Aeration

Spring aeration is almost complete and once again our maintenance staff pushed through some long days to keep us ahead of schedule.  This year we added an additional procedure to the greens we believe will significantly benefit long term health and playability.  The greens have developed a hard pan layer just below our aeration depth.  Over time the layer will decrease water infiltration rates causing excess moisture to build up in the top layer of the profile.  This can cause numerous issues including; soft conditions, anaerobic soils, decreased microbial populations, excess thatch and disease.  The DryJect Maximus injects high pressure water into the green and fractures the soil at depths well below the layer.  At the same time sand is drawn into the holes creating a pore space for air and water.

putting green 2 days after aeration 4/20/16

DryJect through the bottom of the soil profiler

The rest of our aeration schedule is similar to past aerations

• Greens were aerated with 1/2" hollow tines, top dressed and fertilized
• Fairways tees and approaches were aerated, seeded, top dress and fertilized
• Traffic areas in the roughs were aerated, seeded, top dressed and fertilized.  

first drag #4

DryJect #16

We utilize our 4 days of closure to perform tree maintenance around the golf course.  This year we removed a dead pine between #1 and #9.  Numerous cypress trees were pruned on #9, #10 and #17.  We are now moving on to a few oak trees along #16 and will finish the week working on the oak trees in the parking lot next to the tennis courts.

We can't say enough about our mechanic Mario and what a great job he does.  Another aeration with no major mechanical issues is significant for any operation.

If we want to be better this year we need to make changes in our program from the previous year.  If we do the same thing every year and expect different results we will never reach our goals.  We are confident the changes to our program this year will improve your experience on the golf course.