Patent ID: 8662193

Claim:
A method to collect soil cores from the surface of a golf green, comprising the steps of (a) providing soil core collector apparatus including (i) a prime mover having a selected weight and at least three ground engaging tires, each of said tires having a selected tread diameter, width, and ground contact area such that said prime mover generates less than one hundred psi on the golf green, and a top speed of at least five miles per hour, and (ii) a soil core collector sled attached to said prime mover and having a housing, a plurality of contiguous linked shovels shaped and dimensioned to contact and slide over the surface of the green, each of said shovels including a leading portion shaped and dimensioned to lie, when said shovel sets on the surface of the green, flat on the surface of the green, said leading portion including a leading edge with a squared off surface canted with respect to the surface of the green when said shovel sets on the surface of the green, and a trailing portion connected to said leading portion and shaped and dimensioned to cant, when said shovel sets on the surface of the green, upwardly away from said leading portion and the surface of the green at an angle of less than nine degrees, said soil core collector sled having at least two operative positions on said prime mover, (iii) a first deployed operative position with said shovels set on the surface of the green such that said prime mover can pull said sled over the surface of the green to collect soil cores, and (iv) a second stowed position with said sled raised away from the surface of the green; (b) aerating the green by extracting soil cores from the green and leaving the extracted soil cores scattered on the surface of the green; (c) waiting at least fifteen minutes for the extracted soil cores to dry; (d) positioning said soil core collector sled in said first deployed operative position; and, (e) moving said prime mover and said soil core collector sled over the surface of the green at least five mph to collect the extracted soil cores from the surface of the green.