It has been almost two weeks since we aerated greens and the recovery is on a very good pace. Great weather before, during, and after the process has been the biggest reason for this. We also made the decision to create a "gap" on the tee sheet for the Wednesday and Thursday following aeration. This gap of 90 minutes from 10:30-12:00 allowed us to do more brushing of sand, rolling, etc...which we can't do at daybreak because the greens are wet with dew. I anticipate green speed to pick up a little each day and hope to be back to 10.5' on the stimp meter by the middle of this week.
We removed roughly 6% of the surface area by using 5/8" tines on 2.25" x 2.25" spacing. Ideally we would get at least 15% of the surface area each year in order to keep greens healthy and functioning properly. In other words we need to do better as our two aerations affect only 12% of the surface area. Tighter hole spacing would allow us to avoid adding another unwanted aeration to the calendar. Unfortunately our current machine, a 1996 tractor mounted unit, is limited in its set up. I'm pushing for a new walking aerator for Christmas. The new machines have much greater versatility with depth and spacing and make a cleaner hole to boot. This will not only improve the greens, but should also help with the recovery time following aeration.
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| The first step on September 23rd |
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| A week later |
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