Aeration Reminder

Just a quick reminder that, weather permitting, we will be aerating greens next week (April 20,21,22).  On Monday, the front nine will be closed, but starting at noon you will be able to play the back nine.  On Tuesday and Wednesday the entire course will be closed.  On Thursday we've blocked off time from 11:00-? for us to do any touch up steps needed to complete the process.  We've pulled together some of our student help, but are still working with a limited staff.  It's going to be a slower than normal process for that reason. 

What will be happening?

1. A contractor will use a deep tine machine on Monday.  Using 9" solid tines these machines get well below the depth of our machine.  This helps to improve water movement through the profile and provides deeper channels for root growth.  
2. We will use our aerator to pull 1/2" diameter cores from roughly 2.5-3" depth.  This removes excess organic matter near the surface that holds moisture and prevents gas exchange between the soil and atmosphere.  As our greens have aged, the profile has become much more "sealed" off and holds too much moisture.   We need to aerate more aggressively and/or more often to turn this trend around.  We are seeing more trouble in the summer as a result of the excess water holding/ lack of air porosity.  
3. We will topdress the greens in an effort to fill the holes with sand.  It requires ideal conditions for this step to be successful.  Dry sand, firm greens, low humidity, sunlight, etc.. We brush the sand into the holes and then do our best to get excess sand off the surface and into any holes that aren't full.  
4. Recovery rate depends on soil temperature, weather, and how well we are able to get the holes filled with sand.  At the moment the turf is growing very slowly, but hopefully it will pick up soon and greens will be back to normal shortly.