There isn't a better way to finish aeration week than with a day of solid rain. The team worked hard to cram 5 days of work into 4 long days. The greens were core aerated and then dethatched with the Graden contour sand injection machines. Overall, we disturbed about 15% of the greens surface, even if it looks like a lot more. This article, 'Core Aeration by the Numbers', does a good job explaining percent disruption. We try and accomplish as much at one time so we minimize the need for disruption later in the year. I could not be more proud of the staff for all of their hard work. We are also thankful to Joe Harmon and Harmon Turf Services for getting the Graden work finished ahead of schedule.
While we were closed, we also focused on greens fertility, nematode management, fairway fertility, removal of dead trees, drainage and bunker work. The next few weeks look like great growing weather and the golf course is really beginning to wake up from winter dormancy. We are excited to recover from aeration and begin the season. As always, we appreciate the closed time to accomplish these necessary maintenance practices.
Have a great weekend,
Jordan Booth, CGCS
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| Drainage and bunker work being done to the right fairway bunker on #10. The right side of 10 drains into this bunker so the drainage should help prevent future contamination. We didn't change anything about the bunker, we just reestablished the edge and installed new liner and sand. This bunker will be played as ground under repair through the weekend. |
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| After core areation, the greens were deep verticut with the Graden machines. The machines cut out the thatch in straight lines and replace with dried sand. Our team is responsible for filling the machines with sand and cleaning up all of the thatch. Quite a labor intensive process. |
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| This cross section shows the core aeration on the left and Graden, linear aeration on the right. This 15% disruption quickly gets us close to our >20% goal for the year. |
