Course Update 5/23/19

Fairway aerification took place this week after postponing for over a month due to weather delays.  The same contractor was used during previous aerifications and all 27 holes were completed over four days (the fourth day was required due to rain on Thursday).  Because we only closed 9 holes per day the contractor didn't need as much equipment, but still used three tractors, two large aerifiers, and one recycling machine with a total value of $180,000.  They charge us $270 per acre to core aerify and recycle the plugs which comes out to $10,800 for our 40 acres of fairway.  The aerifiers were setup with hollow tines that removed a 3/4" diameter core 4" deep, which created 20 holes per square foot.  That equates to 34,848,000 holes across all the fairways.  That may seem like a lot of holes, but it only affected 5% of the total surface area.

Aerification is an important and necessary practice in providing great playing conditions.  CLICK HERE to learn more about the process and why we do it.

The contractor is coring Grove 1 fairway with the large aerifiers that have a 98" working width.

The maintenance staff uses a small, 30" wide aerifier around irrigation heads, yardage markers and drains to prevent damage by the larger aerifiers.

Once the plugs (cores) dry out enough they are broken up with two heavy steel drag mats that go over every fairway several times.  The goal is to separate the soil from the organic matter (thatch) so the soil can be worked back into the holes.

Once the fairways are dragged the contractor uses a recycling machine to pulverize the soil and thatch into finer pieces.

The debris on the surface of this fairway is thatch that was left after the recycling process.

The final step in the process is for the maintenance staff to blow the thatch and any remaining debris off the fairways and then clean off irrigation heads, yardage markers and drains.

This is an aerification plug from one of the fairways and gives you an idea of how much thatch we have.  The total length of the plug was close to 4", but some of the soil fell off prior to taking the picture.  There's approximately 1.75" of thatch which is considered excessive, and why our fairways feel spongy and tend to stay wet longer.