Spring Update and Aeration Reminder

May 05, 2015

Spring Update and Aeration Reminder

What a difference two weeks can make. After a long winter the golf course has come alive and we have our hands full. The seasonal staff is just starting to filter in although we could have easily used them all a month ago. In the meantime, we've been doing our best with a small team, a busy golf calendar, and mother nature. We are excited to see a steady stream of golfers and soon we'll be staffed to keep up without a hitch. Until then, please pardon the excessive growth and/or clippings in the rough. We aren't staffed or equipped to mow the rough more than once a week at this time of year. Once the staff is fully in place you'll see things come together quickly.

Greens Aeration is scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday. It was originally scheduled for mid April, but a few much needed revenue generating opportunities popped up and we made a switch to May 11 and 12. Moving to an earlier date did not look appealing due to the colder than normal winter and spring. I think we made the right call to wait although we won't be doing our traditional 5/8" tines with sand to fill the holes. As a result of the change in dates we decided to avoid the aggressive method and do something a little more "user friendly." We will be using a deep solid tine machine and lightly verticutting. This process should heal much quicker than our normal routine. Testing indicates that our greens are doing well and we don't feel like we are risking much to go with this method. Our new aerator did a wonderful job last year and in reality may afford us the ability to do a little less core aerating each year. It is such an efficient and productive tool that it can do much more in one aeration than our old machine could do. We'll continue to monitor the soil physical properties to determine our plan of action for the coming fall and next spring.

A few photos from recent days..