Localized dry spot

Also: LDS · hydrophobic soil

A patch where the soil has turned water-repellent and irrigation runs off or through instead of wetting the root zone.

Organic coatings on sand particles make them hydrophobic. Water beads and moves sideways or straight down a channel, so the spot stays dry while the rest of the green is fine and the irrigation record says everything got watered.

Wetting agents and physical intervention — needle tines, hand watering — fix it. More irrigation on its own does not, and is how a green gets soft everywhere except the spot you were trying to save.

Fairway is built by people who had to learn all of this.

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