Course Maintenance – Hollow Tining of Greens

Why and How

Due to the usually excellent weather conditions in this region of Spain with sunshine some 320 day of the year the golf courses are busy all year around and receive no respite, especially the greens which see a lot of traffic over a 12 month period with 4 ball tee times every 8 minutes from 8.00am to 5.30pm.

Having planned your golfing holiday with our friends there is nothing worse than arriving at a course which is in poor condition, especially the greens which constitute for many golfers an important factor over 18 holes of golf.

All local golf courses have planned maintenance schedules which in general terms are based at the start or end of high season periods and therefore concentrate on the last few weeks in May, the first few weeks in June and the last few weeks in August and the first few weeks in September.

Unfortunately the work undertaken causes a disruption to golf and produces a poor putting surface for a few weeks and although courses may reduce prices during these periods of work it is better to avoid these periods of time but just why do they have to do this work?

Method

The surface of a green, colour, density and speed is a combination of the maintenance of the surface but also, about the maintenance of the root-zone. A healthy grass starts from healthy roots. Soil compaction can be a severe problem resulting in restricted root growth, lack of water infiltration into the soil, loss of resilience, weed invasion, disease problems and decline in turf quality. Hollow Tining is used to prevent damage from an excessive soil compaction. It is also very important to provide the needed drainage, for water infiltration and aeration at the root-zone and is done during the warm season when temperatures favour rapid shoot growth and coverage of the turf openings. The use of sand on greens is essential because it helps to digest the organic matter, enhancing the aeration of the root-zone, speed on greens and better recovery from pitch marks. In order to minimize the disruption to golfers, hollow tinning is usually carried out in 2 consecutive journeys so that the 18 greens are aerated in the same week. The surface smoothness restoration process includes top dressing, drag matting and rolling and greens are normally puttable after 3 days with rolling putting surface within 10 days.

However in reality depending on a number of factors such as day and night time temperatures and watering it usually take greens 15 to 20 days to return to a perfect condition.

There you have it…so when you next question the parentage of the green keepers you will understand the reasons just a little more.

Many golf courses announce their maintenance schedule in the early months of the year and so to allow you to better plan your golfing holiday below is the schedule of maintenance works planned for the current year where they have been announced by the courses:

Notes:

These dates may change slightly due to courses loading or weather conditions and we will attempt to keep our web-site updated as and when informed by the golf courses.