We were able to complete tee and approach aerification on Monday. As I have said before and I'm sure I will say again, aerification is one of those processes that I believe to be the foundation of any good agronomic plan. Aerification is not only for removing excessive thatch and organic matter, it is also beneficial in helping to move air, water and nutrients into the rootzone.

Now that all the short grass areas have been completed, we turn our attention to the roughs. We will start by reducing our irrigation inputs, as well as slowly lowering the height of cut in preparation for seed. This will take place over the next several weeks, as we hope to seed by mid October.

Greens Update

Greens aerification was 10 days ago and our putting surfaces are recovering well. We started mowing on Monday (9/15) at a little above 1/8 inch (.135"). We make it a point to mow without baskets, as we don't want to pickup any of the remaining sand. We also made a calcium and potassium application on Monday that should slowly feed the greens over the next six months. Tuesday, bentgrass seed was put down to continue to encourage a more sustainable plant type. Yesterday the height of cut was reduced to .125" (no baskets) and today through the weekend we will be mowing at .125" (with baskets). This coming Monday (9/22) we will again drop our height of cut to .115", which is our desired cutting height for the next few months. At that point, its fine tuning, as we will continue to lightly groom and topdress until the greens are completely healed. 

Thanks for you patience...........

Today is the beginning of our Fall aerification. This week we will be working on the greens, moving on to tees and approaches next week. The greens haven't been aggressively aerified in several years, which may be the cause of the excessive puffiness and scalping we have been fighting over the last few months. We are using 5/8" side-eject tines at a depth of 2.5 inches, followed by a heavy topdressing. We will then make an application of potassium, calcium, and lastly bentgrass seed. Expect at least two weeks for the greens to recover.

The video explaining aerification is for those of you with an interest in agronomy......Enjoy!