I have been sending out "aeration advisories" for some time now in the enews, my blog and through twitter (to all 11 of my followers). Thursday morning the front 9 greens will be core aerated and heavily topdressed. That will leave fairway aeration for the first week in October assuming all goes as planned with Specialty Turf and the weather.
The greens will no longer be in the condition we have been used to all season. The holes, sand and raising of the mowing height will be present a challenge for the remainder of the fall. We have used a larger aeration tine to remove more material (thatch) than any time in recent memory. Based on the speed of the aerator, the spacing of the holes and the size of the tine we will remove approximately 7.5% of material from the green. You will have to trust me when I say that is a significant amount for a single core aeration. Besides the advantage of removing more material than usual it allows us to apply more sand and get it into the aeration holes faster. However, it will take another topdressing on Friday to "top up" the holes. There is a long term gain here that will become more apparent in the future as the greens firm up and roll more consistently throughout a single golf season.
We will do our best to quickly get them to a point where the ball isn't bouncing along but that will take a few days. The warm weather will certainly help shrink the hole size but they will not close up this year. I actually prefer the aeration holes to be present in the spring as I think it helps with recovery and aids in moving water and air throughout the profile during an important period of growth and rejuvenation. Its been a good run but we need to prepare for winter and assure that we will have premium putting surfaces for the future.
Wade
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