May 6, 2014

The drill and fill machine close up.

 We finished up the drill and fill today. It is a time consuming and labor intensive project.

Two machines, fitted with10” drills, drill into the green, bringing up the native soil. Sand is then poured into the hole. The sand must be carried by the staff from the truck to the machines, bucket by bucket to keep the hoppers filled. For the 18 greens, we used approximately 90 tons of sand, which translates to somewhere over 9,500 buckets filled, carried to the machines, and tipped into the hoppers. It takes a lot of work. And its non stop.

After the green is drilled and filled, it is rolled and then cleaned up with our core harvester. As soon as it is cleaned, we graden the green to a 3/8^th depth, and once again, the core harvester cleans the green. The green is then dragged, or matted, blown off, and dragged one last time. From start to finish, an average sized green takes two hours to complete.

Drill and Fill is different from standard aeration. This process is done to create sand channels in the greens and help change the soil profile deeper into the green than what a standard aeration can. The sand creates pore space, aids in drainage, helps keep the green firmer, and helps reduce compaction. Since this process does not necessarily remove thatch, we follow with the graden, which does. 

Filling the machines.

Graden on left and clean up on the right.

The final drag.

After the drag, and ready to heal!