Our bentgrass teeing surface is just under an acre in size. We split our tee surface into an east half and a west half and only use one side at a time, allowing the opposite side time to recover. The two sides of the tee rotate approximately every 4-5 weeks.
In order to provide our practicing golfers a quality surface to hit from, we need your assistance. To speed up recovery, there is a right way and a wrong way when it comes to your divot patterns. The first two photos below were taken this year and show divot patterns from our practice tee. From a recovery perspective, this is the absolute worst pattern and I will explain why.
The beauty of creeping bentgrass, besides being a great playing surface, is its ability to creep. It has the ability to fill in voids by growing laterally using plant parts called stolons. In the photos above, the healthy grass on the perimeter of the voids has a long way to grow to repair this blemish. Therefore, it makes sense to leave strips of healthy turf between the divots. This scenario allows the healthy strips of grass to fill in the divots within that 4-5 week window we have for recovery. We have several signs posted around our facility that illustrate this method that produces the quickest recovery.
I know when you see professional golfers on television practicing on the range, most are creating huge craters with their divots. Tournament golf at that level is totally different in all respects from public, daily fee golf. And, let's face it, 99.99% of us are not professional golfers. So please do your part and remember to "Strip Your Divots!" The next person to practice thanks you!
