Essential Turf Equipment Solutions for Golf Courses in Drought Conditions

Essential Turf Equipment Solutions for Golf Courses in Drought Conditions

Summary: As UK golf courses face increasingly dry and hot weather, greenkeepers need rapid, effective strategies to keep turf healthy. GreenTek provides a range of aeration solutions to help water reach the root-zone and minimize drought damage.

The Drought Challenge: More Golf, Less Water

Hot, dry weather is a double-edged sword for golf course maintenance. While good weather brings increased rounds of play, it also puts severe stress on turf — particularly on the greens.

Grass becomes dehydrated, soil compacts under foot traffic, and surface sealing prevents irrigation and wetting agents from penetrating to the root-zone.

Greenkeepers face a pressing question: How do you get water into the ground before the grass dies off?

Step 1: Open Up the Surface for Water Entry

Why Aeration Matters During Drought

Wetting agents can help, but they’re rarely enough. Surface aeration is essential to break through soil sealing and let moisture, air, and nutrients in.

GreenTek offers a full suite of specialised tools for drought-time aeration — from light surface pricking to deep-penetration solutions.

Sarel Rolling: Fast, Light, Effective Surface Aeration

Triplex-Mounted Sarel Rollers

• Cassettes compatible with Thatch-Away Supa-System
• Covers 1.5m working width
• Perfect for greens, fast and highly manoeuvrable
• Popular with the majority of UK golf clubs

Tractor-Mounted Sarel Rollers

• Mounts on compact tractors or utility vehicles
• Ideal for tees and greens
• Also 1.5m wide — flexible and easy to operate

Multi-Sarel for Fairways

• Huge 5.4m working width
• Covers 18 fairways in just a few hours
• Essential if you have fairway irrigation — maximises ROI on water

When the Surface Is Too Hard: Deeper Aeration Options

 Dyna-Spiker

• Extra-long vibrating slitting spikes
• Penetrate hardened turf
• Fitted to greens triplex
• Driven by hydraulic/electric motors

 Dyna-Corer

• Interchangeable hollow or solid needle tines
• Enables non-disruptive micro-coring
• Punch action breaks surface compaction
• Ideal for precision drought-time aeration

Act Fast to Avoid Long-Term Damage

Drought-damaged turf can take months of renovation to restore. The key is early action: use surface aeration to get water, wetting agents, and nutrients where they’re needed now — before the grass wilts beyond recovery.

Want to See It In Action?

Request a demo of any of the above machines directly on the product pages, or contact your local GreenTek dealer.