Henry Wadsworth Longfellow famously penned, “Into each life some rain must fall.” But when that rain doesn’t stop in a timely fashion, golf course superintendents face myriad difficulties.
Following 10 inches of rain over a 13-day period, superintendent Bradley Helms was facing serious issues at Palatine Hills Golf Course in Illinois.
“We had beautiful fairways ... probably better than they ever looked,” Helms said. “Then with the rains, we lost a lot of turf.”
In all, Helms estimates approximately 4 acres of turf was lost in his fairways and roughs. Fortunately, greens and tees were raised high enough above flood plains.
“The the 10th day [of rain], I knew we were losing turf,” Helms said. “So I got on it.”
Familiar with Redexim because of the Verti-Drain the course utilizes, Helms contacted the company and had them come out to demo the Redexim Overseeder 1575, about which he had heard terrific things.
“I had to see it to believe it,” he said.
In the past, Helms had seen far too much thatch upon overseeding - making the course practically unplayable and being forced to sweep or blow the waste out of play. That wasn’t the case with the Redexim Overseeder 1575, however.
“Golfers can play right through it,” Helms said of the new-and-improved overseeding process. “When they brought it out for the demo, I thought ‘Brilliant” When can I get one?’”
According to Bill Smith, Redexim Turf Products territory manger for Central and Northern Illinois, the OS 1575 is a simple machine with two disks for each row.
“The disks open a v-shaped slit and the seed is placed in the slit and the rear roller closes the slit,” Smith said. “By doing this, it creates a nice seed bed with seed-to-soil contact. With the seed going into the slit, there is no wasted seed laying on the ground. Also, the seed in the slit is in a good environment which holds moisture and heat to help the seed germinate quickly.”
Helms was impressed with the amount of depth, uniformity in seeding and the ability to fine tune. Smith offered additional benefits.
“The OS 1575 does not need a tractors power take off (PTO) to operate,” he said. “There are no spinning verticut blades on the OS 1575 ... the disks simply roll on the ground. This leaves a clean surface and does not pull up a lot of thatch and soil. Also, typically when a person is overseeding it is because the turf is thin. The rolling disks don’t destroy the turf that is remaining.”
But it’s not just the positive recovery from lost turf that Helms has noticed. The Redexim Overseeder 1575 also been helpful in getting out in front of potential issues.
“We can also go into areas that aren’t so bad in anticipation,” he said. “The ability to diversify cultivar with nobody noticing is huge.”
As for a return on investment ... It’s early, but Helms the Redexim Overseeder 1575 has already paid for itself. From a playability standpoint, he has seen its benefits in both the short and long terms - he’s got grass growing uniformly in 6-10 days.
“We don’t have to have somebody cleaning up,” he said the the immediate aftermath. “To get the golf course turned around that quickly is unbelievable. It’s definitely paid for itself.”
The OS 1575 can be operated at speeds up to 9 mph, which means a lot of ground can be covered quickly, according to Smith.
“It can be used for many different types of seed - from bentgrass to fescue,” he added. “It is very simple to set the depth. Simply adjust the toplink of the tractor to change the depth.”
The Redexim Overseeder 1575 is quick, easy and versatile - making the best out of potentially difficult situation.