How can the grass on a golf course green be so perfect?

The greens on a golf course are famously smooth and perfect-looking, but how do they get that way? Discover how careful planning, the right ingredients and a whole lot of maintenance yield a flawless green in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:28):
with today's question, how can the grass on the greens
at a golf course be so absolutely perfect? If you
have ever really looked at the grass on a well
maintained golf green, it is absolutely amazing. It is a
flawless surface made out of plants. To make it this
perfect takes a lot of work. The work starts by

(00:49):
creating what is practically a hydroponic growing system for the grass.
When constructing the green, a bulldozer creates a twelve inch
to sixteen inch deep hole this side of the green.
In the most advanced systems, this whole is completely lined
with plastic, and then gravel and drainage pipes are added
top by sand. The green's grass grows in a sterile

(01:12):
sand medium with perfect drainage The surface is contoured to
allow perfect runoff as well, so there's no puddling when
it rains. Where you put the green is also important.
It needs plenty of sunlight, preferably full sunlight with no
surrounding trees, and good airflow over the green. Sometimes you'll
see fans placed around a green to keep that air

(01:34):
flow going. Then you choose perfect grass. Grass that's ideally
suited to your climate. A sterile sand medium, and a
good location controls for a huge number of variables. But
now the grass is totally dependent on its keepers for
life support. That means the grass needs a steady diet
of water and nutrients to keep it alive. To this

(01:56):
mix is added a variety of herbicides to kill weeds
that try to move in, pesticides to control inchect damage,
and fungicides to control disease and help keep the grass perfect.
Once the green is established, you started on maintenance. This
includes daily mowing with a precision greens mower, watering, fertilizing,

(02:16):
applying chemicals, aerating, and general coddling. If you were willing
to do all of this, you too could have a
golf green in your front yard. For more on this
and thousands of other topics because it how staff works
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(02:37):
Everything on the side is up to off, all styles
are curated, so buyer's remorse just doesn't happen. What's more
is if you were brain stuff, you can skip the
membership weait list and get instant access at jack threads
dot com slash stuff