Allister MacKenzie

“A golf course should be made interesting and a good test of golf by the tilt of the greens and the character of the undulations.”

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Fall Aeration

As our invitationals come to a close our focus shifts to fall aeration.  We will be closed for aeration September 28th to October 1st.  The driving range, putting green and chipping green will reopen Wednesday for members.  

Greens will be aerated with a 1/2" hollow tine, top-dressed and fertilized.  Fairways will be aerated with a 7/8" hollow tine, seeded, top-dressed and fertilized.  Tees and approaches will be aerated with a 5/8" hollow tine, seeded, top-dressed and fertilized.  The first 30 to 50 yards we turned off this year to conserve water and weak traffic areas in the rough will be seeded, top-dressed and fertilized once we receive a few inches of precipitation.

We are often asked what we do on the golf course to produce tournament conditions.  Many golfers believe we double cut and roll a few extra times, which is true, but much more goes into it.  Everything we do on the golf course is part of a plan and building process.  Hundreds if not thousands of decisions were made to produce the conditions you see today.  It's not only about what we did yesterday or last week but years of planned cultural programs, timed fertilizers, growth regulator applications based on degree day models, monthly wetting agent sprays and judicious water management to produce the conditions we all enjoy.  Aeration is and always will be the single biggest piece to our building process.  We believe the earlier aeration this fall will allow the turf to heal faster and give the members great playing conditions during what is typically our best weather of the year.

None of this is possible without the support of the membership and resources to make it all happen.  We thank you for your patience during this time.