Aerification Post Mortem

Aerification is always a difficult process to go through without something major going wrong mechanically or weather related. This year we had both come into play with the weather being the major disrupting factor.  Normally we are able to complete aerification in three long days of the  greens, tees, approaches and fairways.

Below I will layout out our Spring 2013 three day timeline of aerification.

April 8^th

Verti-Drain Greens 1-12

Aerify Fairways 1-6

Graden Tees/Approaches 1-11

Topdress/Seed Fairways 1-5

April 9^th

Verti-Drain Greens 13-18

Aerify Fairways 7-15

Graden Tees/ Approaches 12-18

Topdress/Seed Fairways 6-13

April 10^th

Aerify Fairways 16-18

Topdress/Seed Fairways 14-18

Topdress/Seed all Tees/ Approaches

Below this is the timeline of how Spring 2013 aerification actually played out.

April 8^th

Verti-Drain Greens 1-8

Aerify Fairways 1-6

Graden Tees/Approaches 1-11

Topdress/Seed Fairways 1-4

April 9-10^th

Snow on the ground

April 11^th (still snow on the ground)

Verti-Drain Greens 9-16

Graden Tees/Approaches 12-18

April  12_th

Verti-Drain Greens 17-18

April 15^th (snow starts mid day)

Aerify Fairways 7-11

April 16-18^th

Snow on the ground

April 21^st

Aerify Fairways 13-15

April 22^nd (snow starts mid day)

Aerify Fairways 16-18

Topdress/Seed Fairways 8,10,11&13

April 23-24^th

Snow on the Ground

April 29^th

Topdress/Seed Fairways 7,15,16&18

Topdress/ seed all Tees & Approaches

Final cleanup

Another One In The Books

The last three days were spent aerifing the course to prepare it form the upcoming season.  We completed aerification of greens, tees and fairways.  In addition to that we handled more than 700 tons of sand that was applied to the freshly punched turf.  Needless to say it is a monumental task moving that much material around the golf course.

This year we used a Verti-Drain deep tine aerifer on greens  that was set at a depth of 9" with 1/4" solid times. At first glance the greens appear as if they were not aerified but that is not the case.  The surface impact appears minimal but a deep fracturing of the soil has taken place now allowing free movement of oxygen and water into the rootzone. The end result will be a deeper healthier root system of the plant.

The fairways have been aerified for a total of three times in the last four weeks.  We took the liberty of "sneaking in" a couple of punches on the fairways back in March with the weather cooperating with us. These multiple aerifications will greatly help us control our surface firmness and allow numerous channels to be filled with sand.  Over the course of the three fairway aerifications 4.5 million holes per acre  were punched and 600 tons of sand was applied to the fairways alone.

Right now the fairways more closely resemble bunkers than anything else,  but over the next week the grass will once again push through and start help the sand to work it's way down.  The next several mowings will be extremely rough on the equipment  but the end result is all that matters.

A Little Help

We are scheduled for our fall aerification October 3rd thru October 5th on all of the play areas. That being said, yesterday we went out and aerified the greens on holes 4 and 10 in efforts to help these two greens which have struggled since they were sodded last year. These two greens have never really rooted properly and I decided it would be in the best interest of the overall greens health to punch these an additional time before October. It will take a couple of days for the excess sand to become less visible as the green grows out through it. This extra aerification will go a long way to help with rooting and a disruption of the sod inter phase layer that has had a negative impact on sod establishment. Couple this with cooler temperatures and additional nutrients applied, the greens will have a fighting chance to become a real green one day.

Aerification

Anther aerification is in the books and the golf course is on the road to recovery.  We were fortunate with the weather coopering until the very last minute on Wednesday.  The rain started to fall at 5:00pm right as we were completing work on #18 fairway.

Similar to last fall you will find the golf course very playable after aerification, the greens are perhaps the most playable of all the surfaces. The tees and fairways will take a little longer to return to normal conditions but it will be worth the wait. 

The fairways were heavily topdressed with sand to help with drainage and surface firmness to increase ball roll off the tee shots. This will have been the second complete topdressing of the fairways with sand and this process will require several more years to fully realize the improvements.  More than 500 tons of sand was applied to the fairways after aerifiction, the majority of the sand worked its way into the aerification holes while a significant amount still sits on the surface. The sand will take a couple of weeks to fully work its way into the turf canopy as new growth takes place in the fairways. Currently the fairways look more like bunkers, but the amount of sand needed to modify the surface requires that we apply these heavy rates to achieve our long term goals.

Applying The Sand

Fairway Covered In Sand

After Sand Has Been Drug In

Rough Aerification

Last week we began the long process of aerifiyng the rough.  Historically this has been a difficult task for us based on the older equipment utilized to previously do the work. The aerifier was an old pull behind unit that had poor spacing and produced plugs that were too large and were incredibly difficult to clean up. Crazy as it may sound we received more complaints from aerifing the rough than from aerifing greens.

One of our recent equipment purchases included a Toro 1298 Pro Core aerifier that is primarily used in  fairways , but we decided to take it out into the rough.  This machine produces a nice small core based on the tines that are selected. Additionally the spacing between tines is extremely tight, we are punching the rough with a 2" by 2" spacing which is normally something done in the fairways.  This spacing will do wonders to our heavily trafficed rough allowing for some oxygen exchange into the rootzone as well as compaction relief.

The tight spacing will result in 36 holes per square foot or when you do the math for the rough on the entire golf course that will be more than  101,930,400 cores  physically removed. The cleanup of these cores will be relatively easy by taking a steel drag mat over them which will break them up, or even just mowing the rough for the first time will  take care of most of them.



Close Up Of Rough On The Eight Hole

 

Side Benefit

Last week we went out and heavily topdressed some of the lower lying bowled fairway areas on the fourth fairway. The sand was applied to help us with improving the fairway firmness in these low areas that tend to get wet and stay wet.

Sand Topdressed In The low Fairway Areas

Close Up Of Sand Thickness

We applied the sand after aerifing in an attempt to get some of the material in the aerification holes to help allow moisture to move more quickly through the surface and down into the soil profile.  This process will be repeated two to three time a year in localized "problem" areas throughout the golf course. Over time the sand will also help with surface firmness which will in turn help with more ball roll off the tee shots.  

Perhaps the nicest immediate side effect of applying the topdressing sand this time of year was the acceleration of spring green up.  In five days  time after applying the sand to the fairway the Bentgrass color went from brown to green. This rapid green up can be attributed to the sand increasing the surface temperature and therefore aiding in the green up process.


Green Up Of Turf From Sand Cover

Ice Removal

As the snow has melted back from the fairways several areas of ice formation have been created.  These areas generally occur in the lower lying areas in which poor surface drainage exists. Most of these areas have drainage systems in place which are frozen and no longer allow movement of free water.

Traditionally we have used compost to help melt theses ice areas in addition to mechanically breaking the ice with aerification equipment. This year we found another way to help with ice removal that appears to be less damaging to the turf (physically). While blowing off debris from the fairways it was discovered that the ice lifts from the forced air coming out of the blowers.  This method works best when a person is working with the blower to help lift the ice and make the wind force more effective. 

Rough Aerification

After completing aerification of the main play areas over the last three days we have now moved into the mowed rough areas on the golf course.  The rough in particular is perhaps our weakest link on the course and will bennefit the most from the aerification process.

Over the last four years there has been a significant amount of construction traffic on the course which has severely compacted many of the rough areas.  Strangely enough I receive more complaints from aerifing the rough than I do for aerifing the greens, go figure?  One of the things we have begun to do to minimize the complaints about the left over cores in the rough is to use a smaller size aerification tine.

Traditionally we have used 3/4" tines in the rough while now we have switched to 1/4" tines which is the same size as what was used on the fairways.  The end result will be smaller cores left in the rough, which will not cause some of the problems we have experienced in the past with the larger cores being smashed into the turf by golf cart tires.

We have more than 65 acres of rough to aerify which will take more than a week to complete.  This process is also drawn out due to the fact of trying to do this through play.  Any help or courtesy on your part to minimize the operation will help with a more rapid completion of this task.  I am truly excited in seeing the rough aerified  in this new manor, the benefits will be reaped next season from this highly invasive process.

Aerifying The Rough

 Close Up Of The 1/4" Cores

The Final Push

Today is the final day of aerification and we are well on our way to the finish line.  Over the past two days we were able to complete the aerfication and topdressing of all  the greens and tees. The fairways will be completed today as far as aerification goes, but the slow process of sand topdressing them will take another two days to complete. Unfortunately the final fairways will be topdressed through play which will add to the time to complete the task. Your patience durring this process will be greatly appreciated. 

Once  we reopen for play tomorrow I think the members will be pleasantly surprised with how playable the golf course is.

Aerification Information

With aerification coming next week I found this great video that explains in detail the importance of aerification to golf course greens in particular.  This process holds true for all of the play surfaces, but is most critical for maintaining healthy greens. I hope you can take the time to watch the entire video.  

Changing It Up

Next week the golf course will be closed for three days to aerify greens, tees and fairways.  This year we are going to be changing up some of our techniques to help deal with the later than normal timing of aerification in addition to some key agronomic changes for the future.

We will be using 1/4" hollow tines on tees and fairways and 1/4" solid tines on greens.  These smaller tine sizes will help speed the recovery to the turf by reducing the size of area that needs to re-grow. This is critical due to the time of the year we are in as the turf begins to slow down and prepare itself for the upcoming winter.

The biggest change to our aerification approach will come in the way of topdressing fairways with sand instead of compost.  For the last eight years we have been applying compost to the fairways to help with our Bentgrass conversion in addition to restoring biological activity in the soil. The compost has done its job really well by restoring life to the soil and has created an environment in which the thatch is in an active state of degradation.  This process has left the surface a little softer than I would like so we will be embarking on a long term sand fairway topdressing program to help restore some surface firmness. Another key benefit will come in the form of improved surface drainage that will allow for more ball roll off the tee shots.

Combining the compost rich aeration cores that come up in the fairways with the sand will create a nicely blended material that will be mutually beneficial  and provide the best of both worlds for the fairways.

We will be applying more than 1000 tons of sand to the fairways which is a huge task in itself. Our biggest challenge will be getting the material around the golf course in an efficient manor and the only way this can be done will be utilizing the development roads. The sand topdressing process will unfortunately spill over the three days that we will be closed and carry into the following week to ultimately complete the process.

Spring Flushing

On this beautiful spring morning we woke up to quite a surprise it looked more like winter than anything else.  The timing of the snowfall is not great but the moisture that comes along with it is hard to beat.  From an agronomic standpoint the moisture will put to work the soil amending products that were applied durring aerification last week.

Applications of Gypsum were made to the main play areas to help offset the high levels of Sodium found in our soils. The natural precipitation from the snow will further help putting the Gypsum to work by saturating the soils and moving the Sodium down and out of the soil profile. This process is made more effective with the use of natural precipitation versus effluent water which contains the elements we are trying to remove.

Almost There

A little more than a week has passed since completing our spring aerification on the course and things are beginning to get back to normal.

I am extremely happy with the recovery on the greens as you would be hard pressed to find any indication that holes were punched only eight days ago. Ample fertilizer and soil amendments have been applied to the greens to encourage a quick but health recovery.  One of the negative side effects from this would be slower than normal green speeds due to the amount of positive growth taking place.  Now that full recovery has already taken place PGR's (Plant Growth Regulators) will be utilized to help slow down growth and encourage a more dense stand of turf which will result in an increase in smoothness and green speeds.


One area that is still not quite where I would like to see is the fairways.  They are still a bit messy from the compost that was applied during aerification.  Each time we mow the compost is still being tracked up by the mowers and requires dragging to breakup and re-work in the compost.  This problem should get better in the next week as the material works it's way down the canopy and active growth begins to take place in the fairways.

Compost Being Tracked Up By The Fairway Mowers

Aerification Woes

Today was the last of the three days we normally use to aerifiy the golf course in the spring and the weather has not cooperated.   This would be the first time i can remember that wind has caused delays in our aerification process.  Over the years we have had rain and snow delays but never wind.

Over the last three days the wind has been consistently blowing 10- 20 mph with gusts reaching 45mph.  This has made it impossible to overseed the fairways with Bentgrass and apply compost on top.  Both of these materials are very light in weight and would blow away from the intended area of application.  This has forced us to delay seeding and composting until Thursday and Friday.  Unfortunately this will have to take place through play. This is the best thing to do because but if we did not wait the money spent on the seed and compost would be wasted.

Aerification is Done

Over the last three days the golf course was closed for aerification and things could not have been smoother with the operation.

We were fortunate to not have any equipment issues thanks to the hard work and dedication of Equipment Manager Chris Maurer and his assistant Anton Johnson. This was no small task due to the number of pieces of equipment that were utilized durring the aerification process. A big thank you needs to go out to some of my fellow Superintendent's and a local distributor who loaned me several pieces of equipment that made our success possible.

All of the main play areas such as greens, tees and fairways were aerified and are well on their way to recovery. We have changed our philosophy a bit in how we approach aerification by using smaller tines with a closer spacing to achieve the desired result. I believe this combination will allow the golf course to be more playable initially and help reduce the overall recovery time. Combined on the 24 acres that were aerifed more than 50 million holes were punched and cleaned up.No small task!

Below is a time lapse of photos that were take every 5 minutes while #18 fairway was being aerified. The fairway is a little over 34,000 ft and six units made quick work of it completing the aerification in just 30 minutes.

Getting Ready

Aerification is ten days away, but we are ready to go. All of the equipment has been borrowed, prepped and ready for three days of heavy usage.


The golf course will be closed September 14th through September 16th in order to complete the labor intensive aerification process to the main play areas. Greens, tees and fairways will all be aerified.

We're Done

Over the last three days we have completed our spring aerification of the golf course. It appears the timing will be perfect in having completed all of the fertilizer and soil amendment applications during this three day period of time.


A much anticipated spring snow storm is quickly approaching and will provide more than enough precipitation to help activate the fertilizer and soil amending products. As always the course comes out of aerficiation a little on the rough side, but as time passes conditions improve with each day. Without these invasive agronomic procedures the high quality conditions found on the course could not be possible.

Aerification Day Two

Things have continued to progress nicely with aerification. All of the sand and compost has been applied to the areas that were aerifed and seeded.

Since then, we have spent much of our time cleaning up behind these applications of materials. This has come in the form of brushing in the sand and compost on the greens and fairways. After the material was worked in once water was applied to further move the material downward in to the open aerification holes.

The next step in the process was to mow greens to help pick up any additional sand that was remaining on the surface. The greens look great after their initial mowing and you would be hard pressed to see any visible signs that anything was done to them.
Close up of green after mowing

A 1/2" screen is used in preparing the compost, which unfortunately lets some larger bark like material pass through. It is for this reason that the fairways are mowed in efforts to help chop up the larger materials found in the compost. It will take several mowings to fully breakdown the larger pieces remaining on the surface of the fairways. After a week or so anything that is still remaining on the surface will be blown off.
Close up of fairway after mowing

Aerification Day One

Yesterday aerification got off to a slow start due to a heavy frost in the morning, but once it lifted things went very well.

We were able to topdress and aerify all of the greens and approaches. The sand was applied to theses areas prior to aerification to physically push some of the material in to the holes being created. Perhaps the biggest reason we apply the sand first is so that the newly created holes are not closed in by running the heavy topdressing equipment over top of them. Once the sand dries out after aerification it is easily moved in to the holes and turf surface.
Topdressing applied prior to aerification
Aerifing through the sand

Close up of holes on green

The fairways were overseeded with Bentgrass and then were covered with compost. The compost acts as a cover for the seed to help with germination and also provides nutrients for the turf. We rely on compost as our main fertilizer source for the year on fairways. The compost is applied twice a year and these applications account for nearly 90% of the total fertility applied in a growing season.
Compost being applied to fairways

Aerification Prep

As aerification approaches, we have spent the last several days completing final preparations. Throughout the golf course both equipment and materials have been staged to help make the aerification process more efficient.

All equipment that will be utilized has been parked in close proximity to the first areas that will be treated. This includes equipment such as aerifiers, topdressers and blowers.

Materials that will be utilized have also been staged at strategic locations on the course. Handing of more than 300 tons of both compost and sand are perhaps the biggest challenges we encounter during the aerification process.