Fall Greens Aerification

We completed our fall greens aerification on Thursday.  We removed approximately 3.93% of the surface area of the greens by using .5" inside diameter tines on a 2" x 2.5" spacing.  We aerified to a depth of 3".  Following aerification, we cleaned the cores off of the greens, applied topdressing sand, and brushed the sand into the aerification holes.  We will brush the greens one more time, roll them, and then let them be until they are ready to be mowed early next week.  We are scheduled to reopen on Monday, September 26th.  We will provide updates throughout the healing process.

Still Alive

We have been very busy since our last update!  This summer seems like it just does not want to end!  Despite that the greens are hanging in there fine.  The guys watering greens, on the other hand, are ready for a break!  We are looking forward to greens aerification in 2 weeks on the 15th!  I have added some pictures below of some of the cultural practices that we have completed over the past month.

Aerification and topdressing of approaches

Slicing of fairways with Aerway

Aerification and topdressing of tees

Verticutting of fairways (multiple times)

"Coach" getting the traditional treatment on his last day

Fairway Cut Modifications

As recommended by Steve Weisser in his report, we made modifications to the fairway cut lines on several holes this week.  We widened the fairway's approach into the green on holes 6,11,15, and 16.  The cut line had come in over time and we are merely trying to restore the original one.  We also extended the fairway on 15 toward the tee to shorten the carry to the fairway.  That area will require a lot of topdressing to smooth it out and get it up to fairway standards.  We will also have to eradicate the bermudagrass and re-sod the area with zoysiagrass in the future to maintain the consistency of zoysiagrass in the fairways.  We will have to do the same on the approaches that we modified as well, since they are heavily contaminated with bermudagrass.  You can see the change in the cut line in the pictures below.  The areas being reverted to fairway are brown due to scalping while bringing the height of cut down.

#6

#11

#15

#16

#15

Greens Venting

Venting is an important practice on bentgrass greens throughout the hot summers.  Venting, or creating open channels for the movement of air, water, and gases in the greens profile, is critical to the health of the greens.  There are several different ways to vent, but we have found that venting with solid tines works best for us.  We use a variation of tines, with a wide range of aggessiveness. 

We have vented greens the last two weeks with very small (.2" diameter) pencil tines.  This is the least aggressive form of venting that we do.  It has very little effect on the playability of the greens.  In addition to the pencil tines, we also pulled small cores around the outer perimeters of the greens this week.  We went 30" wide and used .2" inside diameter (.36" outside diameter) coring tines.  We chose to be more aggressive on the edges and provide more relief, as these are the areas that encounter the most stress.  We chose not to fill the larger holes on the perimeters with sand, but we did lightly topdress all of the greens this week.

Our goal is to hold off of the more aggressive venting until two weeks after the Member/Member Tournament, when the Founders Course has opened back up following their greens aerification.

a green after venting with .2" needle tines

a green immediately after aerification of the perimeter with .2"id coring tine

a closeup of the perimeter, taken this morning, after mowing and rolling

Steve Weisser Visit

Steve Weisser, of Rees Jones, Inc., paid us a visit this week.  Steve was the lead designer of the Legacy Course.  We brought him in at the request of the Building & Grounds Committee to provide guidance for future course improvements.  We had a really good visit!  I will go more into detail about his recommendations after I have received and reviewed his follow up report. 

    The braintrust deep in discussion about the landing area to the right of the fairway on #6

L to R: Steve Weisser, David Jones, Steve Smith, and Dave Kuykendall

Here is a link to Steve's bio:  http://www.reesjonesinc.com/steve-weisser.php