A breath of fresh air!

If you play golf on this beautiful October day, one thing you will likely notice is a bit of an unpleasant odour coming from the ground!  Don't worry though, that's a good thing!  It's just our fairways and greens taking a deep breath and exhaling.  FarmTek is on-site today deep-tining the fairways and we are verti-cutting and needle-tining (venting) the greens.  As I explained in an earlier blog post, the late-August deep-tining was cut from the budget and we did not anticipate the impact it would have on our drainage capability.  That being said, it became clear that the fairways were REALLY missing the scheduled deep-tining and became quite saturated as a result.  Here are some photos of today's deep-tining:

Deep-tining underway as the sun rises this morning.

NOT something you'd want to be run over by!

FarmTek guys doing their thing and are they ever good at it!

3/4" diameter channels for air and water movement.

Irrigation flag used to check aeration depth.

8" deep channels will certainly help the fairways drain!  Ahhh!

#1 completed - the holes will disappear with traffic and growth.

Now, onto what's being completed on the greens today.  First, the greens are being verti-cut to help remove organic matter (thatch) by thinning out the turf canopy.  Verti-cutting is a method of mowing with a set of vertically mounted blades that cut into and perpendicular to the surface of the turf.  Here is what a verti-cutting reel looks like closeup:

Series of thatch removing vertically mounted blades.

This slicing action removes organic material at a depth that can be adjusted based on how aggressive you'd like to get.  We are verti-cutting the greens and collars at a depth of 1/16" today, which may not sound that aggressive, but as you'll see we are removing alot of material.  Here is a photo of the verti-cutting triplex in action:

So much thatch removed that it doesn't all make it into the buckets!

Thatch harvested from only 4 greens!

Following the verti-cutting, we needle-tined (vented) the greens.  This venting process is a form of aeration that we can do throughout the year with no disruption to play.  As you'll see the effects of the venting are hardly noticeable at the surface, but the benefits below ground are substantial.  It is NOT a form of removing thatch though, so don't think that this means we can move away from traditional core aeration!  It's benefits are short-term and therefore the process must be scheduled routinely to reap the rewards.  Here are some photos of this process:

5" needle tine.

Needle-tining #5 green following verti-cutting.

Characteristic lines from verti-cutting and holes from venting.

Lastly, the greens were double rolled following the verti-cutting and venting and as you can see below, you can hardly tell we were there:

All that beneficial work done without any adverse effects on ball roll.

***Please note that these tasks could not have been completed as efficiently and effectively without our scheduled Maintenance Morning***