Friday, April 1, 2016

Spring 2016 Greens Aerification

On Monday, April 4th we will begin aerifying greens. We are using solid tines which means we will NOT be pulling cores. Sand topdressing will still be applied then brushed and dragged in. Soil amendments applied after the brushing of the sand and watered in. Depending on the weather this process may go into Tuesday, April 5th. Our goal is to have the course open first thing Tuesday morning but please check the website in case we have weather or other unforeseen delays occur.

Couple of questions that some may be asking:

Why are we aerifying when the holes from last Fall are not completely healed?

We are doing this to reduce organic matter in the greens. A detailed description from a previous blog post can be found here: Organic Matter Blog Post

Why not hollow tine the greens?

The physical removal of the organic matter via hollow tines will increase the rate of organic matter removal. However, we also want to make sure our members and guests have the best conditions possible for the Spring start to the golf season. The solid tines will allow the greens to heal faster while still helping with organic matter removal. Specifically, allowing sand into the thatch layer to disperse the organic matter in the thatch and allowing air for increased microbial degradation.

When is the Fall aerification of greens?

Schedule for Monday, August 29th, weather dependent. With ideal weather conditions greens should be healed in roughly 10 days.

Will there be a Spring aerification of tees and fairways?

Tee aerification will occur once our regular staff returns which we are estimating to be mid-April. Certain areas in fairways will be aerified as well at this time but a full fairway aerification will not occur.


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