Adam C. Moeller*, Cale A. Bigelow, and Jared R. Nemitz

Regular sand topdressing is a routine putting green maintenance practice used to manage organic matter and promote surface smoothness. Excess sand remaining on the surface after topdressing can be deleterious to turf health, playability, and maintenance equipment if not adequately incorporated into the turf canopy. This field study measured the effectiveness of a new combination roller/brush (RB) device for its ability to incorporate topdressing on a ‘Pennlinks’ creeping bentgrass research green. Plots were topdressed with a medium-coarse sand at a medium (6.67 x 10^-4 m³ m^-2) rate and then worked into the canopy using two procedures: hand brooming (HB), RB or non-brushed (NB). The sand remaining after incorporation was measured immediately by mower pick-up. Turf appearance or quality (TQ), injury (TI) and ball roll distance were also recorded. Among brushing treatments, the RB plots resulted in the least sand pick-up, 23 g sand m^-2, followed by the HB, 46 g sand m^-2, and the NB, 80 g sand m^-2. TQ was higher for HB and RB plots compared to the NB plot, however, ball roll distance and TI were not significantly affected. The results of this study demonstrate that innovative topdressing incorporation methods can improve the ability to work sand into the turf canopy with minimal negative effects. These newer incorporation technologies may be particularly important for use with newer high shoot density bentgrasses or where larger quantities of sand require incorporation such as following hollow tine core cultivation, or where additional surface smoothness is desired.