Course Update 4/18/19

Aerification season is underway and we started DryJecting greens this week.  Both practice greens and Lakes greens were completed Wednesday and we were able to finish Orchard today after a brief rain shower went through.  Grove greens were scheduled for Friday, but have been postponed until Monday due to the likelihood of more rain.  To obtain maximum benefits, the DryJect process requires us to use kiln-dried sand and the weather has to be dry.  You may be wondering why we don't DryJect more often and stop pulling cores.  The answer is that DryJect is just another "tool" we use to help manage the organic matter (thatch) in the greens.  The process injects sand to dilute the thatch, but does not actually remove anything like traditional core aerification does.  We've found that DryJecting in the spring heals faster with our uncertain weather patterns compared to core aerification, while still accomplishing our goal of diluting the thatch.  In the fall we still pull cores to physically remove the thatch and topdress to fill the holes.  The healing process in late fall is relatively slow, but open holes during the winter helps water drain from the putting surface, limiting the amount of ice buildup and potential for winter injury.

Click Here To Learn More About DryJect And How It Works

Core aerification of fairways was also scheduled this week, but was postponed due to heavy rain last weekend and the threat of rain at the end of this week.  We are closely monitoring the weather forecasts for next week and will make a decision over the weekend if we're able to aerify fairways.

DryJecting the practice green.  The staff uses the yellow buckets to scoop dry sand from our large utility vehicles then dumps it into the hopper on the DryJect machine.  The machine connects to our irrigation system through a 1" diameter hose to receive 120 psi necessary for the injection process.

This is what the putting surface looks like immediately after DryJecting.  The holes with sand around them are from the DryJect, while the other small holes are from our aerifier.  We needle tine the greens prior to DryJecting to de-compact the root zone which allows for better penetration by the sand during the injection process.

We drag the greens once they dry out to work any remaining sand into the turf which further dilutes the thatch.  After dragging, the greens are rolled twice to smooth out any tire tracks and helps firm up the putting surface.

Here is the finished product after needle tining, DryJecting, dragging and double rolling.  We will continue rolling the greens for several days until most of the sand is off the surface.  Mowing too soon after aerification only results in dull mowers and picks up perfectly good sand that could help in diluting thatch.

A day after DryJecting the putting green we experienced our first irrigation leak of the year.  It's pretty common to have leaks in the spring but this one was so close to the green it bubbled some of the turf along the edge.  We were able to quickly isolate the line to prevent further damage and will repair the turf once it dries out.

This corroded fitting is responsible for the irrigation leak and has been in the ground for a very long time.  We use PVC pipe and fittings these days which are much more reliable.