Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Post aerification

As of today, September 19th, we have completed 90% of our aerification process. Both of our fairway aerators developed  mechanical problems, one will be fixed in the next several days. The other will require more time and probably won't be ready until next year. Because of the problems, we have decided to solid tine the back nine fairways to finish the process. Our final aerating will be in the roughs, which will be attempted next week. 

As part of the process, you will have noticed we have fertilized as well, pretty much wall to wall. The greens are progressing nicely with a very quick recovery. The current weather has been a big help for healing in the holes. Within another week green speeds will have totally recovered and you should see speeds up around 10 or 10 1/2 on the stimp meter. We are planning to verticut and lightly sand on next Monday the 24th. This process will help smooth out some of the bumpiness that can creep in after aerification.

In case your wondering why we waited to aerate the putting green, we simply wanted to provide as much practice area while we were closed during aerification week . It should be back in good condition as well within a couple of weeks.

In trying to push the sand down on the greens with our watering practices, you may experience some wet areas in the surrounds on some greens and tees. This is normal due to the inability of our sprinkler system to apply water to just the greens and specific areas on the tees. Please be patient as these will continue to get better as we back off the water.

A big thank you goes out to my crew who worked very hard to get all of the aeration processes done by Wednesday. They did an outstanding job.

As we prepare for the fall and winter months,  I'd like to thank our members for their patience during this process. I know things get a little messy out there during this time.




Friday, September 7, 2012

Fall Aerification

This Sunday at 3pm we will be starting our aerification process.  We will be following play after 3pm starting on hole #1. The golf course will be closed Monday through Wednesday. Greens and Fairway aerification will take place first and should be finished by the end of the day on Tuesday. We will be using a smaller 1/2" tine on the greens to help heal faster. The fairway tines will be a 3/4" split tine. This will help the plugs that are pulled out to break down faster, so there is minimal disruption on the surface. Once the greens are done we will proceed to the tees. If our weather cooperates and equipment holds together we should have most everything done by the end of the day on Friday.

Thank you in advance for your patience during this process. We're looking forward to great conditions going into the fall and winter months.