Punch punch punch....

With our small, early spring staff, we have been hard at work getting the most important tasks finished.  The wonderfully dry weather has enabled us to get a tremendous amount of de-thatching, aerification, deep-tine aerification, fertilizing, and spraying done. 

Today, we went out to finish aerifying the last few fairways.  Now while we usually deep-tine punch the fairways with solid tines, #18 fairway, #7 approach, and the bottom of #9 north fairway must be approached a little differently.  All of these areas sit barely atop solid bedrock.  To improve the turf in these areas, we can only punch very shallow holes to avoid destroying our equipment.  In order to make the holes more meaningful, we pull a plug to get the best bang for our buck.  We remove a little thatch, get some air exchange, and help the soil drain a bit better.  Pulling a core helps the shallow hole remain open a little longer than would a shallow solid-tine punching.  In time, the holes should grow over and fill with roots.

Core-aerifying 18 fairway old-school.

With spring cultivation activities nearing an end, we have finally had time to begin addressing other projects.  The huge mud hole on the right of #6 was the result of a drain tile that had been blocked by tree roots.  We got it dug up, cleaned, and will get the repair finished as soon as the mud hole dries up enough.

The crew getting ready to send water in to test the line.

Two sections were removed that were completely packed with tree roots.

Next week, we will continue knocking out these nagging projects.  Hopefully slightly warmer temperatures will allow us to get our weed control out.  Remember, it's best to wait to spray your spring weeds until you have nighttime temperatures near 50 for a day or two.  Otherwise, the plant may not take the material up as well, making it less effective.

Aerification complete! Now if it will just quit snowing...

Despite a sketchy forecast, we were able to get greens aerified on Monday.  Since I have changed our usual practices over the last few years, many people have asked what "type" of aerification we are doing this spring. 

The only difference for this punching was we did not use the large, tractor-mounted deep-tine aerifier.  Last fall, the deep-tine machine went over the greens immediately followed by our greens aerifier with 3/4" solid tines.   This resulted in too much surface disruption and poor putting performance for longer than I liked.  On the plus side, it also meant that we have done our job in maintaining greens with minimal compaction which promotes good air flow, drainage, and root growth.  To avoid excess surface disruption this spring, we skipped the deep-tine for now and only used our traditional aerifier with 3/4" solid tines to about a 3" depth.  We will be using the deep-tine aerifier this spring, but will wait until the greens have healed.  Don't be scared.  I will be using very small 7mm tines that will punch deep, but make very small holes that shouldn't interfere too much with regular play.  It will help us through the summer by providing rooting channels and increased drainage.   

The net result is we got more sand into our greens than we ever have.  We used around 40 tons of sand for just over 2 acres of green surface.  This is extremely beneficial to our soil profile and will promote great performance during the season.

The greens were verti-cut and topdressed heavily before punching.

The traditional greens aerifier with 3/4" solid tines at 3" deep.

The aerifier does a nice job of getting the sand into the holes.

After punching, a heavy dose of organic fertilizer is applied

Sand and fertilizer being drug into the profile with our heavy duty "ass kicking" greens brush.  The guys hate this one because it is heavy, but does a great job of moving the sand.

A finer brush and some hand work filling as many holes as possible.

A final rolling, hand broom, and soaking complete the job.  The greens actually roll decently!