The main benefit of the Sand Injection is that as soon as the grooves have been cut, dried sand flows and accurately fills the grooves before any traffic such as footprints or wheels are able to close the grooves.That was the main concern with the conventional Gradens as so much material was removed from a narrow groove it was easy to close the grooves and therefore difficult to integrate fresh material into the grooves which could create stability issues. This was made worse when operating at depths of over 1" and if there was too much moisture in the surface. It was sometimes a concern of superintendents that recovery time could be longer than desired, we felt this was because a void was left under the surface which led to the development of the Sand Injection to remedy this situation.
Having been designed, developed and tested over a two year period the Sand Injection has had excellent feedback, it lead to one user adding the comment "What can you say about it, it is exactly what everybody needs to do!"
During this time it has been widely accepted that recovery times have been greatly improved and surfaces have instantly been firmed compared to areas cored or not cultivated. It was often easier to integrate top dressing in to core holes compared to the Graden, in practice this is often very difficult to achieve and the dragging action can be very abrasive on the plant, the Sand Injection reduces these issues as we ll as having many more benefits.The Sand Injection is not a 'miracle cure' but can play a very important role in a clubs management program. It can work hand in hand with other practices such as deep tine aeration or USGA rootzone connecting everything together to ensure they function efficiently as a team.
