topdressings are following aerification. You are removing soil when you pick up your plugs. The top dressing is simply diluting the thatch layers and if done properly shouldn't affect any contours on the green. Sand from bunkers is a much more serious concern IMHO.

[Michael_Stachowicz]

I feel that dragging in topdressing can soften contours over the years.   Dragging. by nature, distributes more topdressing to the low spots and  pulls topdressing from the high spots.  With some spines and other features on our Raynor greens  I feel it is important to pay attention to this by dragging along a spine rather than over it, for example.  The levels on a maiden green or a double plateau could certainly be softened by brushing or matting perpindicular to the slope rather than paralleling.  

Choice of dragging tool could be important as well. For example hand brushing with push brooms could minimize this vs. the pull behind brush/wheel (grain master) apparatus.  A piece of carpet (cocoa mat) pulled behind a cart with a thinking operator could be the compromise.

[Forrest Richardson]

Good protocol in topdressing will have little effect on greens. What effect there is should be evenly distributed. However, aging greens (20+ years) will always show signs of time — such as from bunker sand (if not properly swept); topdressing (if too heavy or done without enough aerification); and from conditions such as settling, poor drainage, and changing outer limits (shrinkage or — the rare — enlargement).

It has been discussed here that Pete Dye regularly chimes in with how Pinehurst No. 2's greens are entirely changed from how Ross left them — and how Pete remembers them when he was on the maintenance crew. My take on No. 2 is that the greens are terrific — and diabolic. It matters less to me that they are not, perhaps, Ross...and that they are unique and one-of-a-kind(s).

A trained eye can detect topdressing build up. Sometimes even an untrained eye can see it! Look for a noticeable slope right off the putting surface (sometimes actually on the surface) which usually is heavier on the downslope edges. Sometimes the build up is so massive that people assume the design is a "false front". (I heard Johnny Miller describe this once and just about fell out of my chair with laughter. Cannot recall the course. It was a long while ago when he first entered broadcasting.)

The key to topdressing is nearly always more frequency and less materials. Clubs which try and get by with 1x per year are often better 3x or more. For 99% of our clients is also involves NO ORGANICS...just pure sand. There are exceptions, of course. But generally pure sand keeps the root zones open and able to drain and breathe. Without removing old material (aerification, plugging) it amounts to creating what is esentially a new green on top of the old green. It leads to build up and...ultimately...two different stratas of root zone.

[Troy Alderson]

Gentlemen,

One way to look at this building up of the green with sand over time is let it happen.  Golf courses evolve over time, nature changes over time also, nothing is the same as it was years ago.  If the green changes over the lifespan of the golf course due to sand top dressing and sand blasting out of the bunkers, then let it happen.  Worrying about the originality of the greens that were built 100 years ago will only add expenses to the golf course to restore the bunkers and greens to their original shape.

I understand restoring greens and bunkers when the shape has deteriorated and needs rebuilding, but rebuilding just to get back to what might be the original green/bunker is costly and comes out of your pocket when you pay to play.

Troy

[RDecker]

Mr. Stack's point is well made, care and thought used in the drag/brushing process is key.  I've also found it beneficial to use backpack blowers to help reduce heavier concentrations of sand in low spots...  Most courses I've worked at/on the aerafication and topdressing process was conducted like an air raid drill done with as much haste as possible and I think alittle care and patience goes along way when performing one of the most important tasks the course will see all season.