Aeration Time!

We started core aeration at the East course last week. It is a great time to aerate. Many golf courses aerate this time of year. The turf will heal quickly at this time of year. We aerated the greens, tees and fairways.
This was the first time we aerated the whole golf course in one week. In past years we would only get the greens done. We decided to aerate everything at once to minimize the disruption for the golfers. To achieve this we contracted out some of the fairway aeration.  The dry conditions are a concern and I hope we get some rain this week. The procedure for the greens is to core aerate, matt the cores off the greens, followed by a heavy topdressing of sand. Our goal is to fill all the holes in with sand. This allows them to heal quicker. Healing time will take about a week. The procedure for tees and fairways is to core aerate and matt the cores to break off the soil. The left over tufts of thatch is blown into the center of the fairway and picked up by a sweeper/vacuum. There are many reasons for aerating. We do it primary for thatch control. We plan to start aerating the Valley greens tomorrow. 
Until next time.... David