Spring Greens Aerification

Next week we will be aerifying greens beginning on Monday March 31st and finishing on Wednesday April 2nd.  The front nine greens will be aerified on Monday; back nine greens on Tuesday.  And lastly, the Practice Greens will be aerified on Wednesday.  Throughout the process we will have nine holes open for play each day.

Aerification is one of the most important practices we utilize for promoting healthy turf.  Our primary purpose is to promote gas exchange within the soil profile, however, the benefits are plenty.  Thatch reduction, reduced compaction, improved drainage, and smoother/firmer putting surfaces are just a few of the benefits.

As has become typical for the spring, our process will be more aggressive compared to our fall aerification.  During the fall we primarily use the deep tine aerifier.  This machine is capable of reaching depths of 8-10", however, with the smaller diameter tine and a wider spacing of the tines, the surface is usually quick to heal.

During the spring, we prefer to utilize both the deep tine aerifier along with our standard walk behind aerifier fit with 5/8" hollow tines for core removal.  This allows us to impact the full range of the soil profile, avoiding the potential for creating a hard pan layer below the standard aerification depth.

Aerification is also a great time to amend our soils.  Organic based fertilizer, gypsum, along with other fertilizer amendments are a few of the items we incorporate into the profile while the green is opened up.

Unfortunately, all these great things that happen to our greens during the week of aerification are at the expense of putting quality.  Although the putting quality we sacrifice today leads to better greens the remainder of the season.

Thank you for your understanding during this process.  We look to get the greens back to normal in about a week.

Standard Aerification with 5/8" hollow tine.

Deep Tine Aerifier: 10" depth with 1/2" solid tine.