3/27/2018 - By Dr. Raymond Snyder

Golf course superintendents have many challenges in maintaining putting greens to the quality standards expected by today’s golfers.  Many believe that turfgrass maintenance is as much of an art as it is a science. 

From a science perspective, many times golf course superintendents are treating above ground symptoms that they may or may not know the exact root cause of the problem(s).  In most instances, the problems initiate below the soil surface and cannot be seen unless the superintendents know how and what to look for.   

The soil profiler tool can be one of the most valuable and useful tools that a golf course superintendent can use to ascertain what may be contributing to the above ground symptoms. 

Problems such as plant diseases are routinely diagnosed and fungicides applied as a curative treatment.  Many times these plant diseases are a secondary problem due to some other issue that is the root cause of the problem.  The only way to figure this out many times is through the use of a soil profiler to examine the soil profile of the putting greens.  Problems such as excessive thatch, topdressing layers, soil compaction layers, black layer, and many other problems can readily be identified with the use of a soil profiler that are in fact the root cause to many of the problems noted on the surface of the greens.

This will require some working knowledge from the golf course superintendent to know what to look for to be able to accurately identify these problems when using the soil profiler.  In addition, these soil profiles can be used as a “baseline” to develop aerification plans and to measure results from such operations over time. 

The use of a soil profiler is a relatively simple procedure.  One just places the soil profiler on the surface of the putting green and gently pushes the profiler down into the green.  Once the soil profiler is inserted into the green, then you step on one side of the profiler with your foot and proceed to push the profiler down into the green as far as it will go or until it reaches its maximum depth.  The soil profiler is then gently removed from the green by pulling upward on the handles of the profiler tool.  Once removed from the green, the soil profiler is laid on its side on the green and the removable side plate is either raised or removed to allow the soil taken from the green to be visually observed. 

I recommend that golf course superintendents acquire some accessory items that will be utilized to document and record the soil profile results.  Items that should be obtained include a piece of poster paper, 3” x 5” index cards, a ruler, permanent ink marker, and a camera. 

The poster paper will be used as a background to take pictures of the soil profiles.  First, the poster paper should be marked in one inch increments using the ruler from 0” to 12”.  The index cards should then be labeled for each green to be samples such as greens # 1 through # 18. 

On each green, take a soil profile and place the appropriate index card that is labeled for that particular green and place on the poster paper.  The grass end of the soil profile should be placed at 0” on the poster paper.  Then, take a picture of the soil profile. 

Then, the soil profile should be gently “pulled” by hand from the turfgrass end of the profile.  This will cause separation of the soil profile to occur if any soil compaction layers are present.  This is very important.  Now, place the soil profile on the poster paper again with the turf end of the profile on 0” increment.  Take a second picture with the appropriate green # index card in place to properly identify which green the soil profile represents. 

This procedure should be done for every green to document the condition of the soil profiles for each putting green on the golf course.  These photos will be invaluable when it comes to properly planning an aerification program going forward to effectively address any problems in the soil profile. 

Some of the specific issues or problems that golf course superintendents should be looking for include:

Excessive Thatch

Soil Layering

Improper Topdressing

Compaction Layers

Black Layer

Sod Layer

Benefits of Aerification

The use of a soil profiler can prove to be one of the most important tools if not the most important tools that a golf course superintendent can and should use to make turf management decisions.  And I am not talking about using it as a paper weight or fuel level gauge, but to actually sample golf greens to identify problems and develop successful turf management plans to treat the cause and not the symptoms.