SISIS -

Paul Brandenburg, Superintendent at Furman University Golf Course, S. Carolina has just carried out a major renovation of all his fairways. The fairways were common Bermuda grass and over 4 years of overseeding, they had thinned out to the point where they were not providing a good playing surface.

First, all the fairways were sprayed with Round Up, twice. Then they hollow cored in two directions, getting approx. 21/2-3ins deep, and letting the plugs dry out. Tine harrowing broke up the cores which were then blown off to clean the fairways. Finally a SISIS VEEMO hydraulic scarifier was used to remove more thatch and prepare a "seedbed".

Paul Brandenberg had not heard of the VEEMO until he saw it at a demonstration. It looked as though not only could it be used effectively for removing and controlling thatch, but also for the particular preparation job he had in mind.

It was decided to sprig the fairways. Seeding was not an option as the Hybrid Bermuda grasses are sterile and they wanted to re-create Bermuda fairways.

Paul was impressed with the Veemo's ease of operation and great work rate - more work done per unit of time than any other similar machine he had used or experienced. There was no overheating, even in temperatures of 90oF+. He also liked the way that the heads followed contours enabling a good working depth without any loss of ground speed.

It had been expected that it would take 4 days to cover all 18 fairways in one direction, but they averaged 15 acres a day and were finished in 2 days!