Lawn holding water

My lawn holds an amazing amount of water, I have been advised to put sand on as the grass will grow through and this will raise the level of the lawn. If so when should I do this and how much xan I put on and how often?

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

Putting sand down on the surface will not solve your issue, you need to find out why it's holding water.
It could be the sub layers of soil beneath the top soil or compacted soil, could be building rubble and I've even seen a green house concrete base that was left and turfed over.
There are tools to test compact soils if there are none of the signs associated with compact soils but if it's a problem below the top soil it's going to be a tad harder to fix.
First find the cause then go from there.

 

I think the problem is the water table is quite high, combined with clay. I do have an airator which I use on a regular bases but I think O need to actually raise the ground level slightly over time