Timothy Connolly said: Kenneth Ingram, CGCS said: Boy this is something I never gave much thought but now see how it could be a big deal. There is a course in our area undergoing a major renovation. New super wanted sand capped approaches. Literally dug out 4" of soil and replaced it with sand mix. The change order was well into the six figures. I've never seen that before. Also, most of the high end courses in our area walk mow approaches and mow the entire par-3 fairway as approaches. Kenneth Ingram, UMD.
Ken, have you heard how this is working out? I liked the concept from a playability standpoint but I could think of several reasons why I wouldn't want to go in this direction.
We didn't core ours out but in the last 4 years we've completely hammered with sand and aerification. Prior to our renovation we were doing spring and fall heavy as well as mid season applications of topdressing. Once we made the committment to regrass our approaches we hit them very heavy during the fumigation and regrass process then as the growin proceeded we kept adding more and more sand. Throughout this season we've see the approaches really develop but yet feel we have a ways to go to get them exactly how I want them to be. Starting this season we'll be including our approaches with our greens maintenance, spraying, topdressing, etc... We've also lowered our height of cut to .275 and next year be looking at .250, purchasing toro 1000's with groomers so we can do even more. Membership has seemed to really accept it. The ability to bounce the ball up onto the green from the fairway or if on the approach putt and the better players getting a good ability to control spin as they are cut so tight. I think more and more this is an area people need to focus extra attention too, after all this area sees a great amount of use, at least at my club, plus the aesthetic appeal it has as that opening invite into the gree.
Best Regards,
Justin