Week of August 28th: Aeration Update
- matthewbehl
- Sep 3, 2023
- 2 min read
At this point in time the greens are around 70% healed from aeration. The sand has been incorporated into the canopy of the turf and no longer seems to be getting dragged up by the mowers or play. During the healing process the overhead irrigation is used immediately prior to mowing to help hold the sand down and limit how much the reels pick up. This also contributes to the greens being particularly wet and soft during this period. For the coming week we will be starting to dry the greens back down to normal moisture levels. This will help firm and speed the greens back up to their normal conditions. Please continue to pay close attention to fixing your ball marks on the greens.
Below is a cross section from a green showing the sand channels created during aerification.
The weekend after aeration we dealt with an issue that arose from ants encroaching onto the greens. These ants were using the sand filled aerification holes as an easy means of burrowing into the greens. There were dozens of small little sand mounds all over most of the greens last Sunday morning. We used a brush to knock the mounds down that morning and then sprayed the greens Monday morning to control the ants.
Fairway bunker edges were gone through this last week and cleaned up. Members of the crew carefully used line trimmers and their hands to help redefine the edges of the bunkers. In 2021 the fairway bunkers were reconstructed using a sod liner. This means that we can not simply use an edging shovel to cut a new edge into the turf as this could damage the liner itself. The grass and weeds that had encroached down into the upper edges of the bunkers had to be carefully removed.
Other work completed this week
Fairways sprayed with fungicides, fertility, and growth regulator
Tees sprayed with fungicides, fertility, and growth regulator
Caught up on rough mowing
Irrigation repairs made around clubhouse grass areas
Adam Harrison's last day with us this season was on Thursday. Adam is starting school at Fitchburg State this year and is also a member of the National Guard. We appreciate all the work and effort he has put into the course this season and look forward to hopefully having him back next year. On the topic of staffing, we are still looking to hire 1 or 2 more full time employees for the remainder of the season. We will be having two new part time employees starting this coming weekend to help us with the early morning weekend rush of course setup.
We are planning to start doing some additional aeration around the course next week. Short game tee is planned to be aerated and over seeded next week. Aeration of the course tees is also planned to begin soon, but will have little disruption or effect on play.
Animal pictures for the week:
