Greens Aerification

Today marked the first day of the springtime aerification process on the greens. This process is tedious, labor-intensive, and not very enjoyable for my staff or the golfers. It is, however, one of the more important agronomic processes we perform on the course.

Over the years, the greens have accumulated multiple layers of organic matter. These organic matter layers have a dramatic impact on the performance of a green during the stressful summer months. These layers prevent water from percolating through the soil profile which leaves the greens soft and spongy. These spongy conditions not only make for a poor putting surface but also make the greens more prone to mower scalping. If you scalp your turf shoots, you will lose your roots system. The layers also compromise the soil's ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with the atmosphere. Plants, like people, need to breathe so the soils ability to exchange proper gasses with the atmosphere is vital to root health.

Core aerification is one of the most effective ways to battle the effects of these layers. We pull and harvest a 5/8" core to the depth of 4" and then fill these voids with a fine-textured, kiln-dried topdressing sand. This creates a clean and porous channel that allows for improved water movement and gas exchange through the root zone. The photo below shows a cross section of our greens profile eight months after the last aerification process. As you can see, this sand channel will act as a corridor through the root zone for both water and gas.

We understand that this is not the most enjoyable process for the golfers but please understand that it is very important. We hope to have the greens healed up and putting normal very soon . Thank you for your patience.