The top 10 posts of 2019

These posts had the most views in 2019. Here they are, counting down from ten to one.

[10] January, Ranking Turf Twitter in 2018 took a look at “influential” accounts in the industry.

[9] September, Cleaning cores the easy way shows the sweepers that are a standard piece of equipment on Japanese golf courses.

[8] August, Three reasons why sand topdressing is best expressed as a depth explains that a) depth standardizes for mass and over area; b) that depth can be directly related to soil organic matter; and c) this unit makes it easier to communicate about an important maintenance practice.

[7] August, Ball bounce on greens after 7 days of rain, which I never fail to be fascinated by when this is accomplished with only a couple topdressings in the year.

[6] August, getting smoother fairways with a 10 ton vibratory roller is not a big surprise.

[5] June, Measuring organic matter discusses a few details related to organic matter measurement of high maintenance turf surfaces—especially golf course putting greens.

[4] July, Post-rain growth flush from nitrogen in the rain or nitrogen from the soil, in which I make the case for this to be almost certainly a mineralization and increased soil water content effect, and not because of N in the rain.

[3] September, Core aerating putting greens, or not discusses that, and in particular my views on this topic.

[2] February, Do you need to add beneficial microbes to the soil to make it function properly? Two comprehensives and accessible articles by David Zuberer suggest the answer is no.

[1] June, This one simple trick can transform putting greens from usually good to consistently great, and it is part of what I call a continuous improvement system for turfgrass.

Those were the top 10 this year. Thanks to everyone for reading.

The top posts from previous years are at these links:

• Top 10 posts of 2018 about greenkeeping, an MLSN movie and cheat sheet, surprisingly good playing conditions, clipping volume, dollar spot, reactive vs. proactive, autonomous mowers, and carbon fertilizer.
• Top 10 posts of 2017 about N in rain, two posts about fertilizer cost, green speed by species, Si and green speed, sand topdressing and grass growth, awesome things by other people, fertilizer and roots, and one on K and winter diseases.
• Top 10 posts of 2016 about OM, coring or not, the most comoon oxymoron in turf, roots, winter traffic, ET daily or monthly, greenhouse gas emissions from golf courses, and ethical purchasing.
• Top 10 posts of 2015 about fertilizer, green speed, soil tests, wind at St. Andrews, the 1/3 rule of mowing, U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, and foliar applications.
• Top 10 posts of 2014 about seasonal N use, control of turf diseases, an anecdote about ammonium sulfate, salesmen suggesting calcium, cool-season grass in the tropics, irrigation, and soil moisture.
• Top 5 posts of 2013 about summertime syringing to cool bentgrass, nutrient requirements, and potassium.
• Top 5 posts of 2012 about five articles every greenkeeper should read, 1 minute on fertilizer, the real price of fertilizer, and the imaginary problem of calcium deficiency.
• Top 5 posts of 2011 about modifying fairway conditions in Thailand, sandcapping or topdressing, weeds in Malaysia, and turfgrass potassium requirements.
• Top 5 posts of 2010 about zoysiagrass fertilizer, the China Golf Show, grass selection and manilagrass, Guidelines for Tropical Turfgrass Installation and Management, and turfgrass performance data at the Open Championship.
• Top 5 posts of 2009 about mowing patterns and grass color, core aeration, salt for weed control, seeded seashore paspalum, and turfgrass in Dubai.