THE BULLETIN

of the

UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION GREEN SECTION

Vol. 9

Washington, D. C., August, 1929

Contents

Page

Results of Snow-Mold Work During Winter of 1928-1929. By Arnold S.

Dahl ......................................................................................................................  134

Cutting, Moving, and Relaying Sod. By William J. Rockefeller.................... 137

U. S. Nitrogen Industry Now Factor in World Supply......................................  139

A Rapid Resodding Job. By C. O. Bohne..............................................................  140

Rebuilding the Putting Green. By Kenneth Welton.......................................... 142

EXECUTIVE

COMMITTEE

Wynant D. Vanderpool, Chairman, P. O. Box 

77, Newark, N. J.

Russell A. Oakley, Washington, D. C.
Harvey L. Westover, Washington, D. C.
H. Kendall Read, Philadelphia, Pa.

Walter S. Harran, Washington, D. C.
H. Y. Barrow, New York, N. Y.
John Monteith, Jr., Washington, D. C.
Cornelius S. Lee, New York, N. Y.
Robert M. Cutting, Chicago, Ill.

RESEARCH COMMITTEE

United States Department of Agriculture United States Golf Association 

Russell A. Oakley, Chairman. 

Harvey L. Westover. 

John Monteith, Jr.

Kenneth Welton.

The Bulletin is published monthly by the United States Golf Association Green Section, 

st Room 7207, Building F, 7th and B Streets, N. W., Washington, D. C.

Address all MAIL to P. O. Box 313, Pennsylvania Avenue Station, Washington, D. C.
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Entered as second-class matter, April 21, 1926, at the post office at Washington, D. C.. under th* 

Act of March 3, 1879. Copyrighted, 1929, by the United States Golf Association Green Section.

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Vol. 9, No. 8

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

W. A. Alexander, Chicago, Ill. 
Eberhard Anheuser, St. Louis, Mo. 
A. C. U. Berry, Portland, Oreg. 
N. S. Campbell, Providence, R. I. 
Wu. C. Fownes, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
F. H. Hillman, Washington, D. C. 
Thos. P. Hinman, Atlanta, Ga. 
Frederic C. Hood, Watertown, Mass. 
K. F. Kellerman, Washington, D. C. 
Norman Macbeth, Los Angeles, Calif. 
E. J. Marshall, Toledo, Ohio.

W. L. Pfeffer, St. Louis, Mo. 
George V. Rotan, Houston, Tex. 
Sherrill Sherman, Utica, N. Y. 
Frederick Snare, Havana, Cuba. 
James D. Standish, Jr., Detroit, Mich. 
Charles E. Van Nest, Minneapolis, Minn. 
W. R. Walton, Washington, D. C. 
Alan D. Wilson, Philadelphia, Pa. 
M. H. Wilson, Jr., Cleveland, Ohio. 
Frank L. Woodward, Denver, Colo.

Results of Snow-Mold Work During Winter of 1928-1929
By Arnold S. Dahl

Snow-mold was generally distributed during the winter of 1928- 
1929 in the northern states but the damage it caused was not severe 
except in a relatively few cases. The most severe injury was found 
on those strains of bent which had in other years proved particularly 
susceptible. The more resistant strains were not attacked or not 
severely injured by the disease. Conditions as a rule were not favor­
able to the development of the disease because of the absence of win­
ter thaws and the early and quick disappearance of the snow in the 
spring. Experiments were conducted during the winter th find the 
conditions most favorable to the disease, and to determine what in­
fluence the growing condition of the grass when it went into the 
winter had on its susceptibility to attacks of the organism. Work 
was also continued on control measures.

At the Woodhill Country Club, Wayzata, Minn., plots were laid 
out on No. 14 green on which all combinations of the following treat­
ments were applied: straw covering, corrosive sublimate (3 ounces 
to 1,000 square feet), heavy fertilization late in the fall, and two 
different lengths of cut. Only on those plots which were covered 
with straw did snow-mold appear. The plots which were covered 
with straw without other treatment, and those covered and ferti­
lized, were completely killed out. Those treated with corrosive sub­
limate and heavily fertilized were severely injured on about half of 
their areas. The corrosive sublimate plot had very little disease.

In some sections of the northern states it has been a general prac­
tice among some greenkeepers to cover their greens with straw dur­
ing the winter. The results of this practice have been variable. 
Some greens have come through the winter in good shape while others 
have been severely injured. It is probable that when a susceptible 
grass is grown the damage from snow-mold is much increased by the 
covering and that if the grass is particularly resistant to fungous 
attacks the straw covering may not be harmful. However, since no 
grass has as yet been found to be immune to the disease, it is doubtful 
that the practice of covering greens with straw is advisable. In 
the plots mentioned above, where the turf under the straw was in­
jured it was found that straw made conditions ideal for the develop­
ment of the fungus. Apparently it kept the moisture and tempera­
ture at the optimum condition for the growth of the organism. Tem­
peratures were recorded during the winter and were found to be con­
stantly at or just below the freezing point. Even when the outside 
temperature went much below freezing, the temperature of the soil 
under the straw remained almost constant. The temperature of the 

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135

soil remained at this point even during thawing weather until the 
snow disappeared, and then it began to be influenced by the air tem­
perature. That the fungus had been working all during the winter 
was shown by the fact that when the snow disappeared the injury 
to the turf was apparent and the mycelium of the fungus permeated 
the straw covering so that each straw was covered with it.

The practice of fertilizing heavily late in the fall may also be in­
advisable when one has a particularly susceptible strain of grass. It 
has been found with brown-patch and pythium that a fast-growing 
grass too heavily fertilized is more susceptible because of its soft, 
succulent growth, and the injury is more severe than on properly fed 
turf. The plots which were heavily fertilized with activated sludge 
and sulphate of ammonia were very badly diseased. Even the plot

Injury from snow-mold following the covering of a plot of turf with straw over winter. The plot 
on the left had been covered with straw while the plot on the right had remained uncovered. No 
other treatment had been given either plot. Photographed in spring, 1929, at Woodhill Country 
Club, Wayzata, Minn.

which was treated with corrosive sublimate did not escape injury 
but was nearly half killed by the fungus. It is probable that besides 
leaving the grass in a soft, succulent condition when the winter comes 
on, the organic fertilizer left in the soil makes a better medium on 
which the fungus may grow and develop. The experiment showed 
that it was harder to control snow-mold with corrosive sublimate 
when the grass had been fertilized and forced late in the fall. It is 
probable that when one has a particularly susceptible grass it is 
advisable to allow the grass to harden by not fertilizing before it 
freezes and that this practice will tend to lessen the injury from 
snow-mold.

No conclusion could be drawn that the length of cutting of greens 
had any influence on the occurrence or severity of snow-mold. In the 

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experimental plots there was no difference observed between those 
cut low and those allowed to grow longer. At Madison, Wis., one 
side of a green was allowed to grow nearly three-quarters of an inch 
while the other side was cut close. Snow-mold occurred equally on 
both sides of the green and on neither side was the injury severe.
It was observed that resodding greens late in the season encour­
aged snow-mold. Greens were observed at Detroit, Grand Rapids, 
and Madison, which had been resodded late in the fall. On all of 
these greens snow-mold was generally distributed. Evidently the 
raising of the sod in some way made conditions more favorable for 
the fungus. On some of the greens at Madison the snow-mold injury 
was most severe along the edges of the pieces of sod.

The fungi causing snow-mold were isolated from diseased turf 
obtained from Detroit, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Madison, and Minne­
apolis. These isolations indicated that snow-mold injury was not 
altogether due to the fungus Fusarium nivale, as previously reported, 
but to several species of Fusarium as well as other organisms. Injury 
due to different organisms could be readily recognized and differenti­
ated, but not enough is known about which organisms are associated 
with any particular types of injury to be able to classify them and 
describe them. But the spots which have a pinkish cast are evidently 
due to a different organism than that which attacks those appearing 
to be covered with numerous small black specks. There are also some 
patches which are covered with what appears to be a black scum. 
This is apparently due to an organism different from that causing 
either of the above types of injury..

For years observations have been made on the differences of re­
sistance of strains of bent to snow-mold. It was hard to explain why 
some courses were injured by snow-mold every year while others 
escaped damage.. At Woodhill Country Club, however, two strains of 
bent were growing side by side and snow-mold occurred only on one 
of the strains. This particular strain had been injured by snow-mold 
for two winters and evidently was a susceptible strain. Most of the 
particularly susceptible strains observed have been of the Columbia 
type. Such strains are found on many of the courses in the snow­
mold regions. Snow-mold may also occur regularly on certain courses 
where cultural practices are such as to encourage the disease.

Experiments during the winter on control measures again showed 
that the disease can be controlled or the injury greatly lessened by 
fungicidal treatment. Even when conditions were very favorable 
for the disease, as on the covered plots at Woodhill, the treatment 
with corrosive sublimate held the fungus in check. The plot so 
treated was the only one of those covered with straw that escaped 
severe injury from the disease. On other greens in Minneapolis, 
Madison, Grand Rapids, and Detroit both calomel and corrosive sub­
limate were applied at rates of 1, 2, and 3 ounces to 1,000 square 
feet. In all cases the 1-ounce rate was entirely ineffective. The 
2-ounce treatment lessened the injury greatly but did not prevent the 
occurrence of the disease. The 3-ounce treatment in nearly all cases 
lessened the occurence to a marked extent and prevented severe in­
jury. Calomel apparently was just a little more effective in most of 
the tests than corrosive sublimate. This is to be expected, in that 
calomel is very insoluble and would not be leached out of the soil as 
quickly as the corrosive sublimate.

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137

Cutting, Moving, and Relaying Sod
By William J. Rockefeller

At the Inverness Club, Toledo, Ohio, our experience in moving sod, 
over many years, has led to the conclusion that the simplest method 
to accomplish this purpose is the best, and we believe that we make 
use of the least possible labor in the operation. At the present time 
we are engaged in moving our No. 2 green, slightly shifting its loca­
tion. Strange as it may seem, my experience has convinced me that, 
if properly done, taking up the sod of a putting green and relaying 
it will improve the condition of the turf.

If we are to move a green we employ no particularly fancy system 
or specifications. Before starting to cut the sod we make sure that 
good drainage is provided for the new green, if necessary laying suffi­
cient tile to insure proper drainage. The green must then have a 
good, solid foundation, and at least 8 inches of good top soil, enriched 
by being mixed well with manure, mushroom soil, or good compost. 
The top soil must be allowed to settle as long as possible—certainly 
not less than a week. Our next step is to rake it very evenly and 
bring it to the desired grade and contour, which is followed by roll­
ing with a heavy hand roller. When it is ready for the turf, it 
should be gone over again with the rakes to remove any depressions 
and to get the grade and contours exact. This should be done at the 
last moment, while the new turf is being cut. After that no one 
should be permitted to walk on the prepared soil.

In cutting turf we are still using a sod cutter which we purchased 
20 years ago, and it is giving entire satisfaction. We use a cable or 
rope long enough to keep our team or tractor from driving on the 
green. Three men are engaged in the operation of cutting the sod. 
One man rides the cutter for weight, as we find it necessary to hold 
the cutter down, and a workman seems to be the handiest weight 
available. Another man holds the handles of the cutter, and the third 
guides the cutter by taking hold of the cable 10 or 12 feet in front 
of the cutter. In this way we are able to cut the entire green with no 
waste, the blade on one side of the cutter running in the gash made 
by the blade on the opposite side in the previous cut.

We have found sods cut about one inch thick are most convenient 
to lift and lay, and further that as the roots of the grass spread out 
and take hold more quickly at that depth the sod will attach itself to 
the new bed much more quickly than when cut with more earth at­
tached. Before lifting sod, it should be mowed close, so that it will 
not need to be cut soon after being relayed, since it is more difficult 
to cut the grass immediately after it is transplanted than before. We 
would not think of chopping our strips of turf into chunks say a foot 
square, as we can cut them into even strips 12 by 36 inches. By using 
an edger we can, with proper care, get all strips even and ready to 
lay. By so cutting the strips, it is not necessary to lay the pieces in 
the order in which they are lifted, as they will be perfectly inter­
changeable. Moreover, by cutting the sod in strips, so that it can be 
rolled up, the work can be done much faster.

We have not found it necessary to put the sod, when cut, into a 
frame, with the grass side down, in order to trim the pieces to an even 
thickness, as with care they can be cut as true in the first place.

As soon as the first strip is cut, the sods are rolled compactly and 

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slid say 6 inches off the line on which they were cut so that they 
will be out of the way of the next cut. This operation is continued 
until we have the whole green cut and the sod piled in rows.

We are now ready to lay the sod on our new green. The first step 
in this part of the operation is to lay boards end to end in a straight 
line across the green. The first line of sod is laid clear across the 
green against an edge of the boards, care being used to see that the 
line of the edge of the sod is true and always against the boards. As 
soon as one line or strip of sod is down, a line of boards is laid on it 
so that the men can work without damage to the sod or the prepared 
surface of the green.

The sod stretches more or less in cutting and rolling. We take 
out all the stretch or slack by pressing the edges together—that is, 
by taking hold of the strip being laid, at about the middle, and pull­
ing or pressing it against the end of the strip already laid. This 
takes out the stretch or lengthwise slack; to take out the crosswise 
slack we compress the strips by pulling on them sidewise against sod 
already laid. This operation is somewhat difficult to explain in writ­
ing, but we aim to compact the turf to as near its original condition 
as possible.

We are careful to get all edges flush and even; and the surface also 
must be even. The edges are naturally even, and the sod is quite 
uniform in thickness. The surface of the edges must be kept even. 
This is done by fitting them even and pushing both edges into place 
and to the same surface at once. It will not do to attempt to fit the 
surface of one strip of sod to that of one already in place, as they will 
never become true. Thus it can be seen that we work always to true 
the outside edge of the strip in place and the inside edge of the strip 
being laid. The men always work on boards to avoid injury to the 
surface. In laying the sod, one man rolls the sod after it is cut, and 
another man, working on his knees, does the laying.

When laying sod the pieces should be placed close together but 
not crowded or bulged. It is well to go over the sodded area and 
gently pat each sod with the back of a flat spade or shovel. The work 
should be carefully examined, and if the sods sink at the corners they 
should be brought level by having some loose soil placed under the 
low spots. Also bulged or raised corners that will not easily pat 
down should have sufficient soil removed to enable the sod to lie level.
When the sods are laid, we tamp them lightly to compact them 
and get a smooth surface, just hitting the high spots on each side of 
the seams. Sometimes we follow this by rolling. We then top-dress 
and work in the dressing carefully with brooms, mats, or poles, and 
our green is practically ready for use. We should, of course, prefer 
to let the job rest for a week or two to give the turf a chance to knit 
well; but many a time the play has started on the newly laid turf 
before the green was entirely completed. Players sometimes have 
dispositions that are none too sweet, and naturally these dispositions 
are not bettered when the players miss putts on account of the con­
dition of a green; but, even so, greens newly sodded will furnish very 
fair putting.

After the sod is laid and tamped, the area should be sprinkled 
until the water has gone through the sod into the soil below, and this 
should be followed a day later, or still later if necessary, by a com­
paratively heavy rolling when the sod has commenced to dry out. A 

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139

roller weighing from 150 to 200 pounds to the foot of roller is suffi­
cient. The sod should not be allowed to become dried out for lack 
of watering before the roots of the grass have had a chance to take 
hold in the soil below.

If a nursery is used for raising sod to repair old greens or build 
new greens, as much of the area as will be required in the near future 
should be treated the same as if used for actual putting—that is, the 
required area should be cut and watered daily, and for a month or so 
before the sod is to be laid on the green the area should be top- 
dressed as regularly as is necessary on a putting green.

We think we can move turf as well in July or August as at any 
other time, but naturally more care is required when the work is done 
in midsummer. If the weather is very dry, the turf must be pre­
pared for removal by being soaked with water two or three days and 
then allowed to dry out until it can be handled nicely. The ideal 
time, however, in our experience here, is May or June. Our No. 9 
green was built and sodded in 1919 between July 4 and July 15, and 
was in fine shape for the Ohio State Open Tournament held here in 
September of that year. Our No. 18 green was finished June 29, 
1920, and went into the National Open Tournament on August 10 of 
that year.

U. S. Nitrogen Industry Now Factor In World Supply
The production of fixed nitrogen in the United States this year 
will be three or four times greater than last year, says Dr. C. H. 
Kunsman, fertilizer and fixed-nitrogen chemist of the Bureau of 
Chemistry and Soils, United States Department of Agriculture. This 
year’s production, he says, will be the equivalent of about 600,000 tons 
of Chilean nitrate, of which this country has been importing about 
1,000,000 tons a year.

By chemical and electrical means nitrogen can be taken out of the 
atmosphere, and the nitrogen so obtained is called fixed nitrogen be­
cause it is necessary to fix or combine it with other substances to make 
it commercially available for fertilizer and other uses, he explains.

For the first time, says Doctor Kunsman, the domestic United 
States supply of fixed nitrogen becomes an important fraction of the 
total supply, and also, for the first time, a considerable part of the 
domestic production will be used as fertilizer, the agricultural de­
mands for nitrogen representing, in one form or another, about two- 
thirds of the total demand for nitrogen.

In establishing the nitrogen-fixation industry in the United States 
the Government has taken an active part, and the Fixed Nitrogen 
Research Laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, the 
research of which has been of great importance in establishing the 
industry in this country, is continuing its investigations.

“More than 10 years ago,” says Doctor Kunsman, “the Govern­
ment built the Muscle Shoals nitrate plant for war purposes. No 
fertilizer has been produced there, although the use of the plant for 
that purpose has been widely advocated. Our increasing supply of 
fixed nitrogen is coming from new and modern plants constructed 
by private enterprise.”

Even pine needles are used advantageously by greenkeepers for 

composting with manure.

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Vol. 9, No. 8

A Rapid Resodding Job
By C. O. Bohne

August of this year found our No. 1 green at the Audubon Coun­
try Club, Louisville, Ky., in such poor condition that, in order to be 
ready for a tournament soon to be played on the course, arrange­
ments had to be made to reconstruct the green in haste. The surface 
drainage of the green was poor, the soil was a very heavy clay under 
a thin top layer, and there was practically no underground drainage. 
So defective was its construction that an extended rainy period the 
preceding June, followed by an unusually severe drought in July, put 
the green in such condition that it failed to respond to the special 
treatment administered with a hope of restoring the turf. On the 
morning of August 12, which was Monday, we tore the green up, 
commenced its reconstruction at once, and on the following Saturday 
it was opened to play.

Rebuilding No. 1 putting green at the Audubon Country Club. On the second day of the work, 
after the old sod had been removed and proper tile drainage installed, a new 8-inch top soil is being 
prepared.

It was 4.15 o’clock Monday morning when we started the work. 
We employed two shifts of 14 inexperienced men each, whom we 
hired at 40 cents an hour. The first shift was relieved at 11.30 in 
the morning, the second shift continuing the work until 7.15 o’clock 
that night. The old sod was first lifted; then 297 feet of 4-inch tile 
was laid 36 inches deep, and the trench was filled with 26 cubic yards 
of cinders to within 12 inches of the old surface.

The following day we again employed the two shifts of men. 
The soil of the green was pulverized and carefully prepared for the 
new sod. From our bent nursery we removed 7,540 square feet of 
Washington bent sod and laid it on the newly prepared surface. The 
sod was then rolled, top-dressed, and watered. At 1.30 o’clock in the 
afternoon of the third day the job was complete.

In preparing the new surface of the green, 9 inches of soil was 
taken from the forward half of the old green and placed on the rear. 
The traps were doubled in size to furnish sufficient earth to make a 
perfect grade of 3 per cent over the entire surface of the new green. 
Twenty-two cubic yards of humus and 22 cubic yards of coarse, sharp 
sand were scattered over this surface, together with 50 pounds of 

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141

44 per cent phosphate and 50 pounds of sulphate of ammonia. These 
materials were thoroughly mixed with the top 8 inches of soil, the 
double-disk harrow going over it 12 times, thus putting the top soil 
in approximately perfect condition for receiving the sod. Arsenate 
of lead was also applied to protect the turf against grubs.

The same green on the fourth day after the rebuilding work was begun.

On the sixth day the green is in play.

The cost of the work was as follows: Labor, $272.90; fertilizer, 
$25.10; cinders, $24.70; sand, $46.12; tile, $8.90; humus, $44.00; 
estimated overhead of 15 per cent, $46.44; total, $468.16.

There were 315 games of golf played over this green on Saturday 
and Sunday, the 6th and 7th days after the work was begun. The 
green has been in constant play ever since, with no apparent signs 
of injury.

Nature’s program is to return to the soil what is produced from 
it. You can not continue to cut turf and remove the clippings indefi­
nitely and completely without depleting the soil. Therefore organic 
material must be returned to the turf, preferably in the form of com­
post, if the turf is to be maintained.

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Rebuilding the Putting Green
By Kenneth Welton

Frequently areas of poor turf, particularly putting green turf, are 
maintained from year to year only with much worry and at great 
cost, when a study of the situation would at once reveal the hopeless­
ness of the task and suggest a rebuilding program designed to eradi­
cate completely the underlying trouble. This would not necessarily 
mean the loss of all the turf, for that which is in good condition can 
be relaid. Occasionally, however, new turf must be either laid or 
grown on the reconstructed bed.

Any consideration of rebuilding a putting green at once raises 
several questions: If present turf can not be maintained in good con­
dition, how can it be expected that new turf will fare any better ? If 
a new turf, produced from either seed or stolons, should deteriorate 
like the old turf which it replaces, would not a club be put to expense 
for nothing, and members to the inconvenience of playing a temporary 
green? It is true that little is gained by tearing up a green if an 
attempt is not made to determine the cause of failure and means to 
prevent repetition of the trouble in the future. There are numerous 
conditions which may justify the removal of turf from a green, among 
them being a poor soil bed, defective drainage, the use of unsuited 
grass, more or less permanent injury resulting from improper meth­
ods of maintenance, the dominance of weeds, and the injudicious use 
of chemicals. Frequently architectural considerations also call for 
the remodeling of a putting green even though its turf be of prime 
quality. In any case, where turf is removed it is highly desirable to 
plan beforehand for the improvement of the structural condition of 
the green in every possible respect while the operation of rebuilding 
is in progress.

Unwise cultural practices are no doubt responsible for much poor 
putting turf. Even on greens properly constructed and planted de­
plorable putting surfaces are found. On the other hand, putting 
greens with poor underlying soil, poor drainage, and poor strains of 
bent grass are often found kept in very fair shape in spite of these 
drawbacks, simply because the greenkeeper has recognized the defects 
and by special tactics has managed to preserve a passable turf but at 
an excessive cost.

Turf may be injured permanently by the improper use of chem­
icals. Putting greens are still to be found which suffer periodically 
from copper poisoning resulting from applications of Bordeaux mix­
ture as a fungicide before the injurious effects of accumulations of 
copper in the soil had been discovered. Turf is indeed often injured 
beyond recovery by the careless use of fertilizers and fungicides. 
Neglect of annual weeding and the use of the wrong fertilizer may 
in time produce a turf consisting almost entirely of foreign grasses, 
clover, and weeds.

The standard of excellence of putting green turf has become very 
high in recent years. Players demand putting greens with even, 
close-mowed surfaces. Mower manufacturers have improved the de­
sign of their mowers and have supplied the means of cutting grass 
much closer than was possible years ago. Certain kinds of grasses, 
such as Kentucky bluegrass, fescue, redtop, and rye grass, which 
were common on greens years ago, are seldom found on putting 
greens today. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule, and occa­

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143

sionally an old fescue putting green is found, due probably to the fact 
that some favorable strain of fescue was unwittingly sown, or per­
haps due to some exceptional soil condition. Another reason for the 
occasional occurrence of bluegrass, fescue, redtop, or rye grass on 
putting greens today in spite of close cutting is that turf will stand 
varying periods of close cutting before dying. Wherever it has been 
the custom to sow large quantities of seed on putting greens from 
year to year, it is probable that seedlings have kept replacing the 
older turf as it has died.

Notwithstanding the occasional occurrence of bluegrass, fescue, 
and redtop on putting greens today, other grasses have become no­
table for their ability to better withstand the extremely close cutting 
now in demand. The most important of these are the various strains 
of bent grass in the North and of Bermuda grass in the South. Though 
of the same botanical species, it is clearly evident that in each case 
strains may differ widely as regards suitability for putting green turf. 
Some strains are coarse and some are fine. Some strains of creeping 
bent show a tendency to form an objectionable grain, and some are 
stringy and lie upon the surface and fail to produce the density of turf 
that is desired. Coarseness, grain, and stringiness may be overcome 
to a certain extent by cultural treatment. But far more important 
than variations such as these is the variation among strains in their 
resistance to disease. When a golf club is unfortunate enough to 
have putting greens of an objectionable strain of grass, the only quick 
and sure remedy is to remove the offending turf and replant.

That turf is greatly improved by moving is confirmed by the ex­
perience of many of our best greenkeepers. Mr. John Shannahan, the 
greenkeeper at Brae Burn, has from time to time lifted the turf on 
his greens and relaid it after improving the soil structure. The ex­
perience of Mr. Rockfeller, of the Inverness Club, at Toledo, has been 
similar to Mr. Shannahan’s. Both of these experienced men have 
observed that turf has always been greatly invigorated by such treat­
ment. Similar results have also been noted at the Arlington turf 
garden. Mr. Shannahan has always been careful when relaying his 
mixed bent turf to lay the best pieces on areas where the most put­
ting may be expected. This is a wise precaution with any kind of 
grass. At Brae Burn the result has been to concentrate solid areas 
of velvet bent on the sections of the green where the hole is most 
often placed. It is not necessary to discard all the turf cut from a 
poor green. Any turf which can be used again should be relaid. Fre­
quently several hundred feet of new turf will replace the weedy and 
poor turf. This, of course, applies only to greens which are not suffer­
ing from poisoned soil or which are not made up of the wrong kind 
of grass. When a club has been put to much inconvenience by the 
necessity of keeping players off a green for long periods due to its 
sod having been poorly laid, it is naturally hesitant of having any 
other greens tom up and poor sod-laying jobs repeated. However, 
there are many skillful greenkeepers who think nothing of resodding 
a green and having it in excellent condition, ready for play almost 
immediately.

The cost of rebuilding the soil bed of a green and replanting or 
resodding it is low in comparison with the improvements to be gained 
and the subsequent reduction in maintenance expenses. Figures will 
be presented later in this article on the cost of such work. When 

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grass on a green is not able to grow fast enough to compete with 
clover and weeds the annual expenditure for weeding alone will go a 
long way toward covering the cost of rebuilding it in order to remedy 
its inherent defects.

When a putting green is to be replanted the committee should give 
considerable thought to the future of the course. It may be they will 
wish to decide on a definite policy which, if carried out year after year, 
will gradually make the turf on all the greens of the same variety or 
strain of grass. Before selecting a new variety or strain the com­
mittee would do well to visit a demonstration turf garden on which a 
comparison can be made of the merits of various types of putting 
green grass under similar conditions. A list of such demonstration 
plots which have been established by the Green Section will be found 
in the January, 1929, number of the Bulletin. Also visits to courses 
upon which known strains of grass are in actual play will be of great

Catting sod with a pulley hook-up. This arrangement is often a convenience when it is especially 
desirable to pull the sod cutter in a straight line. The pulley is moved from notch to notch on a 
plank held in place by a stake driven at either end. The notches on the plank are cut 1 foot apart, 
or the width of the sod cutter.

help in reaching a decision. With a turf composed of a weak grass 
susceptible to disease the consideration of the cost of necessary fungi­
cides over and above that required with a healthy turf is of prime 
importance. It must also be remembered that turf on soils of poor 
physical structure entails endless maintenance expense even though 
its condition is rarely subject to the criticism of the players.

The comparatively long time required to produce good turf from 
either seed or stolons is perhaps the chief reason why a putting green 
is not rebuilt when conditions require rebuilding. The time saved in 
resodding a green, however, is frequently a sufficient inducement to 
clubs to resort to this method of renewing the turf notwithstanding 
the extra expense that is involved. When a green is sodded it may 
be fit for play within a week from the time the sod is laid, or even 
less in an emergency such as cited in another article in this number 
of the Bulletin. After sowing seed on a green it requires from 8 to 
10 weeks of growing weather to produce a turf suitable for play. 

August, 1929

145

Somewhat less time is required when stolons are planted, good turf 
being produced from stolons in from 6 to 8 weeks after planting. 
Aside from its producing turf a little sooner, the planting of stolons 
is often preferred to sowing grass seed for the reason that a better 
selection can be made of the strain of bent to be used, if in the North, 
or of the strain of Bermuda grass if in the South. The planting of 
stolons, however, is more costly than sowing seed.

A club should not be in too great a hurry to have sod lifted from 
a green. After the type of turf and the manner of returfing have 
been decided upon there are still other matters that need attention 
before the old sod is lifted. If the old sod is to be relaid on the same 
area it is well to make arrangements so the work can be done 
quickly in order that the sod may not be injured by being set aside 
for many days. If sod is to be moved from one place and relaid in 
another, the new bed should be prepared before the turf is moved 
from its original location. In either case all materials, equipment, and 
labor should be at hand before the sod is lifted.

Cutting: sod without a pulley hook-up. Here the sod is on a rather hard-packed silt loam soil. The 
weight of several bags of sand is required to hold the cutting knife under the turf. The cutter is 
pulled directly, by a single horse. A steel bar is held in the soil ahead of the cutter to guide the 
implement by pressure against the draw-rope.

Soil Conditions on Greens Important

It is true that the greenkeeper must be held responsible for the 
employment of proper methods of turf maintenance, including ferti­
lizing, weeding, use of fungicides and insecticides, watering, rolling, 
brushing, cutting, and top-dressing; but he can not be blamed for 
conditions due to improper methods of construction practiced before 
he was placed in charge, or due to lack of adequate equipment or 
funds to correct drainage or other defects, provided he has brought 
these failings to the attention of his superiors.

The roots of plants can not function properly without an open, 
friable soil. An ideal soil for root growth is one of a crumbly texture. 
The farmer practices crop rotation in order to get his soil plowed 
and put under seasonal cultivation. This improves the physical con­

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Vol. 9, No. 8

dition of the soil by making it more crumbly, thus facilitating the 
movement of water and air through the soil and permitting the roots 
of "plants to perform their normal function of growth in search of 
moisture and food. Therefore the soil bed, no matter what else it 
may require, should at least be plowed and cultivated when for any 
reason the turf is removed.

Soil types are classified, more or less arbitrarily, according to their 
textural characteristics, which are governed by the relative propor­
tions of the fine and coarse mechanical soil constituents. Roughly 
speaking, the word sand designates a predominance of coarse ma­
terial or soil made up of large particles, while the word clay desig­
nates the predominance of fine material. Silt is finer than fine sands 
but coarser than clay. Loam is a more or less balanced mixture of 
both coarse and fine materials. Air and water can permeate readily 
through coarser materials, such as sand, but unless the finer ma­
terials, clays and silts, are rendered crumbly or granular they greatly 
restrict movement of both air and water.

A fertile soil contains considerable organic matter, such as decay­
ing animal or vegetable remains, which assists in holding moisture 
and rendering available the inorganic plant foods in the soil, and also 
in adding to the plant food by its own decay. The farmer plows ma­
nure into his soil between crops, and also frequently plows under 
green crops and sod, to preserve the organic content of his soil. These 
particles of organic matter, further, when well mixed with the soils 
help to keep clay soils from becoming too tight by separating the 
particles. Pure sands require the addition of clay or silt and organic 
material in order to retain moisture and plant food. Clays and silts 
require sand and organic material in order to allow the air and 
moisture to filter through them and release the plant food.

For putting greens the loam in a top soil should be of the sandy 
type, since sandy loam is less liable to pack and hence is able to main­
tain an open structure in spite of the packing and trampling a green 
receives. A sandy loam will not become soggy but still will be re­
silient enough to hold a pitched shot, and, with occasional fertilizing, 
can be kept fertile enough to support a dense turf. An ideal top soil 
for a putting green could be described as one which, while damp, will 
readily crumble upon release after being squeezed tightly in the hand.
Golfers can quickly detect packed or puddled soil when the putting 
green is dry. The pitched ball bounds off a putting green with such 
soil as it would from a clay tennis court. The greenkeeper is com­
pelled to keep this type of green continuously saturated to make it 
endurable to the player. For some time after being watered these 
greens are muddy, and a pitched ball may be found either partially 
buried in the turf or spotted with mud. The continuous watering of 
a green with such a soil only aggravates the condition, since the green 
will be played on while wet, and as a result the soil is still further 
packed or puddled. Upon examining a plug cut from such a green 
the turf is frequently found to be extremely shallow-rooted and can 
be easily peeled from the underlying hard soil due to the failure of 
the roots to penetrate the soil to any depth.

Layers of material vastly different from the prevailing soil type 
frequently disturb the natural rise and fall of soil water in a green. 
Top soil may be cut off from its supply of moisture from below due to 
a layer of coarse sand, gravel, or cinders. A layer of impervious clay 

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147

or a layer of peat may check the natural elimination of surface water 
and thus cause trouble. By examining a plug cut from a green with 
a hole cutter, layers of such materials are frequently discovered close 
to the surface. Many otherwise fine greens have had to be recon­
structed due to the practice of laying down layers of material during 
construction or building up a layer by top-dressing with an undesir­
able material during the administration of a particular green com­
mittee. For example, heavy top-dressings of pure, coarse sand dur­
ing one administration may form a layer which will subsequently 
hinder the rise of soil moisture to the turf, or a layer of peat just 
below the surface may practically cut the top soil off from the sub­
soil. Such layers are frequently the result of some ill-considered cul­
tural program.

At certain times poor drainage will render a putting green almost 
unplayable, and it will gradually ruin some soils. With poor drainage 
it will be almost impossible to maintain perfect turf no matter how 
good the type of soil underlying the turf may be. The retention of 
water in a green for a long time after rains or artificial watering may 
be due to inadequate surface drainage, a heavy subsoil which pockets 
the water because it does not grade evenly away from a green, a high 
water table in the green caused by its lack of sufficient elevation above 
the surrounding terrain, or the percolation of seepage water from 
a surrounding elevation. With a heavy subsoil or a high water table 
the remedy is underground tile drainage. To carry off seepage water 
a ditch may be constructed or the tile laid on the upgrade of the green.

Preparing the Top Soil

Methods of building putting greens, including the preparation of 
soil for proper texture, the preparation of the soil bed, and drainage, 
are discussed at some length in the August, 1928, number of the 
Bulletin. The phase of the operation which most often causes failure 
when neglected is the preparation of a true soil bed—one that will not 
settle after being planted or sodded. The preparation of a settled, 
firm soil bed is of much more consequence than is the cutting of the 
sods of absolutely equal thickness. Uneven, bumpy surfaces in re­
sodded greens, showing in some cases years after the work has been 
done, are usually wholly due to the improper preparation of the soil 
bed. Top-dressing will quickly eliminate small bumps and depres­
sions occasioned by unevenness of sods at their joints, but sometimes, 
even after many applications, it can not entirely eliminate the rela­
tively large inequalities of surface occasioned by uneven settling.

The procuring of a true, settled seed bed or sod bed is no secret. 
Nor does it necessarily require extended time. In rebuilding the sur­
face of an old green having a settled subsoil, the freshly turned or 
mixed top soil can be settled in a day if necessary. If a green has 
settled in places for one reason or another, it will be found to be much 
quicker and more satisfactory in every way to lift the sod and fill in 
or grade the uneven places than to try to fill in deep depressions by 
top-dressing. It usually takes years to build up an inch or two on a 
putting green by top-dressing.

Top soils of any kind should not be buried when construction work 
is in progress but should be used in preparing the top soil of greens. 
The base or fill of an elevated green may be made of whatever soil 
is at hand, but if the fill is of heavy clay the subgrade should drain 

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Vol. 9, No. 8

evenly from the green in order to leave no pocketed areas below the 
surface. Clay soils will usually require tile drainage also. The top 
soil of a sandy loam should be from at least 4 inches to 6 or more 
inches in depth when settled. Well rotted manure, woods earth, peat, 
or humus can be used for supplying organic matter if deficient, and 
clay, silt, loam, or sand may be used for producing the proper soil 
structure. These materials should be added as needed to the existing 
top soil, and should be well mixed by plowing and disking before the 
green is planted.

Not only should the top soil be correctly prepared when a green 
is being rebuilt, but perfect drainage must be provided. If a green 
is poorly drained, a good soil structure will eventually be ruined; 
packing and puddling will occur, and when the soil is dry it will be­
come hard and baked and will not allow air to circulate freely through 
it. Putting greens not properly constructed as regards drainage and 
top soil are liable to cause maintenance trouble at any time. The sur­
face of the green should have ample slope to carry off water which 
falls on it. The green should also be protected from both surface 
wash and seepage. Grassy hollows and tile lines sunk on hillsides 
to a depth the elevation of which is below that of the lowest elevation 
of the putting surface are the accepted methods of preventing sur­
face wash and seepage.

Removing sod at the Arlington turf garden to make room for new experimental plantings. The 
sod was cut with the pulley hook-up, rolled, and laid aside.

If the soil is not sandy, construction work on putting greens, or 
for that matter on any part of a golf course, should not be attempted 
when the soil is saturated. Working saturated soil destroys the soil 
texture by packing or puddling the soil. It is often costly to refrain 
from working wet soil, especially when a course is in the process of 
construction; but this cost is small compared to the subsequent cost 
of maintaining turf on puddled soil.

It is necessary to have the subsoil or fill of a putting green com­
pletely settled before preparing the top soil, and it is of great im­
portance to have the top soil thoroughly settled before any planting 
is done. Newly prepared top soil should therefore be handled only 
when it is dry and the organic material mixed in it should be thor­
oughly pulverized and uniformly distributed. If the soil is dry a 
roller can be passed over the green from time to time to assist in 
breaking clods of earth and settling the soil as it is prepared. After 
a finely pulverized, settled, dry soil bed is prepared, the green may be 

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149

left to settle naturally. This natural settling will depend mostly on 
the rainfall. If time is a factor the area should be well soaked arti­
ficially to hasten the settling.

When a green is saturated a great deal of damage may be done by 
working or trampling it. In such case it is necessary to wait until 
the soil has lost its free water before laying sod. If the drainage has 
been attended to it will be a matter of only a day before the top soil 
will be dried out to a sufficient depth to permit hand work.

After the final settling of the soil has been accomplished by water­
ing, the surface should be gone over and finally trued with hand rakes, 
and then lightly rolled before sowing or sodding.

Cost Figures

Preparing the Top Soil.—Figures have been obtained on the cost 
of preparing top soil of putting greens. They differ widely, however, 
due to the differences in the various types of soil with which the work 
was done, notwithstanding the actual operations in all cases were 
similar. In one extreme case, where a good top soil was prepared 
by working sand and manure into a heavy clay soil, the cost was 
necessarily above the average. In this case the clay base was of such a 
character that after sand and manure had been plowed in, it was 
deemed advisable to dig and turn the whole green to a depth of 10 
inches, by hand, in order more thoroughly to mix the materials. This 
operation included the loading, spreading, and handling of 30 tons 
of sand and 40 yards of well rotted manure. The area of 8,000 
square feet was plowed, disked, dug, graded, and raked at a cost of 
$190, which does not include the cost of the sand and manure de­
livered to the property. In another case, on a silt loam soil, the job 
was done at a much lower figure. In this case no sand was required, 
the only material mixed into the top soil being 4 yards of manure to 
each 1,000 square feet. The soil was plowed to a depth of 6 inches, 
the manure was spread and disked in to a depth of 4 inches, the area 
was dragged with a spike-toothed harrow, and some hand leveling 
and raking were done. The cost of this, not including the cost of the 
manure delivered to the property, was $12 for each 1,000 square feet. 
Of this amount $5 was required for loading and hauling the manure 
from piles at some distance from the green. With average clay and 
silt loam soils, about 3 yards of sand and an equal quantity of manure, 
for each 1,000 square feet, seemed to be the quantities of material 
most commonly added in reconditioning old putting greens. With 
sandy loams the sand was replaced with extra manure or other 
organic material. The average depth of plowing these materials fell 
short of 6 inches, and the cost of hauling the material, plowing, disk­
ing, harrowing, and raking by hand averaged $14.65 for 1,000 square 
feet. This figure can be reduced considerably if it is possible to have 
sand and manure hauled to the grounds at the proper time and 
dumped on the area where the soil is being prepared, thus saving the 
necessity of reloading the material. On firm, packed soils a further 
saving may be effected in the mixing of material to a proper depth, 
by plowing and disking the area before spreading the manure and 
sand. In this case the area should again be plowed in order to turn 
under the sand and manure, and the mixing can then be done to the 
proper depth with little trouble.

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Planting and Maintaining a Sod Nursery.—In order to replace 
turf on a putting green in the shortest possible time it is necessary 
to sod. This means that the club must grow its own sod unless good 
sod can be purchased at a fair price.

The sod nursery itself requires the same care and attention as a 
putting green. The soil bed of a sod nursery should be prepared with 
as much care as the soil bed of a putting green. Drainage must be 
satisfactorily provided. Of still greater importance is the provision 
of a soil structure suitable for putting green turf, since the soil cling­
ing to the roots of the sod must eventually be transferred to the put­
ting green. The sod must be adequately watered, cut, top-dressed, 
weeded, and fertilized. Care should be used also to keep the sod as 
pure as possible, as sometimes the sod must remain in the nursery 
for years before it is required for use, and during this time it is sub­
ject to invasion by undesirable kinds or strains of grasses. The ex­
pense of maintaining a sod nursery is therefore an item that must 
receive consideration.

Figures collected from a number of golf clubs which have planted 
and maintained large areas of creeping bent sod indicate that it costs 
from $400 to $500 an acre to prepare and plant a sod nursery and 
maintain it for one year. These figures cover cost of top-dressing 
material, watering, fertilizing, weeding, mowing, and applying top­
dressing, but do not cover cost of the stolons required to plant the 
nursery.

Once the sod is established, the cost of maintaining it in turf, 
although considerable, is not nearly as much as the cost of maintain­
ing an equal area of turf on a putting green. The sod should never­
theless be kept free from weeds and should be kept cut close to pre­
vent the turf’s becoming coarse; it need not, however, be cut as fre­
quently as a putting green, nor top-dressed as frequently. On a put­
ting green a true putting surface is required, which in turn calls for 
more labor. Figures obtained indicate that it costs from $200 to 
$300 a year to maintain an acre of creeping bent sod. The cost of 
maintaining velvet bent sod or sod produced from seed would not be 
as great, since there would be less need for top-dressing.

Lifting and Laying Sod.—When sod is to be moved from small 
areas it is usually necessary to cut the sod with hand tools. With 
areas of 1,000 square feet or more it is more economical to use a sod 
cutter, which may be drawn by a tractor, horse, or man. Figures 
collected from a number of golf clubs that have recently done sodding 
and kept accurate cost accounts, indicate that the average cost of 
cutting 1,000 square feet of sod with a sod cutter, lifting it, and set­
ting it nearby is $7.70. If it is likely that the sod, after being cut, 
must remain as much as several days before being relaid, it is ad­
visable not to pile one sod upon another but to spread each sod out, 
grass exposed, in some shady place. Sod thus handled will often keep 
for several weeks if it is watered from time to time. There is little 
difference in the expense involved in either spreading sod out or 
piling it up. Cost figures obtained at the Arlington turf garden in 
cutting, lifting, moving, and relaying 2,000 square feet of sod, very 
closely approximate the average obtained from data collected from 
golf clubs.

Sod may be laid comparatively cheaply on fairways and even on 
tees, as in such cases there is no need for a putting surface. Sod may 

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151

also be laid at little expense on putting greens provided there is no 
necessity for getting the green into play in a short time. When, how­
ever, great care is required in relaying sod, the cost amounts to about 
$14 for 1,000 square feet, or nearly double the cost of lifting sod. 
When a green must present a fair putting surface and be ready for 
play within a week or so after it is sodded, a soil bed must first be 
prepared that will not settle to any extent, and when being laid each 
piece of sod must receive individual attention, corners must be packed 
or soil removed here and there and, in fact, the whole area must be 
made as level as possible to the eye before anything but a light tamper 
has been put on it. When sods are laid carelessly and made level by 
pounding and force, the results are only temporary; the whole sodded 
area must instead be laid with care, so that the sods lie level natu­
rally; for then, when top-dressed, wet down, and rolled, the chances 
are good that there will be no heaving or readjustment of the sods to 
bring raised places and hollows into evidence.

Sod will become established and grow much more quickly and 
vigorously if fertilizer is applied to the soil bed before the sod is laid. 
If the soil requires lime, this should be worked in, ground limestone 
being preferable to burnt lime in such a case. A good complete fertil­
izer should then be applied and raked into the soil just previous to sod­
ding. At this time it is more important to supply phosphorus and 
potash than it is to supply nitrogen, since the nitrogen can easily be 
applied in a soluble state after the turf is laid, but not so the less 
soluble elements phosphorus and potash.

Relative Costs of Planting Seed and Stolons.—There is no differ­
ence in the cost of preparing the soil bed for either seed or stolons, 
but there is a difference in cost arising from the higher cost of stolons 
over seed and the added top-dressing material and labor required. 
If seed is used, the seed is raked into the germinating layer, rolled, 
and watered. If stolons are used, the chopped stolons must be care­
fully distributed and must then be covered with top soil at the rate 
of 1 yard to 1,000 square feet, and then rolled and watered. The first 
growth from the stolons must later be clipped and allowed to remain 
on the green. The area is then again top-dressed at the rate of 1 yard 
to 1,000 square feet. Everything considered, the cost of material and 
labor necessary to seed a green, apart from the cost of watering until 
a stand is obtained, is about $7 for 1,000 square feet, as against about 
$30 for 1,000 square feet required to plant stolons. The cost of sow­
ing seed can be controlled to an insignificant extent by the cost of the 
seed; while the cost of planting stolons may be reduced as much as $5 
or $6 for 1,000 square feet depending on the cost of the necessary 
top-dressing material. An additional saving can be effected in plant­
ing stolons if the stock is home-grown. The cost of raising stolons 
in nurseries varies widely, due to the type of soil, freedom from 
weeds, and fertilizer and water requirements. In any event a saving 
can be effected by a club in growing its own stolons, should it wish 
to prepare beforehand for the time when stolons will be required for 
replanting purposes.

Ten square feet of stolons, costing, say, $1.50, will plant 1,100 or 
more running feet of nursery row. These nursery rows can, with a 
little care, be made to spread to a width of 4 feet in one year. Eleven 
hundred feet of rows 4 feet wide will plant an acre in bent sod. The 
cost of purchasing this quantity of stolons (approximately 4,400 
square feet), including freight, might vary from $600 to $1,000.

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject our­
selves, or we know where we can find information upon it. 

Dr. Samuel Johnson.