Proper divot repair:

Conestoga is a bermudagrass golf course. Bermudagrass grows both horizontally and vertically, and can propagate new leaves and shoots from its laterally growing stolons and vertically growing rhizomes. Even when the bermudagrass is dormant during our overseeded months, the underlying bermudagrass rhizomes and stolons that are visible after taking a divot will remain viable and resume growth to fill the area in once soil temperatures are consistently warm enough. Replacing a divot on bermudagrass, is like gluing a wig on after you just shaved your head. It might look good for a while, but eventually that growth will resume underneath and you’ll be left with an extra thick mat of material that just adds to the difficulty of maintenance.

The best and most preferred method of fixing a divot on warm season golf courses, is to fill the divot with sand and smooth it out level with the surrounding turf using your foot. This practice will leave the most uniform playing surfaces in the long run, and will help to eliminate additional thatch issues, as well as allow new growth to form and allow the bermudagrass to recover properly in the spring and early summer. So as you play, please don’t worry about replacing your divot, just use those sand bottles as often as possible and remember not to over fill or under fill your divots. (If you run out of sand and there is no sand to be found, replacing your divot is the next best thing).

If the divot is nearby and easy to pick up, tossing it into the rough will help extend the life of our reel mowers, and the rotary deck rough mowers will have no problem mulching those divots up.

Seed is not necessary for your sand bottles, it just helps establish quicker temporary ground cover during our winter months when bermudagrass is not actively growing.

Thank you.