Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant.

..... So what is this all about?

It is about being inquisitive, about not accepting what 'The Book' and the experts are telling me is happening because I can see with my owns eyes it is not quite so and hearing this slow burning realisation amongst Greenkeepers that possibly, just possibly 'The Book' isn't working.

I do not know where this will go, an uncontrolled car crash into a wall at 90 probably but hell its gonna be some ride...

House rules.. I will play nicely if you play nicely, this is my house and I make the rules, don't like it, don't visit again, engage me, assist me, put up with my madness and I will engage back.

Lastly an apology.. I love Irony and sarcasm, so if that annoys you then I am sorry..... No I'm Not! I find sarcasm with a touch of madness is actually a really good 'bullshit' filter for the people I don't want to read this, put up with my inane ramblings or be damned I say..

Okay.. 4 samples, a load of simple basic 'lets see whats happening' look into each and a comparison to the others I am looking for specific things and I am not interested in others because I do not think there is any direct relevance to what I want to see.
I have no actual plan as such beyond I know I will look at Sodicity, EH, Hydrophobicity, all once air dried, I will stick some into test tubes and see what happens when I give them some stimulation, I have one particular chemical reaction I am looking at which will not tell me anything at all but it will add to the database I slowly setting up and finally I will be adding a bit from each into a series of special Tests I have discovered to see if something I am looking for is there or not. I am actually searching for a fail!
I will do some tests at 24 ish hrs, some once they have air dried fully so 4-6 days, some I will play with to fill the gaps.
I have a day job.... this is playing.

Clarification Moment:
I have absolutely NO training or anything in this, I do not know what I am doing OK! BUT... Replication and Hygiene Protocols will be consistent throughout, I am not getting paid for this, this is some self funded research, can you even call it that? no it is pure hobby science.. and there are limits to what I have access to and what I can do, I am not writing a rule book here I am just wanting to see what is different between locations, regimes and soil types in the simple ways I can compare.

The Competitors:
I have 2 Links, one is East Coast that is to be called #LeanMeanSandedMachine, says it all about the regime there really, evolving nicely from the sound of it, working away from high inputs but still with the old chemical shed ready if and when needed,  one West Coast #BrewBruiser, a once abused but now going cold turkey chemical junkey course that is seemingly reaping the benefits of this regime with NO wetter or fungicide use , one from a busy busy Pay as you Play green #PAYPStreetFighter that gets hammered, a really good guy, simple methods, he does 'the book' and they get by just BUT he has had issues and I want to compare these results with some 'afters' in a few mnths........... and finally #UKsFinest (this is not the sarcastic bit btw) an absolutely stunning sward, the cleanest most gorgeous bit of grass I have had the pleasure of looking over... I will leave it at that for now. I do not know the regime here beyond it involves a lot of sand and I would GUESS a few other stimulants as well.

Day 1, well that started last night actually, Preparation..... Soil it seems, much like painting or other tedious DIY jobs to do involves a lot of preparation before you can get on with the exciting bit..

My 'lab' (sarcasm btw) is my old kitchen now defunct due removal any day soon I stop mucking about with distractions but blooming handy as it is warmer than the garage!

So, in the Brew Corner we have ... #BrewBruiser

Nice bit of Links, bit shallower than the rest so as has less profile range it may show up less variation. Dark organic sandy soil to top region, progressively sandier to depth..

Core taken this week. 

The first test.. smell.. Lovely.. a strong 'sweet' earthy smell... A good strong 9.0 on the #SniffScale

Smell!!?? you may say... yes smell, tells me a lot about what is there or not!

Nice strong core with even root development.

Next in the Hammered Corner we have #StreetFighter

Core must have clipped an old drain as there was significantly more sand in the profile than I have seen at this course before, core subsequently broke up, signs of root break but they know this, this is why we are looking and testing what we are manipulating.

This is a 'before' so on the smell test it rates a #GAG level reaction, sour as rough sickly anaerobic.... Eeuuuuwww a lowly -5 on the #SniffScale

Shallow root, multiple soil breaks, very very dense and sickly.

On to another Links now in the Treat em Mean, Keep em Clean Corner the #LeanMeanSandedMachine

Quite dark in comparison as others have commented, rich organic soil increasingly sandy to mid then, surprisingly silty with sign of clay loam to base, the most obvious of the 4, surprise that one eh.

Sample taken on Friday.

Took a bit of a sniff this one, sweet! but not as strong as the brewed as would be expected BUT not sour either. A solid 7.5 on the #SniffScale

Good core structure, top 5 I seen this Winter, root throughout not dense soil as can be seen from pic, wanted to break but held.

Nice

And finally..... by special invite... punching well over its weight but the movement looks good.. we have.. the one... the only... ttTTTTThhheee Infamous ...... iiiiiIITTTttttsssss #UKsFinest

Quick clarity moment.. I will not be discussing where this is OK.. 'I aint got no time for dat shit'... All

I will #HONESTLY say is, as much as it hurts, the grass, that carpet that I left behind on the Green when I snipped the top 25mm off was... without doubt.. 'cough splutter ahem'... The most beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, mesmerising, clean, even bit of grass I have ever ever seen in 25 years in Golf. Sorry..... (NOT Sarcasm btw)

HOWEVER... the bit beneath..... OMFG that is up there in the nastiest, smelliest, toxic looking bit of dirt I have handled, thank god I had gloves on, thought it was glowing in the boot... (OK that was sarcasm just to balance being nice)

IMPORTANT NOTE: I have had this bit of soil for 3 weeks, I was playing with it before it has semi dried SO I do not know how fair the comparisons will be, I will continue to remind of this.

On visual was the Sandiest sample of the lot actually, (as in throughout the profile, not the top) was up there in the top 10 Nasties in terms of #SniffTest had to take a week off them to allow nasal passages to recover!

Crusty, multiple breaks....

So.. There they are, the contenders being readied for combat... update later