Springtime golf green aerification underway

[Jon Byron]

Played today in New Jersey and played thursday in Westchester county NY.  Both courses are private and both had green and tee aerification two weeks ago and both had ver lousy greens as a result - sandy, not much grass, what was left was not smooth,bumpy etc.  My guess is the work was outsourced.  Question for you all - is it necessary to have this EVERY spring and fall?  Do Open courses in Scotland and England do it also? Do the pros outweigh the cons?

[Bradley Anderson]

It depends on how the greens have been top dressed and fertilized historically. If the greens went through a period where they received inadequate top dressing and too much fertilizer you may have to aerate spring and fall with fairly large holes to remove the thatch and organic matter below the surface.

I maintained a course where the guys who were there before me did a really good job of top dressing regularly and keeping low fertilizer levels - over the 18 years I was there we aerated greens 10 times.

The course I am currently at has a nice profile and I will only have to aerate once a year and top dress every two weeks or so. I will aerate in late August and the holes will close in one week at that time of year.

[Ian Larson]

New Jersey and Westchester? Of course it needs to be done if you want to have an open course with living turf in August. And chances are that in New Jersey or Westchester the greens you were playing we're soil pushup greens and most likely don't even get top dressed so don't let Bradley deceive you in thinking it may not be a needed practice if they did x,y and z. And just because you were inconvenienced for a round or two because it was less than ideal aerification playing conditions does not mean it was outsourced. Even so, what would be the issue if it were outsourced? It's very much needed especially in the climate of New Jersey and Westchester with pushup greens. Customers will be inconvenienced for a week so that the club isn't inconvenienced for years because of revenue loss due to dead greens.

[Bradley Anderson]

Ian,

I am not trying to deceive anyone thank you. How would you know what my motives are? Geez.

But I should have added that if you have Poa annua in the greens and high speed expectations, then by all means you need to aerate twice per year. But even in then the size of the holes and the patterns may varying depending how thatchy or compacted the soil is.

[Ben Sims]

Played today in New Jersey and played thursday in Westchester county NY.  Both courses are private and both had green and tee aerification two weeks ago and both had ver lousy greens as a result - sandy, not much grass, what was left was not smooth,bumpy etc.  My guess is the work was outsourced.  Question for you all - is it necessary to have this EVERY spring and fall?  Do Open courses in Scotland and England do it also? Do the pros outweigh the cons?

Jon,

Comparing whether someone in Scotland and England do something versus whether it should be done in the US is not valid.  It's a common misperception here at GCA that everything that is done agronomically there is perfect and everything done here is wasteful, overblown, or stupid.  There is no way to compare the stress on poa or bent greens with the temperatures associated in the NE US June-August to the fescue greens and associated climate in Britain.

My academic feeling is that if you're not cultivating (verti-cutting, solid tine coring, or hollow tine coring) in some way during the spring--on any grass--then you are probably asking for trouble.  

[JR Potts]

I aerate my yard every fall and most springs...and it's usually up at 2-3 inches all year.

I wish everyone would learn to expect no greater growth and no less maintenance than they get and perform on their own yards.

Most Clubs would be better off for it...

[Adrian_Stiff]

Aeration is essential. Whats good for the plant beats playing golf sometimes. If you do your coring in August (north hemi) it will recover very quickly. If you do it March (in the UK) than you get what you sow..... no recovery. It will just linger until its warm.

[SL_Solow]

Jon,  From the phrasing in your post, it appears that your question was motivated because you were frustrated because the greens were less than ideal in mid-April.  This is precisely the attitude that frustrates supers.  No course can be "perfect" all the time.  Sound maintenace procedures, particularly early and late in the growing season maximize the liklihood that the course will be healthy throughout the year. 

[Kyle Harris]

I believe that sporting golfers seek to overcome all aspects of golf maintenance with their games.

My belief is that the variable conditions of a golf course are the true test of the sport. It is the business of the golfer to consider ways to overcome. In that regard, the golfer should then relish the challenge. So what is a less-than-ideal score is all the golfer may muster that day?

[Dan Herrmann]

The irony is that the green speed that Jon is complaining about was probably the norm 40 years ago.

No aeration = No greens.

[Jim_Coleman]

    We (a Philly course) in early November do a large hole, deep aeration with heavy topdressing or we do a drill and fill, and we cover the greens in Jan. and Feb.  Yes, we lose good greens from November through March, but we do only the tiniest, non-invasive "pin-prick" holes once during the summer.  We have really good greens from April - October, with no interruption, and we are successfully building a sand subsurface on 85 year old greens.  I think it's worth the winter sacrifice myself, although I'm accused of bias, as I'm in the D.R. for the winter.  However, I suspect there's no more than 50 or so golfers (out of 400) who feel deprived in the winter.  And, although this winter was unusual, most winters offer only a few playable days.  Last winter there were none. 

[Kyle Harris]

Jim,

Plus, that gives you time to play the area munis, right?

*waits for it*

[Lou Cutolo]

For the Supers out there do you thnk the lack of rain in the northeast has slow down the healing process of the greens?

[William_G]

Every spring right when the grrens are nearing perfection, we aerify for the long term health of the grass...the root systems need it every spring and fall in order for the grass to survive throughout the summer with lots of play and double cutting and rolling for maximum speed etc...

Not sure this is necessary on sand based greens such as those built on dunes like Bandon as the drainage is idealic.

Thanks

[Steven Blake]

Mr. Grieve,

Indeed aeration is vital to all types of greens, even sand based greens.  If you start to get organic matter in upper part of your greens profile then you basically convert a sand based green to a soil green in no time if proper topdressing and aeration is not part of your management strategy.  So many people do it differently and have great results.  There are so many different types of aeration and topdressing programs, it is really site specific and yes weather plays a role in the equation as well.

Steven Blake 

[Steven Blake]

 Mr. Cutolo,

In my experience lack of rain does tend to slow down the healing process a bit but again it can be site specific too. I actually like a nice heavy rain right after a coring, seems those instances tend to lend itself to quicker recovery.  For me anyway! 

Steven Blake

[Richard Choi]

OK, this is a not exactly GCA, but since it is somewhat related...

Is aerification something an average home owner can do? Or should I just hire a service? What is a typical cost for say 10,000 sqft lawn?

My lawn is in a sorry shape and it probably needs aerification and overseeding desperately. I might as well ask the experts.

[Lou Cutolo]

Steven.

Thanks. I guess Met Area Supers will be very happy looking at the weather forcast.

[Mike Hamilton]

OK, this is a not exactly GCA, but since it is somewhat related...

Is aerification something an average home owner can do? Or should I just hire a service? What is a typical cost for say 10,000 sqft lawn?

My lawn is in a sorry shape and it probably needs aerification and overseeding desperately. I might as well ask the experts.

Places like home depot rent rent push aerators for like $50 a day or something like that.  Or you can fnd someone who will likely charge you $100ish.

Unless you are really a DIY guy Rich, I would get someone....it is quite a bit of back-wrenching work to push one around.  I usually rent one about every 5 years and then pay someone the next 4...about the length of time it takes to forget how bad my back hurt.

I do mine every fall.

[Bill Shotzbarger]

The greens were aerated a month ago at my joint in PA. Still sandy and a little bumpy but this heavy rain will take care of that! They've been playing F+F for months.

[Matt Day]

Autumn renovation time in Australia. We get 90,000 plus rounds on one course and 75,000 plus rounds on the other so aeration of greens in autumn and spring is crucial. We had a really tough summer with high humidity and hot temperatures 35 celsius plus, so the bent is hanging out some loving.

Most courses in Perth are on a bi-annual greens coring programme, and all bar one course are bent grass greens.

[Joe Byrnes]

Matt,

Do you subscribe to a regular pattern of using the hydrojet to aerate the greens as well, or is it just two solid cores a year?

[Matt Day]

Matt,

Do you subscribe to a regular pattern of using the hydrojet to aerate the greens as well, or is it just two solid cores a year?

Joe
We solid core twice per year with 1/2 " tynes. Hydrojecting never really caught on here, a number of courses used it when it first came out but never really stuck with it.

In summer we do needle tyne regulary to aid in water penetration, the native sands  can get hyrdophobic very quickly.

[Joe Byrnes]

Cheers Matt!

One of my courses over here on the east coast haven't done a solid coring since 2009.....needless to say the greens aren't in the best condition! Pity because the rest of the course is good.

They have just done one over 3 weeks ago and the greens still aren't even remotely close to recovered!

[Michael Taylor]

Autumn renovation time in Australia. We get 90,000 plus rounds on one course and 75,000 plus rounds on the other so aeration of greens in autumn and spring is crucial. We had a really tough summer with high humidity and hot temperatures 35 celsius plus, so the bent is hanging out some loving.

Most courses in Perth are on a bi-annual greens coring programme, and all bar one course are bent grass greens.

Matt,

What is the name of that attatchment on the back of the Pro Core? We push the cores off at our course by hand, which takes forever.

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