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Physical Characteristics of Soil Mixtures Used for Golf Green Construction¹

Large amounts of money are invested each year in the preparation of mixtures for the construction of golf greens and athletic fields. Few efforts have been made to completely characterize the physical properties of the resulting greens. Therefore, a greenhouse experiment was conducted to determine the physical characteristics of a range of sand and soil mixtures for golf green construction. Treatment variables included the amount and texture of soil used in the mixture and the presence or absence of a sand layer between the mixture and the gravel drainage layer. The mixtures were placed in 30 cm diam. containers.

They were compacted and grass was established. Infiltration rates decreased after the grass was established and decreased again after the soil mixture was compacted. Mixtures with greater than 3% clay had infiltration rates too small to assure a playable surface after heavy water applications. The depth of available water held by mixtures with 5% soil averaged 6.6 cm for a 35 cm layer. Pure sands held about half this amount of water. Measured water retention agreed well with that calculated from the unsaturated conductivity of the gravel layer and the water retention characteristics of the mixture. Provided the gravel used as the drainage layer has a particle distribution such that less than half the particles are greater than 0.64 cm, little evidence of particle migration was found even without a layer of sand between the mixture and the gravel. Optimum physical characteristics were achieved with mixture containing 5% soil, 85% sand, and 10% peat moss by volume.

Key Words: Athletic fields • Infiltration • Artificial soil mixtures

² Associate professor and extension turf specialist, Soil & Crop Sciences Dep., Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX 77843.

Received for publication January 27, 1975.

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