Spring 2012 Aeration

Mother Nature made a big impact on our spring aeration this year.  It started off great with perfect weather on Monday that afforded us the time to get all 21 greens punched, harvested, topdressed, matted and blown.  We even got a jump start on some tees that we typically don't get a chance to begin working on until day 2 of the 4 day aeration process.  Tuesday began with cloudy conditions, but no rain so we continued aerating tees, approaches, high-traffic areas and the practice range tee.  

Our aeration contractor, Farm-Tek, got off to a great start to on Monday and Tuesday working on the fairways and rough so the progress they were making was very promising.....then the weather took a turn for the worse.  It began raining on Tuesday afternoon and hasn't let up since.  It has forced us to reset our game-plan and get really creative to accomplish what still needs to be done.  

The wet weather has made the most significant impact on the fairway coring process.  This process involves first pulling the cores from the fairways, then processing them, then drag-matting them and finally blowing off the remaining thatchy tufts.  Obviously when you add moisture anywhere in this tedious process, it's going to raise the level of difficulty.  That being said, we have made some adjustments and are making progress, even in the rain that continues to pour down on us.

The best way for us to illustrate just how much work is involved in the aeration process is with photos.  So first off, here is the greens aeration step-by-step process:

 

greens cored, shoveled into rows and harvested all at the same time

heavily topdressing greens

 

coco matting the topdressing into the aeration holes

blowing the sand across the open holes to help fill them

#1 green aeration completed, mowed, rolled and ready for play

The tee aeration process is very similar to that on the greens with the only differences being that we use a different style of mat (steel) to work the sand into the open holes and we don't use a blower on them.  The fairway aeration process, on the other hand, is quite different altogether.  The fairways are topdressed first, ahead of any punching and the cores are processed/smashed to reincorporate the desirable sandy soils that makeup our fairways.  We are then left with "thatchy tufts" that we blow off the fairways and into the rough to be mulched up by mowers.  Here are photos of the fairway aeration process:

 fairway being topdressed and then cored

core processor smashing the fairway cores

drag-matting the cores on fairways to remove more sandy soil

resulting "thatchy tufts" to be blown into the rough for mulching

The rain has since forced us to use our Brouwer fairway verti-cutter to smash the wet cores on #9 fairway and the back 9 fairways as they are too wet to be processed.  It's helping them to dry out enough to be able to blow them off into the rough.  We will have all the fairways completed today, but there will be some muddy areas that we will continue to work on cleaning up throughout the weekend and next week.  Here are a couple photos of this slow, but necessary process:

  Brouwer smashing wet cores to knock off the desirable sandy soil

blowing the wet cores off #9 fairway - it's a slow process

Now that the spring aeration is completed, here's what to expect over the next few weeks:

• Greens will be sandy, bumpy and slower as they heal from the aeration.  How quickly they heal is strictly dependent on weather.  They will always heal slower following the spring aeration vs the late-summer aeration as air and soil temperatures are cooler in the spring.  You can expect them to take 14-21 days to return "back to normal".
• Tees will also be sandy for the next 14-21 days while the topdressing works into the turf canopy.  They were also heavily over-seeded so you can expect to see lots of new turf germinating and growing on them soon.  Tees should also be back to normal in 14-21 days.
• Fairways will be quite shaggy over the next 10-14 days since our mowing frequency will be reduced as they recover.  They will also be sandy as the topdressing works into the turf canopy.  They should also be back to normal in 14-21 days.
• Roughs were deep-tined with solid tines and topdressed.  Some high-traffic areas in the rough, mainly at green and tee complexes, were cored though and the cores still need to be smashed up and worked in.  You can expect sandy rough and some areas with core remains for the next 14-21 days.

Considering what we were up against with wet weather for more than 50% of our scheduled aeration time, I am quite pleased with the results.  The Turf Care crew put in some very long hours and their dedication, perseverance, ability to adjust and experience made it all possible!  A HUGE THANK-YOU IS IN ORDER TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM!!!