The Ribbon Test
Idle Hour Golf Course Maintenance
Is it really October? Wow, it truly is hard to believe my first season at the helm at Idle Hour has reached October! There is so much to like about the month of October; changing of leaves, conference football games, playoff baseball, and some of the best golfing weather Mother Nature can provide. Plus Keeneland! It is a great time to be in Lexington!
I would like to share something with you regarding last week’s Drill & Fill operation on select putting greens. Below is a photo taken from the 10th green showing samples of the removed material.
If you look closely at the material in the palm of my hand it looks like little curly ribbons. Now, other than looking like little pigtails you may not think much of it, but the reality is there is a test known as the Ribbon Test which helps identify soil structure. And soil structure is important because certain types of soils are better suited for plant growth than others.
Below is a look at the soil structure pyramid. Soils best suited for plant growth are located in the lower center (loams) and those best suited for golf are in the lower left. Loamy sands and sandy loams make ideal growing conditions for golf course turf, clay soils not so much.
Clay soils hold water and too much water is actually more damaging to putting green turf than too little. Thus the process of the Drill & Fill aerification allows us to remove unwanted clay soil and replace it with sand to alter the composition along the soil structure pyramid. Drill & Fill is a great tool to assist poor performing greens, but it is simply that, a tool. And it alone cannot change soil structure uniformly.
The closeup above was taken the next day and you can see the Drill & Fill openings are spaced several inches apart comparatively to the previous aerification holes present. Although a touch slower at the moment, I was pleasantly surprised to find overall putting quality was not severely altered. And I’m sure with this October weather all greens will be fully healed shortly.
Thanks for reading, and happy golfing!
Very informative!