Aerification Update

Based on the weather, we have decided to move up our Greens Aerification dates to March 28th and 29th. We will close the entire golf course for both days to complete this operation, opening at 10 am on the 30th. We are fully aware that A team matches begin that weekend on the 2nd of April, but feel that we would prefer to win the first match on aerated greens and have good greens for the remaining matches. If rain hinders the operation, we will complete it either on March 29 and 30 or the following week on April 4th and 5th. We will give at minimum a 1-week notice if we plan to change dates due to forecast.

This spring aerification is key in the restoration process of the greens and collars. We are going to use a 1” solid tine to deep tine the greens to 8”, this will provide valuable infiltration of water and nutrients and release gasses in the profile allowing us to grow deeper roots and stronger greens. These holes will be filled with sand and will significantly improve the profile. We did the same process last year on the greens across the road and saw marked improvement that lasted season long. We will follow up the solid tinning operation with a coring aerification using a .17” coring tine, the same size we use to needle tine greens in the summer. This will help thin out the thatch layer the greens have and further promote the health of the greens.

Once the sand has been brushed in, we will be seeding the greens with 007 Bentgrass to speed up recovery and continue to convert the greens to Bentgrass. Because the nature of our aerification the greens should smooth out quickly, the deep tine holes reduce 50% in size with rolling and the coring tines will hardly be noticeable after a few rolls. By state team matches, the greens should be rolling smooth.

At the same time as aerating the greens, we will be core aerating the fairways. This process will help break up compaction, reduce thatch (which is a major problem on the fairways), and provide a good seed bed for Bentgrass. The cores will need to dry for several hours before they can be pulverized and the thatch blown away. It will likely take us all week to aerate the fairways; your patience during this operation is appreciated.

Once greens and fairways are completed we will aerate the tees and topdress them. We plan to seed Bentgrass into all areas we aerate this spring, the collars will have their own operation completed a second time, after the initial greens aerification, to give them special attention and the optimal seedbed. Optimistic outlook following aeration is always 2 weeks to full recovery but we will do everything in our power to speed up that process.