Week of August 12th: Aeration Plans

The lower bunker on 18 being edged

The agronomy team has been busy resuming a number of projects this week. The previously seeded area on 13 has now been sodded. Two more sections on the right of one have also been seeded. A number of stump holes to the right of the 10th tee were also seeded this week. If your ball lands in one of these roped off areas please remove it from the sodded/seeded area as the sod/seed establishes.

Sod work on 13:

Seeded areas on 1:

Some extensive work was also done to the front edge of the lower greenside bunker on 18.

Vinny and Eduardo working as the fairway mowers finish mowing 18.

Aeration Plans:

We are scheduled for greens aeration August 20th-22nd. The plan for this aeration is to use a 0.75" solid tine and be thorough in filling these holes with sand. Recent studies into thatch management have been showing that dilution of the thatch using sand is often a better strategy than focusing on physical removal by pulling cores during aeration events. Bentgrass produces a large amount of thatch in general and our A1/A4 bentgrass greens are notorious as thatch producers. We did a trial of the planned aeration on the large short game green and are happy with the results so far. Unfortunately, the weather at the start of next week could pose a problem for our plans with rain in the forecast. Wet weather on Tuesday would delay the start of aeration by preventing us from applying the necessary topdressing sand. We need dry weather and dry sand in order for the sand to be workable into the aeration holes. Dragging wet sand across the greens would also increase the likelihood of abrasion damage to the greens surface and turf damage. If it rains on Tuesday, we would aim to complete aeration Wednesday and Thursday. The weather forecast for those two days looks promising should Tuesday prove too wet/damp.

Below are some pictures from Large Short Game Green being aerated:

Wildlife:

Picture of a young Fawn taken by Mrs. Licari