Divot Trial

One week ago today, I hacked up 40 divots side by side in our first fairway for a trial. That is one heck of a divot pattern, wouldn't you agree Kramer? I replaced 20 of the divots, some thick and some thin and filled the remaining 20 with mix and seed. The questions I am looking to solve are:
1.Which method is better from a playability standpoint
2. Which is more aesthetically pleasing
3. Is either more beneficial to the health of the turf

We have not had any significant rainfall and we keep our fairways firm...........

Even with the toasty top, the roots are impressive for 7 days old and the divot is pretty adhered to the soil. The roots are diving, searching for that drink of water

There are many tiny seedlings starting to pop up in the mix

After 7 days here are my quick thoughts:

• From a playability standpoint I would much rather hit a shot from the fairway off of a partially healed replaced divot than a miniature bunker of seed/sand/soil
• Aesthetically, I am at a toss up for a burnt divot compared to mix - You choose
• The replaced divot has established some dense roots while the seedlings are still in the infant stage -advantage replaced divot

I will continue to keep you updated weekly on the progress with a full report in the June newsletter