Hollow coring has been carried for two main reasons -
1) To remove thatch from the greens, which in turn helps water and air move more freely into and through the soil. This helps keep the surface of the greens dry and promotes general turf health and vigour.
2) To provide an effective seedbed. The holes made on the green are ideal for sowing seed into and provide the perfect haven for new young grass plants to grow.
Hollow coring on the putting green
Overseeding is carried out to improve the overall grass species composition in the sward. Three varieties of Fescue grass were used. These particular plants have the ideal characteristics for golf green purposes and increased numbers of fescue grasses will dramatically improve the year round conditions on the greens. You may have noticed the yellow patches on some of the greens recently, this is a turf disease called anthracnose and certain grass species are particularly susceptible to attack from it. It can kill the affected area if left unchecked and at the very least it will cause an uneven putting surface. The fine fescue grasses we are using this week are not susceptible to this disease, so the more of this grass species we can encourage the healthier our greens will be.
Top-dressing helps smooth the surface following the core aeration work. The sand/soil mix was applied very lightly to the surface of the green on two occasions this week. One application was made before the seed was sown and one after. Hopefully, down each tine hole we have a few fescue seeds sandwiched between two layers of top dressing. All we now need is the constant presence of a little moisture and some heat and we will have success. Top dressing has a number of other benefits to the turf on which I may make a separate posting later on.
Top-dressing putting green
I hope golf has not been too disrupted while this work has been taking place but I'm sure everyone would agree that the potential benefits make the temporary inconvenience worthwhile.
20 comments:
Is the true reason for hollow coring not to relieve compaction in greens and not remove thatch
Thanks for your comments.
Relieving compaction was not our primary aim during the hollow coring process.
Hollow coring was carried out to a depth of around three inches which is the area of the soil profile where our greens have the most thatch. The coring process allowed us to remove around 5% of that thatch and left a hole of sufficient size to sow fescue grass seed into. We have seen fantastic results from our seeding operation and nearly every hole we made in the greens now has a cluster of young, healthy grasses growing in it. These grasses have been specifically selected to provide the best year round putting conditions and to be most resistant to disease and drought.
Hollow coring does relieve compaction to a degree but it is not the most effective method of compaction relief. We will shortly be solid tining the greens to a depth of up to 10 inches. This will relieve much more compaction than hollow tining and to a far greater depth. The verti-drain machine used in this solid tining process actually heaves the ground as it passes over it so even greater benefits are gained in terms of compaction relief.
Thanks again for posting.
while removing 5% of any thatch what percentage of good grasses are removed as well surely regular scarification done throughout of the season is a more cost effective method and less labour intensive with little disturbance to the playing surface.As to overseeding the timing is more important as done at the incorrect time of year can result in failure in the young seedlings
writer41uk
We consider regular in-season scarification to be too aggressive for the fine grass component of the sward to survive. We therefor look to control thatch with one or two operations per annum only. Brushing, grooming and occassional verti-cutting is carried out throughout the season to refine the playing surface and control growth characteristics.
You are entirely correct regarding overseeding timing. Our hollow core operation was timed to maximise the chance of success with the seed.
Brushing, grooming and occassional verti-cutting is carried out throughout the season to refine the playing surface and control growth characteristics.If you follow that regime surely thatch would be a minimum problem unless you are saying previous staff did not follow this proceedure ?. At your previous course was this done as well and were the greens good or not and were they better under your regime or previous
Writer 41uk
Could you please state your interest in La Moye GC. Are you a member, a visitor or have you just stumbled across this site? I only ask so I can get a clearer picture of what your motivations are for asking these series of questions.
To be clear on my original posting, the hollow coring was carried out for TWO reasons - thatch control and seed bed preparation. I have had good success in the past with using hollow coring for preparing a seedbed prior to an overseeding operation. This coupled with thatch removal was the reason hollow coring was carried out.
The management of thatch is, as you state a year round issue which encompasses not only mechanical controls but cultural also. While we do not have paticularly high thatch levels here we do still want to reduce the organic matter content to a degree.
Presently I run a private company which advises sports clubs,bowling greens and golf course the best way to improve or maintain there playing surfaces without major cost or disruption for members and have played La Moye in the past along with many courses in the UK and many agree that coring as well as removing 5% thatch a percentage of good grasses are removed at the same time and what we attempt is to encourage for a fee is maximun thatch removal against minimum good grasses being removed
writer41uk
I would like to know what this means to you? are you trying to learn something, or catch someone out? I've been a member of La Moye for a good few years now, and play to a good standard. I have seen the playing surfaces improve dramatically. This is no criticism to out previous course manager, cause i believe he done a great job too. Our Course Manager makes everything clear and has a great explanation for every working practice he does to the members. You clearly have nothing to do with La Moye GC, and your questions come across as jealous. His experience, knowledge and enthusiasm had been proved with the drastic course improvements. And I'm sure all the membership are more than happy with the greens staff work.
Thank you
i asked questions and now you say jealous ,jealous of what failure to answer simple questions my experience in sports surfaces go back some 30 years not just golf courses but bowling greens and if you have to answer for your course manager maybe the improvements are of your previous course manager as it is well known that work done in previous years takes years to change to show someones regime so it can be another few years before Mr Cutlers methods will bear on overall appearance of the course
The previous course manager made some great improvements to the golf course. However if thats the case, i can't wait to see what the course is going to look like in a few years, because I have already seen some great and promising improvements with this new regime! the futures bright....
why did you answer the question Jack are you a member of the Greens Staff remember this it is easy to make quick improvements but the long term ones are the ones that count
writer 41uk, Jack
This blog is in use for the sole purpose of informing La Moye members, visitors and interested parties about what is happening on the golf course and why. I am more than happy to discuss and answer questions on my posts but we must refrain from personal attacks. Please use this area to exchange information only. Try to keep questions positive, I have no interest in being drawn into petty arguments but I am happy to answer any question on the management of La Moye golf course.
as i said thatch removal can be done throughout the year without being too aggressive as growth will allow the greens to recover when done in there dormant state causes more damage to the sward as well to overseeding if hit by exceptional cold spells can cause seedlings to die off which can be expensive
writer41uk
Out thatch removal and overseeding was carried out in August. We consider this to be the best time to maximise germination and recovery. We feel regular in-season scarification is too aggressive with regard to the fescue content of the sward. We do not want to compromise the good work that has taken place here over the years by over-stressing the fine grasses in the greens. Even verti-cutting is carried out only occasionally. Greens are brushed two or three times each week and groomers are used from time to time. As I have said, we do not have a significant thatch problem in our greens but we do have issues with species composition in certain areas. We try to create the right environment for fescue and bent grasses to flourish. This means fewer and less aggressive mechanical operations coupled obviously with careful control of nutrient and water inputs. Our operations are tailored to produce dry, moderately infertile conditions. We do not disturb the surface when meadow grass is seeding and we aim to keep as tight and dense a sward as possible. When following this approach it makes absolutely no sense to continually carry out scarification or verti-cutting. This would only serve to create gaps in the sward for poa to exploit. With each linear or vertical aerification we add some seed. The infertile slow growing conditions we provide mean the seed we apply has the greatest chance of success. When the seedlings emerge we would typically apply some N at a fairly low rate to help the new grasses along.
We find this approach works in our situation. I personally have found this approach to be successful on a number of golf courses. You may have different experiences and may follow a different approach, which may well work for you, but at here La Moye we feel our way will work in the long term. But alas, only time will tell.
Simply changing the environment will encourage the existing finer grasses to flourish and take greater dominance. This process of change may be enhanced and accelerated with overseeding.My perception of general opinion regarding overseeding is that it is a total waste of time, effort and money. Many greenkeepers hardly notice a difference achieved by overseeding, let alone the golfers. This lack of success may be due to incorrect overseeding procedure or maintaining the wrong 'established environment' i.e. unsuccessful germination or failure to establish. Overseeding (if carried out correctly) can really help improve the quality of our greens.
Indeed, the environment has to be right to achieve botanical improvement. This type of corrective programme only succeeds with constant control of the environment and its pressures. We have a long way to go, significant quantities of weed grasses are present in the putting surfaces. In some cases we are still working on the causes of the problems, until we can properly address these problems we will fail to achieve our desired goals. In these problem areas it could be argued that overseeding is a waste of time until we address fully the underlying faults. In many other areas however the environment is spot on and the introduction of fine grasses is merely accelerating what is happening naturally.
Now a question have you taken over a good course which needs maintained to keep it in good condition and you last course was it as good as La Moye when you took over
Writer 41uk
If you contact me directly by either email or telephone via the golf club I would be more than happy to answer your questions.
Thank you
ok send me your e-mail address
coursemanager@lamoyegolfclub.co.uk
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