Reel to Reel

The aerification holes on the greens are recovering beautifully.  Cooperation from Mother Nature matched with the proper fertility program has provided great results thus far.  After four days of recovery, the holes are almost healed and the greens are rolling smooth. photo taken on #13 green this morning  photo taken on #13 green this morning Tee aerification will take place on 9/2 and 9/3, weather permitting.  More information on fairway aerification to come next week.

If you work long enough in this industry, it doesn't take long to learn that Mother Nature dictates what you can and can't do on any given day. Today was spent cleaning up knocked down trees and debris from a storm that ripped through the property last night about 5:00 p.m. Winds in excess of 30 mph made quite a mess of the golf course. Below are a few pictures. east of #17 tee #7 fairway #7 rough blowing #9 fairway #5 rough clean-up  

...so are the days of our lives.  The weather cooperated and made for a great day of aerification.  With multiple aerifiers at varying depths, we punched over 6 million holes in the greens and incorporated over 60 tons of sand. For example on #13, a 4000 ft² green, we punched over 308,000 holes and filled them with 3.5 tons of sand. Brendan and Myles late Sunday night aerifying  #2 green Mike aerifying the putting green early Monday morning Soil Reliever on #11 green aerifying at 10" depth 3 tons of sand on #9 green blowing off excess sand on #9 green after the holes have been filled finished product on #2 green  

It looks like the weather will cooperate Monday and Tuesday for aerification of the greens.  The forecast is calling for a couple of sunny days which will help dry the sand and make it easier to fill the aerification holes.  As in years past, I would anticipate a speedy recovery due to the warm night time temperatures. Aerification is a necessary process each year to maintain quality conditions.  Although it creates some disruption, the benefits far outweigh any negatives. Aerification benefits include: compaction relief increased water infiltration deeper roots and healthier plants firmer and faster greens We made a couple minor tweaks to our aerification process this year.  We tested them Thursday on the south chipping green and everything worked great.  The changes are going to really improve our ability to fill the aerification holes, which in turn will result in a relatively smooth putting s...

Greens aerification is scheduled for August 25-26. 

...another long day.  Today was spent repairing bunker washouts and pumping excess water from the 2.5" of rain yesterday.  We were able to pump most of the standing water off of the fairways, but cart availability for tomorrow is still unknown as conditions are still pretty soft. bunker washout #4 bunker repair on #8 #3 fairway #11 fairway #18 tee south of  #11 tee #11 fairway #3 fairway pump on #5 fairway  

The course received over an 1.25" of rain this morning.  The standing water was draining nicely throughout the day until 3:30 p.m. when we received another 1" very quickly.  Needless to say, we have a lot of standing water out there. #2 green at 7:30 a.m. during the first 1.25" of rain #5 fairway this morning #2 fairway at 5:00 p.m. after the second batch of rain #6 bunker washout #2 rough