Process of Aerification and Course Update

 

The greens department was able to find a break in the weather earlier in the week to perform our bi-annual process of aerification on the greens.  My hat is off to the staff, with limited numbers and a lengthy frost delay on Monday morning, we were able to complete all putting surfaces by 6 pm on Tuesday night.  This process serves as the foundation for not only the upcoming season but improving the soil profile for years to come.  Below are some pictures and description of the process:

 

The process began by pulling 5/8 inch cores on 1.5 spacing

 

The next step was to clean up the cores.  Blowers, shovels and level lawns were used to move the cores to the sides of each green before being removed via carts.  Cores are stock piled at the shop and used throughout the season as a fill with projects, stump holes and cart path edges.

Following clean-up, each surface is then rolled to smooth out the imperfections created by the process and the traffic with clean-up.

 



 

Next, we applied soil amendments to be incorporated into the holes prior to topdressing.  These amendments aid in the infrastructure on the soil properties along with jump starting microbial activity.

 

Then sand is applied, this season we were able to put close to 90 tons on our putting surfaces.  The continued incorporation of sand with Aerifications will drastically aid in the health of the greens.  Not only does sand improve the growing medium for roots, but it improves playability with firmness and aids in surface drainage following rain events. 

 

The finished product.

 

 

 

The timing of Aerification couldn't be better, on Wednesday morning the golf course received a little over 3/4 inch of rain that served as a blessing in moving the sand into the canopy.  More rain is expected tonight through Saturday morning in combination with warmer temperatures that will  expedite the healing process.  You may have noticed the email sent out by Steve yesterday concerning the use of temporary greens, we apologize for this short-term inconvenience.  With the process of aerification, greens become fragile and soft under foot.  That in combination with the 2+ inch rainfall over the next couple of days will create extremely saturated soil conditions.  To avoid imperfections and long lasting damage to the putting surfaces, we have decided to use temporary greens on a day to day basis during the healing process.  Thank you for your support!

 

 

Above is a sneak peek at the new view off 16 tee, the contractors still have a few trees to remove but hopefully you can already see the difference.