This Sunday evening we will be starting our spring aerification of greens. As we did last year, we will be using 1/4 inch solid tines that do not pull a core out of the greens. We have referred to this as venting and punching in the past. Following the aerification, the greens we will be topdressed with sand in an attempt to fill in the holes. During this process we will have the pins located in the approaches (in front of the greens). If the weather and equipment cooperate we should have the pins back in the greens by mid-afternoon on Monday. Weather permitting, we will be aerifying the tees and approaches next week once greens are completed. For the tees and approaches we will be pulling a core and also topdressing. Aerification and topdressing help tremendously in reducing compaction and thatch and also aid in incorporating sand in to the soil profile. This will result in a firmer and tighter (more dense) playing surface. Thank you for your patience and understanding during these cultural practices.
A week has passed since our annual spring greens aeration. We have had a mixed bag of weather, hot, dry, cold, wet and even frost! These conditions make it challenging to aid in healing, but with the more recent consistent warm temperatures we are seeing solid recovery. We were fortunate to have decent weather to complete the process on time, allowing us to fill all the holes created by the 1/2” hollow tines. As there are some minor depressions within some of the holes we will be beginning our bi-weekly topdressing program early next week. Our team is mowing and rolling our greens daily, while slowly lowering our height of cut to our summer norm. We all know that spring cultural practices are not popular among golfers, but these all important tasks are the building blocks for high performance greens conditions throughout the heart of the golf season. Check out this video produced by the USGA on Aerations effect on putting...
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