The golf course has received 3 inches of rain over the last week. While wet weather is typical this time of year, it still presents challenges. We have actually fared much better than many courses in the area but the course is very saturated. All turf surfaces are growing well and the warmer temperatures over the next 7 days will really keep things moving. Today, our team is venting greens to allow the saturated greens to "breathe", Venting creates very small holes in the surface that penetrate through the top 3" of the green and allows oxygen in to the roots while helping the greens dry out. Two appropriate analogies to venting would be:
1. Opening a window to a stuffy, humid house automatically makes everything inside the house more comfortable
2. If you put your thumb over the end of a straw, it will never drain. Remove your thumb and the straw works correctly. Venting allows an opening at the top of the green so the greens can drain more effectively.
Our team mows right behind the vent and the holes are barely visible and should not impact putting at all. The greens are recovering well from the aggressive aeration programs this spring. We anticipate being 100% healed over by May 1. Greens are healthy and growing well, it just takes time to rebound from aeration. The rains and warm weather have the golf course at least a month ahead of schedule. It looks like July out there and our main attention is now focused on course setup and maintenance. After all of the rain, our main focus this week will be to get all surfaces mowed and prep for sod installation next week. On Monday, we will be installing a few more fan poles, repairing the rock wall on 7, and fertilizing the entire golf course.
Have a great weekend,
Jordan Booth, CGCS
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| Stephen and Tomas vented greens today ahead of the mowers. We use the same machine to vent greens that we do to aerate greens, just with a much smaller solid tine and a roller attachment to smooth the surface. |
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| This greens profile shows the value to deep tine aeration. The roots on the right are growing down, through a deep tine channel. Deep, healthy roots lead to firm, healthy greens. |
