Yes, this week was the first of 2 aerifications of the summer. Aerification is one of the necessary evils required to maintain a quality golf course. Aerification serves multiple purposes but primarily it is done to remove organic matter (thatch) and relieve compaction. As a result, playing conditions are improved and the grass is healthier throughout the year. Greens, tees, aprons and other select areas were aerified.
Fairways were verticut this week which is conducted to remove thatch. The end result, once again, healthier grass and better playability. This year verticutting became a much bigger project since we expanded our fairway cut from 20 acres to 55! The amount of thatch material removed is remarkable.
Clippings from #1 Fairway
During the verticutting process, we store the clippings on nearby cartpaths for removal later. This is done to keep the verticutting efficiency at it's best. We then come around with a tractor and trailer to remove the clippings from the golf course. Our intention was to finish hauling Saturday morning but the trailer had a hose break. Unfortunately, we won't be able to remove the remaining clippings until Monday after parts are received to repair the trailer. Sorry for the inconvenience. May I suggest holding your nose as you pass by the few remaining piles?
As done in years past we used the aerification plugs from the greens to renovate or construct select tees. Much of the time these tees are the forward tees used for both red and gold play. Originally, these tees were constructed to accommodate a small amount of play. Golf's demographics have changed greatly over the past 35+ years bringing many more women to the game. Plus the addition of gold tees has concentrated a great deal of play from some very small tees. This doesn't allow much room for rotation of teeing area and results in wear. We have focused the past couple of years on improving these tees. This past week we expanded the red/gold tees on 3 and 14. We also added more square footage to the red tee on 9 and built a brand new gold tee on 18.
Aerification plugs after removal from green
#3 forward tee. Left side is original tee. Right side has been newly constructed with soil.
Topdresser used to spread plugs evenly on green
As you can see the hard working men in grounds maintenance accomplished a lot in the 4-day Memorial Day week. However, the work from the past week is not yet complete. Most of the "destructive" practices have concluded but we will still be working on recovery, clean-up and other cultural practices such as topdressing to ensure a good and speedy recovery.
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