Groovy

While this weird/lovely spring continues, we are getting a jump start on another planned maintenance practice for this spring - Fairway verti-cutting.  Those of you that have been out braving the wind and cold the last couple of days have likely seen our tractor out cutting little grooves in the fairways and bringing lots of brown stuff up.

Small disks ripping through the canopy.

Lots of brown "stuff"

Normally, this would be done in the fall along with our normal fairway deep-tine aerification.  Due to the extremely wet fall in 2011, we were unable to complete it.  So a hacking we will go this spring.  The upside is that the unusually high growth rate we are experiencing should help the fairways heal in a very short time.  If we have time this spring, we may do this again before the summer heat comes.

The reasons we do this are: 1.  Remove thatch from below the surface to firm up the fairway and provide avenues for water, air,  and nutrients to get to the soil.  2.  "Groom" the canopy to help stand the grass up for a better cut and a cleaner surface.

Once we acquire our new deep-tine aerator, we will punch deep holes in the fairways to help relieve compaction.  In the past, removing thatch and alleviating compaction was normally done with core-aerification.   I believe we acheive the same thing by doing the verti-cut and deep tine without all the mess, player disturbance, and soil brought to the surface.

So I will thank you ahead of time for your patience while we chop up the fairways.  If the weather stays dry, we should be done quickly.