Clean Sweep: How Turf Sweepers Improve the Health of Your Turf

Trees: a golf course’s best friend and worst enemy. Players love the natural beauty and shade that lush woodlands provides but the time and maintenance it costs to keep falling leaves and debris from unsightly clutter and damaged turf can be much more than expected. Over the busy golf season, your course may also become riddled with aeration cores, grass clippings and animal droppings. One solution (besides cutting down all of your trees) is to invest in a quality turf sweeper. Often overlooked, these behind-the-scenes super stars are what keep your turf naturally healthy and ready to achieve optimal performance. 

3 Ways in Which Leaves and Debris can Damage Your Course

1. Suppress Sunlight and Block Nutrients

Leaves left to pile on top of grass suppress the natural sunlight that your turf needs to thrive. The more and more that leaves stay on the ground, the more matted and wet your turf is going to become. This could also attract pests and other diseases that are unhealthy for turf and since they typically thrive in dark, moist areas. 

2. Kill Healthy Grass

Leaves that are left too long can cause major problems in the upcoming year when you are on track to open up to another beautiful golf season. Winter/colder months doesn’t necessarily mean you can just forget about the leaves and the debris. The snow and frost that cover the leaves essentially kill off any healthy grass you had worked for underneath it. Now, instead of just turf sweeping leaves and debris in the spring, you are also sodding dead spots. 

3. Disrupt Play and Maintenance

By hole 13, some golfers may be hoping a good leaf pile will be just the natural hazard they need for that slight-of-foot kickoff into the fairway but overall, an abundance of leaves and debris is just downright bad for play. Aesthetically, you want your players to see a clean, smooth course that is well-maintained. By neglecting leaf and debris pickup in and around your course,  you are negatively impacting the players and the hard work you put in year-round for healthy turf. 

Don’t “leaf” it for later - invest in a turf sweeper. Smithco has a wide variety of turf sweepers to choose from that can fit any course and any budget. Visit www.smithco.com/sweepers to learn more about achieving healthy turf all year round.