More sand Honeyman, more sand!

Old Tom Morris

The phrase 'More sand Honeyman, more sand' is attributed to Old Tom Morris, the father of modern greenkeeping who was the greenkeeper and golf professional at St. Andrews Golf Links in Scotland from 1865-1903.  It is thought he used this phrase when directing his right hand man, David Honeyman during the construction of the New Course at St Andrews in 1895. 

Sand topdressing has been a staple in modern turfcare practices since the 1870's.  This is thanks to a very fortunate accident when Old Tom Morris accidentally spilled a wheelbarrow full of sand on one of the greens at St. Andrews while renovating an adjacent bunker. To his surprise the turf in this area seemed to recover and do much better than any other spot on the Old Course.

Today we are putting on more sand on the golf course, with an application spread over our greens and tees.  Fortunately we won't have to use a wheel barrel as we have the use of modern spreading equipment with our Propass 180 topdressor!

The primary objectives of topdressing are to smooth the surface and control unwanted grain of our finer textured turf by encouraging tighter, more upright growth that is more uniform from green to green. Thatch and compaction is controlled for better shot holding characteristics while modifying the surface layer of our old soil greens.

The crew worked hard the last couple of days with the strenuous task of repairing the washed-out bunkers from the thunderstorms early at the start of the week.  Now with the long weekend just around the corner, the crew is making final course preparations for the final busy weekend of the summer with rough mowing, line trimming around the tees and bunkers and sprinkler edging around the greens.

Hope you have a great round!