Keeping It Simple With XGD
I was talking to a client last week regarding the second phase of their subsurface greens drainage project and he brought up a few general points that I wanted to clarify for all. My client had also discussed our process with another turf consultant, and he was told to consider modifying our organic sand XGD trench backfill recommendation to a lighter mix on some of his shadier, and/or more high organic matter greens. Our client is certainly glad he didn’t and is currently thrilled at our suggestion through his first summer season with XGD as he has not had to worry about our laterals drying out hardly at all. He was also told to prepare for weeks of needle tining and topdressing to blend in the imperfections of the XGD drainage laterals? Pardon…, Excuse me…did I hear that correctly? Maybe with another golf contractor with a lesser track record of pulling this off on over 2000 greens. People who know XGD know we don’t brag or beg for attention, we just let our customer’s satisfaction speak for itself, but I can’t help but toss out a little sarcastic comment on this one: Folks, in reference to us performing open heart surgery to your precious putting greens,”this isn’t our first all-star game”. I feel dirty and boastful even throwing out a comment like that so I will let the picture below reinforce my convictions:
One of our crews has just exited the green site. Is it just me or am I seeing no need for aerification or topdressing at all. Why mess with that perfection? Just keep it simple with an XGD installation and don’t adjust, or add, or change any of your cultural practices. The beauty of the XGD process is it’s simplicity. The next picture also illustrates the topdressing that occurs naturally during the XGD install:
As a natural occurring process of XGD our crews always drag and push our greensmix backfill all around the putting surface anyways, so why would there be an occasion to do that after the install? Beats me, but I understand how over thinking a process or project, can complicate it and lead to unsatisfactory results. That is not to say that thorough and careful planning is not important to any greens restoration project, but we have learned that their needs to be a balance between too much planning and not enough.
XGD Systems was built upon simple agronomic principles, and clients like Briarwood CC in IL,in the pictures above have taken our process to another level by adding regrassing to a modern bentgrass, as a way of guaranteeing the long term agronomic success of their classic putting surfaces, sans blowing them up with a full rebuild, which is a much more expensive and disruptive option. Westmoor CC, WI also went down this same road for their greens restoration a few years ago, and the club has never looked back as their membership is soaring because of it.
In summary, in any project undertaking, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel for it to be a home run. Rather, gather the information, discuss it with several colleagues, and most, if not all of the time your facility will be the better off for it.
Cheers, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer
