Benefits of Aerification

Here is a two minute video from the United States Golf Association explaining the benefits of aerification:

USGA-Benefits of Aerification

With colder then normal temperatures recovery from last week's aerification has been delayed. Am hoping for warm temperatures this week and some rain. We also plan on applying foliar fertilizer to the greens on Wednesday to help with the recovery process.

Fall 2013 Aerification Recovery

With Fall aerification behind us we are now focused on recovery. You will notice that we are taking the piles of plugs from the fairways and using them to fill holes along cart paths and cart entrance/exit points. They will be seeded with the hope to have a nice stand of turf in the Spring.

There are 3 keys to recovery for the greens. They are:

1. Fertility
2. Filling all holes with sand
3. Weather

We are going back to any greens that do not have all holes filled and topdressing them by hand. Our fertility program is strong and therefore weather will be the main factor in getting a quick recovery. At this point warm weather is want we want. Also, a nice soaking rain to wash in all the topdressing sand would help as well.

Fall Aerification Update #2

We had a very successful day yesterday in terms of getting a lot done. Here is what we accomplished.

Greens

All greens aerified and cleaned
#3-9, 11-18 and the putting green have been topdressed

Fairways

#1-8 and #10-17 have been aerified and cleaned

Tees

#1-5, #10-12 and #17 have been aerified and cleaned

Today we will finish topdressing greens then add soil amendments. Our fairway contractor should be complete sometime this afternoon. Our goal is to have the tees completed and soil amendments applied by the end of the day.

Fall Aerification October 21-22, 2013

So far so good as we are halfway through our first day of Fall aerification. During these two days we will aerify fairways, tees and greens. Am working on a new multi-media tool to bring everyone up close and personal with the process. This may take a few days to put together but will hopefully be worth it. In the meantime I will give another status update at the end of today.

Also, here are links to previous posts describing the process.

Aerification #1

Aerification #2

Rain, Rain, Rain

As of 8:00 am this morning we have received 3.4" of rain at the golf course since Wednesday evening. Currently the forecast is calling for additional precipitation through Saturday. Due to the amount of leaves that are falling from the trees this time of the year it is a constant battle to keep drains clear for the water to enter. Even with drains that are leaf free we do get some temporary flooding during heavy downpours as can be seen in this photo of #8 taken this morning.

Fortunately the water quickly recedes once the heavy downpour stops but we are constantly having to clean many drains throughout the golf course of leaves.

Leaves, Natives and Rain

As we approach Fall aerification in two weeks we are focused on leaf clean-up and mowing/spraying of native areas. Both of these tasks are labor intensive. We are also doing some leveling of irrigation heads around greens.

Yesterday we received 0.4" of rain. Not as much as we would of liked but helpful nonetheless.