Hail Damage Cancel The title field is required!

1. Matthew Enderson

   

   1 posts
   
   6/5/2014 3:06 PM

   Just had a nice little hail storm roll through the golf course and now have a ton of small to mid-sized ball marks on my greens. Any of you had experience with this and the best method to add in recovery. Thank you for any ideas.

   
   
   
   
2. Clay Putnam

   

   33 posts
   
   6/5/2014 4:06 PM

   You can either have a big "ball mark" repair party or top dress.

   
   
   
   
3. Peter Grass

   

   0 posts
   
   6/6/2014 4:06 AM

   Matthew,
   
   I feel your pain. 2 weeks ago we got hit with literally/ironiclly golf ball sized hail for a good 10 minutes. There was simply to much to try and do any hand/manual "ball mark repairing" methods. We tried rolling first, that helped but not really did the job, then used our grooming reels two directions and rolled after, for two days in a row. That got the greens pretty playable, putting well, just not looking perfect. There was visual evidence, looked like lots of "healing" ball marks for about another 10 days. Now everything well again.
   
   Looking back, we could have used the opportunity to have been a little more aggressive and actually verticut not just lightly groomed and then I would have topdressed along with that. Oh well, hindsight but hopefully that helps you moving forward.
   
   Unlesss you are a links style facility, I imagine there is lots of tree debris cleanup to do also, there was for us. Good luck.
   
   Pete Grass, CGCS
   Hilands Golf Club
   Billings, MT
   406-855-6440

   
   
   
   
4. Waren Muller

   

   0 posts
   
   6/6/2014 6:06 AM

   Matt, In 2011 we had a big hailstorm and we verticut and mowed the following day. The next day we topdressed and two days after that we verticut and mowed again. We were rolling whenever we had the man power. It took over a week for their appearance to turn around, but I figured the more I ran over them the better. I thought the worst park of the storm wasn't the green damage but all the tree debris. All the little sticks and crap were like a blanket on the fairways.
   
   Good luck with the cleanup.
   
   Waren Muller

   
   
   
   
5. Christopher Thuer

   

   101 posts
   
   6/6/2014 2:06 PM

   We had golf ball size many years ago at another club, coincidently during the local chapter outing we hosted. It lasted for a few minutes completely covering the ground, defoliated the trees, killed most of the birds that were in the trees, destroyed all the superintendents trucks, many of them club owned, and industry reps trucks. The greens were beat up.
   
   The next morning we put the spiker on the sand pro and went over each green multiple times. This helped push the "ball marks" together. Then we mowed, then topdressed a little heavier than the normal light application.
   
   By the weekend it was hard to tell the greens were damaged.

   
   Chris Thuer, CGCS, Bear Slide Golf Club, Cicero, IN
   
   
6. Kyle Fick

   

   4 posts
   
   6/7/2014 12:06 PM

   Had a similar scenario a few years back. With it soft and hydrated, we solid tined, threw down some sand, drug it around, then used a small asphalt roller to go across the surface. Rolled for a few days and let grass start growing back up. No one could tell after about 7 days.

   
   
   
   
7. Sean Sullivan

   

   1 posts
   
   6/8/2014 1:06 PM

   Aerating with crosstines worked well for me. Seemed to pull the dents out. Also, sprayed greens with Valagro Renovo/Megafol, from Helena. Labeled for hailstorm damage to ag crops.
   
   Sean Sullivan, CGCS