Golf Course Maintenance Weekly 3/28/16

Aerification Progress

We started the 2016 spring aerification process on Monday 3/21/16 by aerifying Tilleys practice green and the chipping green. After 10 days we have completed core aerification of all of the putting surfaces except the main PG which we left untouched so members can practice putting. We will get this one in a couple of weeks. Additionally we have completed all of the fairways and the putting green surrounds on hole #'s 1-9 & 10-13 & 15 as well as applying 20 tons per acre of topdressing sand to the fairways. On Monday 4/4/16 we will finish putting green surrounds on hole #'s 14 & 16-18. We could not have completed all of these areas in just 14 days without the alternating F9 & B9 closures that were instituted a few years ago. We appreciate your patience with this as we complete these crucial cultural practices to the turfgrass playing surfaces here at GBGC.

The aerification process went extremely well with hardly any damage to the turfgrass surfaces. Cleanup of the cores, which sometimes can be a little messy was almost flawless as well. We will be core aerifying rough areas over the next couple of weeks which doesn't require any closures. You will just get a lift in those areas when the process is underway and after we are done the areas should be very playable. Below are some more pictures of the fairway and putting surface surround aerification process for all who are interested.

The actual core aerification process is the same for putting surface surrounds or fairways.
Above is a tractor mounted aerifyer extracting cores on #4

Here is another walk behind core aerifyer working in the tighter areas around greens.

Here we are dragging the cores to break them up. This is done after a period of drying.
If we started dragging the cores immediately after extraction we would make a horrible
mess as the cores would be too wet. Allowing the cores time to dry so we can properly
clean them up is the primary reason we need the alternating closures.

Here we are chopping up the cores  with a vertical mower further aiding in removal.

Next step is to vacuum up the remnants.

Following vacuuming we blow, then mow, and then the FW surface is ready for sand.
After the sand drys we can then drag it into the aerification holes.

That's basically it. Thanks again for your support