August 21, 2018
Today officially started our greens aerification and seeding for Fall 2018. Greens aerification is extremely important for maintaining healthy turf and good playing conditions. Cores of soil are pulled out of the ground using specially designed equipment to relieve compaction and promote gas, nutrient and water exchange. In other words, after a busy golf season with members walking on the greens, our mowing and rolling the greens, the soil is squished and cannot breathe, eat or drink well at all. We break apart the top 4" of the green carefully, and this allows air, nutrients and water to pass quickly into the roots of the plant. As you know by taking a walk on the beach, sand is a perfect drainage material. Waves wash up on shore and are immediately washed into the beach. We use sand in the same way, because it keeps the soil "open" while allowing a ball to roll evenly on top.
Additionally we will cross cut our greens to a depth of 1/2" and seed our greens with new bentgrass. Cross cutting, also known as verticutting, removes heavy thatch that slows down ball roll. The grooves also create a perfect growing space for new seedlings to germinate and thrive. We normally see germination around 5 days after seeding the greens.
Today our greens aerification was set back by afternoon rains. Our staff successfully aerified and cleaned the front nine greens and the practice greens. We were unable to topdress, broom, slice or seed today. We are ready to go tomorrow to catch up as much as possible and get back on schedule.
