aerifying greens in Oct? -clueless

[Wayne Freeman]

  I just found out that I lost out on an opportunity to play one of the top courses in the country in Ohio because they are going to punch the greens Oct. 3 and that the club will be closed for almost an entire week.  Why "on earth" would the members allow this?  This is about the best time to play golf back East (not to mention the fact that I always go east of Calif. the first 2 weeks in Oct. to take advantage of the usually excellent weather and catch the start of fall). Couldn't aerification wait until say the middle of Nov?  Could somebody clue me in?

[Craig_Rokke]

Wayne-

I've always heard that late August into early October is the best window for aerification.

[TEPaul]

Wayne:

Why do clubs allow this? Because if they don't they aren't going to have very good golf courses, that's why. It's kinda like an "agronomy comes first" kinda thing.

Actually in this mid northeast area the optimum time agronomically to punch greens is just after the beginning of September but so many clubs have big tournaments scheduled in September. As so they put it off until around October.

Obviously the earlier it can be done the better chance the course will have to get those holes healed into the Fall. If you wait really late to punch you'll see those holes until maybe next spring.

[ForkaB]

Wayne

I just cannot believe that any one of the "top courses in the country" would actually aerify their greens if they know you were coming.

What is this world coming to!

[Steve Curry]

Wayne,

Many years ago here at BHCC the old time superintendent was told that he was to wait until November to aerate.  He invited the chairman to come and check out the progress on the prescribed date in November and got a bit of a chuckle when the aerator bounced its way across the green, frozen don't you know.  

If the course in question intends to over-seed, aeration can't wait.  If they want desired conditions in the spring?  If this was the only time in their event schedule?

Steve

[Peter Galea]

 I just found out that I lost out on an opportunity to play one of the top courses in the country in Ohio because they are going to punch the greens Oct. 3

If I were you, I'd make arrangements to play the course on Oct. 2nd. My greens are always excellent just prior to aerification.

[TEPaul]

One time maybe fifteen years ago I went over to play Shinnecock in early October, I think, with a bunch of guys from Long Island and the puncher was at work out there as we played. We could tell it was going to get done with every green before we finished. Basically we were approaching and putting over zillions of little dirt cores. It was real muddy. After nine holes we went into the pro shop and asked for our money back. They told us we could play the back nine or just leave, and with neither option were we getting a single penny back!

At that point I grabbed the pro by his Polo collar and throttled him and everyone else in there. And then I burned the pro shop down. That's why they have that sort of odd looking pro shop today. I then left but I didn't get my money back.

There's a possiblity Wayne and I might go up there shortly and I'll ask them to give me my money back again for that horrid, muddy, core-infested round. If they don't give me my money back this time I'll burn the whole damn place down and give it to the Shinnecock Indians in exchange for some whiskey money that'll be what they'll save in legal fees in this law-suit to recover what's rightfully theirs---eg about 3,500 acres that's most of Southampton including Sebonack, NGLA and Shinnecock!

Somebody has got to stop these ultra arrogant pale-faces! I have never met a single one of them who has the vaguest idea how to fly with the Eagle!

[Mike_Sweeney]

eg about 3,500 acres that's most of Southampton including Sebonack, NGLA and Shinnecock!

Once again another snub of Southampton Golf Club by a GCAer !!

Tom and Wayne,

Please head over Southampton and take a look at holes 3 and 4 and report back.  

[ForkaB]

Tommy

Surely you got comped at Shinny? I don't even think they have the facilities to take cash, even if you had some in your wallet.......

[TEPaul]

OOOps, I humbly apologize. I will negotiate with Chief Baby Rumbling Muffler and get him to just give Southampton G.C. to you.

[TEPaul]

Jeeesus Rich, you're wetter behind the ears than I thought you were. Everyone has the facility to take cash somehow! Where it goes after they take it is definitly not my problem!  

[S. Huffstutler]

How many times should real serious aerification be done?

One?

Two?

Three?

more

times a year?

The answer is..........it depends.

I pull cores three times a year and solid tine once a month in the winter, but I'm in Florida. When I was in Michigan, I tried to aerify at least twice, once in the spring and once in the fall, but sometimes the golf schedule gets in the way. Another factor in this decision is the weather....this has been a pretty brutal year up north and they may have postponed an aerification due to the amount of heat stress.

Regards

Steve

[Nick Pozaric]

 I just found out that I lost out on an opportunity to play one of the top courses in the country in Ohio because they are going to punch the greens Oct. 3

If I were you, I'd make arrangements to play the course on Oct. 2nd. My greens are always excellent just prior to aerification.

kind of like our course.  They are perfect when they aerify,  I love to hear the members compalin about that

[igrowgrass]

How many times should real serious aerification be done?

One?

Two?

Three?

more

times a year?

The answer is..........it depends.

I pull cores three times a year and solid tine once a month in the winter, but I'm in Florida. When I was in Michigan, I tried to aerify at least twice, once in the spring and once in the fall, but sometimes the golf schedule gets in the way. Another factor in this decision is the weather....this has been a pretty brutal year up north and they may have postponed an aerification due to the amount of heat stress.

Regards

Steve

Some guys up North moved aerification ahead of schedule to combat the stress.  Places closed and got in an aerification to try and help out the problem.

[Tyler Kearns]

Wayne,

The later aerification is done, the more reliant one becomes on good spring weather to have the greens recover adequately for the early portion of the season. Generally speaking, courses that aerify in late August are usually in much better condition come opening in April than those that wait until the middle or end of September, whose aerification holes are still visible and influencing our putts.

My home course (north of the 49th parallel) is experimenting with one core aeration (1/2" plugs) and multiple 1/4" tine aerations instead of 2 core aerations, or even no core aeration and 4-6 tine aerations. With such a short season, it would be extremely beneficial. Core aeration usually takes 2 weeks until the greens are properly healed, while the tine aeration allows normal conditions to return with a day or two.

TK

[James Bennett]

Tyler

We play all year round at my club in Adelaide.  We aerify heavily in mid-spring.  End of October for us.  Hopefully, the bent is running by then, so a quickish heal over 2 to 3 weeks.  

We have also aerified at the very start of autumn, again to try to get coverage by bent whilst it is still active.  This year we used slightly narrower, deeper tines.  Less removal of material than spring.  Because of a drought, our last recovery was slow.  

This year, we are undertaking the same heavy spring aeration, followed by multiple mini-tynes through summer/autumn.  No major autumn aeration this year, similar to your proposal.  We'll see how we go.  We have had far better greens through winter with the full aeration, but have had to give up three weeks in our prime playing time (early autumn) to do so.  Hopefully, we'll get good autumn and winter surfaces this year.

James B

[Wayne Freeman]

Thankyou all for the helpful info (not that it makes me feel any better). For those of you who got a chuckle out or TEPauls story of Shinnecock-  here's one.  It took me several years to get connected to play there and the day I was scheduled to play my buddy went out to the course at 7:30 am and it was pouring buckets as they say.  I went into the pro shop and asked them about the weather situation.  They said they had called all over the island and it looked like it was going to rain all day.  I then asked the head pro if I could get a rain check as I was going to be in the area until late afternoon the next day.  He looked me in the eye and said, son, this is your raincheck.  Dejected completely, we went back to a local coffee shop. An hour later,  wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles -- the skies cleared.  We raced out to the course and just as we finished the deluge descended again. What a day!

[Joe Hancock]

Wayne,

To add another dimension to this topic, without further agronomic explanation:

I aerate in late Sept. here in Michigan simply because I affect the fewest number of players at that time of year. It may be the "best" time of year to play, but the number of players is always fewest considering the weather.

Joe

[Craig Sweet]

We aerate  in spring and again in mid August. We host the Montana Open the weekend after Labor Day, and from the time right before aeration thru the tournament, everything we do with our greens (aeration/ferts/rolling mowing/etc) is geared toward having fertility levels dropping at tournament time so the greens are putting true...consistant... and around 11...

The conditions we seek for that week might be everyday conditions at some courses, but with 45,000 rounds between March and November, and being a muni with a limited budget, we have to time what we do to get those optimum conditions for that short period of time...

[Rob_Waldron]

The timing of aerification is always a debated at clubs throughout the Mid Atlantic. One philosophy dictates aeration during the fall growing season when recovery is rapid thereby minimizing the inconvenience to members. Play is generally down in the fall as well. Aerification like overseeding in the South is a necessary evil. In both cases a short time of inconvenience is rewarded with healthier putting surfaces and better playing conditions in the long run.

[Dan_Lucas]

Early aeration heals faster while the bents are still growing well. This is a large factor in minimizing poa invasion. Most poa is a winter annual. That means it out-competes the bent when the weather is cool and wet. The longer the holes are open the more poa seed can germinate in them.

No Super enjoys tearing up greens that he has worked so hard to perfect. We do it because we have to.

Number of aerifications required is different everywhere. Variables include compaction, thatch thickness, soil layers, makeup of the soil, green size (available pin positions) and each Super's way of dealing with each.

[W.H. Cosgrove]

I have determined after much research that...... Just when the greens are perfect.......its time to punch.