Aerification Update

Greens aerification began yesterday.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't get my email and decided to rain on our little parade.  In an effort to get this unfortunate task out of the way, we began sanding and punching yesterday morning as planned.  Relative to years past, it hasn't gone quite as well so far, but we did accomplish a few things.  13 holes are de-thatched, sanded and punched, and the north side of the golf course (1, 11, 9, 17,18, practice greens) remain only dethatched.  

First of all, the below-average temperatures combined with continuous cloud cover made getting our sand dry nearly impossible.  Greens with more shade and less air circulation (4, 5, 15, 8) did not dry out at all while greens in full sun got a much better result.  By 2 pm, the light rain began and pretty much ended our day entirely.

We can aerify in clouds and even cold weather, but the key for us is being able to get the sand to dry once it is spread on the green.  Moist sand does not get swept into the holes and tends to clump on our brushes and brooms.   Yesterday our sand was far more appropriate for sand castles than for topdressing greens. 

There were little bursts of blue sky that gave us scant amounts of hope for some decent results so a-punching we will go.  Ben and Dave working in tandem to speed the process.

Normally the first brushing would get most of the sand in the holes.  As you can see here the wet cool conditions prevented a good drag.  We continued to work them as the day went on.

The wet sand just "bridged" the majority of holes but did start to smooth out a little better.  Drier early afternoon air did allow us to get most of the sand in later with mixed results.

The greens with more shade and less air circulation dried out the least leaving less than perfect results.  YET ANOTHER reason too many trees around greens can be a problem.  This is #4 right side which is quite shady.  We will rework the sand on these greens as soon as it dries out.  Hopefully no later than wednesday.

Greens with good air circulation and less shade fared much better.  Near perfect hole fill and a smooth surface.  This is #13 green which is in full sun and gets great air circulation.  Go figure.

A little rolling to smooth things out for play and lots of hand work to be done.  Not as good as past years but not awful.

Unfortunately, the weather today looks even worse.  Storms are headed our way and will be in our area around lunch time.  In order to ensure we get good results on our remaining greens, we will not sand or punch the remaining greens until Wednesday.  The golf course will remain open, but expect to skip around us at least once during your round.  We will do our level best to try to get things finished and playable as soon as possible.  

Thank you in advance for your patience.

-D