Greens Recovering Nicely

Whew, we can finally exhale!  What an aeration week that was!

watering in topdressing sand on #17 green following aeration

I am very pleased (and relieved) to report that despite the mediocre weather, the spring aeration was a success and the course reopened yesterday without any temporary greens.  We were able to accomplish all of our routine greens aeration tasks and they are well onto their way to full recovery.  Here is a photo taken on #10 green this morning, just 2 days after aeration:

aeration holes filled with sand and recovering nicely

We will be completing topdressing and matting tees over the next few days; the wet weather made it quite difficult to pull cores on them so we have been punching them as conditions are improving.  We appreciate your patience as finish them up.

The weather forecast for this week is promising, so we anticipate greens will be about 90% healed within the next 7-10 days.  As always, I'm not putting my trust into the weatherman though!

Aeration Update - Day #3

Well, yesterday was an extremely productive day as we completed topdressing the greens with over 50 tonnes of sand and were able begin matting the material into the aeration holes.  Farm-Tek worked very late as well and were able to complete their portion of the aeration process by solid tine aerating our fairways and applying over 1200 tonnes of sand to our fairways and rough.  They will be moving their equipment out later today.

Today's weather is looking like it is about to take a turn for the worst so we are accomplishing as much as we can ahead of the forecasted rain.  The forecast for tomorrow looks much better so we still anticipate reopening on Friday morning.  Upon reopening, we may be forced to have a few temporary greens in play, particularly on the back 9, while we wrap up some finishing touches due to lost time from inclement weather.

I am very pleased with this spring's aeration process so far.  We've had a few hiccups along the way with some curveballs thrown at us from Mother Nature, but we've avoided any major setbacks.  Now let's just hope for some warmer weather to spur on some growth for a speedy recovery!  As of right now, it looks somewhat promising:

Aeration Update - Day #2

Well, today started ugly.....really darn ugly.  The skies opened up at 6am as we began day #2 of aeration and the forecast for the day was mediocre at best.  Luckily by 7am the rain subsided and we were able to resume our work.  Yesterday we were able to aerate and harvest the cores from 12 greens and we finished the remaining 9 greens by 9:30am this morning.  Keep in mind that we have 21 total greens when you include our 2 putting greens and 1 chipping green.

We have applied topdressing, the most time consuming portion of the entire aeration procedure, to the greens and are working feverishly to get the material worked into the aeration holes.  Once the topdressing is applied, we must wait for it to dry before we can even attempt to move the material into the holes.  This drying time can be anywhere from 45 minutes to 4+ hours, depending on weather conditions.  With the overcast conditions we were experiencing this morning, it took about 4 hours.

Once dry, the material is dragmatted with a steel dragmat to work the bulk of the material into the open holes.  The steel mat must be used with caution as excessive use of it will cause turf injury.  Immediately after dragmatting with the steel mat, we then dragmat the material with a coco fibre mat that is less stressful on the turf to continue to work remaining material into the holes.  Last, but certainly not least, we use high-powered tow behind blowers to move any remaining material over the putting surface to fill any holes that have yet to be filled.

Here are some photos of this process:

topdressing #1 green

dragmatting #1 green with steel mat

dragmatting #1 green with coco fibre mat

blowing #1 green

Unfortunately, the weather forecast for tomorrow is not looking good at this time.  We all know how quickly that can change though so we've got our fingers crossed.  We are currently on schedule for finishing up the aeration process on Thursday, but if tomorrow's maintenance is rained out, we may or may have not change our anticipated reopening date.  Depending on what is accomplished tomorrow and Thursday, we could be forced to have some temp greens in play on Friday as we wrap things up.

Please check back tomorrow for further updates!

The weather is gloomy, but aeration will proceed!

To quote Mark Twain, "A great, great deal has been said about the weather, but very little has ever been done."

Mother Nature's efforts have caused us to change up our aeration plans a bit, but we are moving along smoothly at this point.  Too bad we weren't scheduled for this crucial cultural practice last week when the weather was ideal!

Anyway, as I said, we are pressing forward with the procedure and are still on track to be completed on Thursday evening and reopening on Friday morning.  The wet weather will make the topdressing and matting portion of the process a bit trying, but I'm confident we will be successful.

Here are a few photos of the tasks currently underway:

topdressing being applied to fairways and rough

solid tine aerating fairways

topdressed and solid tine aerated fairway

#1 fairway and rough being topdressed

#6 green being core aerated

#6 green being core aerated

cores being pushed into rows for harvesting

cores being harvested

#16 green core aerated and harvested (ready for topdressing)

As I am about to post this blog entry, the weather has taken a turn for the worst so we may have take a break and let things soak in a bit before we proceed further.

The "A" Word...Aerification

Hard to believe with the record low temperatures we've been experiencing for April, but yes, it's that time of year again...the dreaded spring aerification is upon us!  I know, I know, but it IS a necessary evil to provide healthy turf, which in turn provides optimal playing conditions.  You have to be patient and put up with a few bumpy putts over the next couple weeks, but believe me, it is well worth it.  The good news to pass along is that we will once again be using the smaller 3/8" coring tines on the greens, which will allow them to holes to heal and grow in quicker so we can get the greens back to normal sooner.

Here is a photo to show how quickly the greens can recover with the smaller tines taken just 2 days after last August's aerifying:

significant recovery just 2 days after August aerifying

Farm-Tek will be here to complete the punching and topdressing of our fairways and rough.  They will be applying over 1200 tonnes of sand to the property!  As with our greens, we will be completing the punching and topdressing of the approaches, tees and high-traffic areas.

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The weather forecast is not ideal with the forecasted cooler temperatures and chance of rain throughout the week, but we will push on and are still aiming for wrapping things up on Thursday evening.  We will the reopen on Friday morning for business as usual.  Please keep in mind, the turf throughout the course will be a bit sandy until the topdressing is washed in either from rainfall or irrigation.

Our fingers are crossed for dry weather and warmer temperatures!