Symptoms: Numerous barren spots on golf-course fairway.

Diagnosis: This site suffers severe problems because dredged soil from an ocean bay was used as fill and top soil.The fairway soil is rich in sea salts, containing excess sodium, chloride, sulfate, magnesium, and other constituents.

Solutions: This fairway requires extensive leaching with low-salt water and adequate internal drainage. Planting with salt-tolerant species, such as seashore paspalum and Bermudagrass, may be helpful; however, even those plants may not succeed at this site.

Symptoms: Bermudagrass showing stress, with some dead leaf blades.

Diagnosis: The soil is sodic and the grass exhibits stress both from poor soil aeration and from ion toxicity — possibly due to sodium.

Solutions: Reclaim a sodic soil such as this one by leaching, by adding a calcium amendment, and by providing good drainage. Perforation (aeration coring) of soil may help foster infiltration of water.