Welcome

We developed this blog to provide golf course maintenance information to our members. From projects, small and large, to updates on course conditions, we want to provide as much information as possible. Although we hope this blog answers all of the pertinent questions regarding our operation, we always welcome more personalized dialogue. If you have questions beyond the information found on this blog, feel free to contact our golf course superintendent, Trevor Hedgepeth.

thedgepeth@kinlochgolfclub.com

804-840-8320


Monday, April 18, 2016

2016 Spring Aeration Recap

Four weeks ago to the day, we began our 2016 spring aeration. Although we are really pleased with the recovery, we are still 10 days from being fully healed. The combination of an aggressive process and cool/cold nights has kept the grass from jumping. We could push it a bit with more fertility, but we want the plant to "wake" up on its own and deliver energy where it is best suited. In other words, we want any carb production to be stored or used for rooting. At any rate, the healing process is always slower than we want, but given the circumstances and timing of our aeration, we remain very excited about turf conditions for the balance of the spring and beyond. Outlined below is a recap of our 2016 spring aeration.

Greens 
  1. Topdress greens at a rate of 1000#'s of sand per 1000 square feet
  2. Deep tine greens on 1.5" centers to a depth of 7" with a 1/2" solid deep tine 
  3. Solid tine aerated on a 1.5" center to a depth of 3" with a 5/8" solid tine
  4. Core aerated on a 1.5" center to a depth of 2.5" with 1/4" hollow tine
  5. Used a sweep and fill drag to brush in sand and break up cores
  6. Removed cores from green
  7. Rolled greens in 2 directions with DMI Speedrollers
  8. Ran sweep and fill in 2 additional directions 
  9. Rolled greens another time
  10. Dry-jected greens with 30 tons of dried sand
  11. Cleaned up sand remnants from dry-ject operation
  12. Rolled greens for a 4th time 
  13. Applied Potassium, Pro-Mag (Magnesium) and Limestone (Calcium) at respective rates of .75#K/1000, 5#'s/1000 and 10#'s/1000
  14. Watered in sand and all products for 20 minutes
  15. Allowed greens to sit for 2 days
  16. Rolled and mowed one week from the start of the operation. 
*YTD, the greens have recieved .45#'s/N per 1000 square feet through soluable urea and amm. sulfate.*

Tees
  1. Vertical mowed the tees at a depth of 3/8" on 1" centers 
  2. Topdressed tees at a rate of 1000#'s of sand per 1000 square feet
  3. Core aerated the tees on 2" centers to a depth of 3" with a 5/8" coring tine
  4. Used sweep and fill to drag the sand and bust up the cores
  5. Removed cores 
  6. Rolled tees 
  7. Applied gypsum at a rate of 15#'s per 1000 square feet 
  8. Applied 20-0-8, 150 SGN Fertilizer with Dimension - .25#ai/A 
  9. Watered in products and sand
  10. Allowed 10 days to pass prior to first mowing 
*During the off-season, the tees were vertically mowed in 2 directions and deep tined 2x.* 

Fairways, Approaches and Intermediates 

  1. Topdressed fairways at a rate of 1000#'s of sand per 1000 square feet. (27 truckloads) 
  2. Core aerated the fairways on 2" centers to a depth of 3" with a 5/8" coring tine
  3. Used sweep and fill to drag the sand and bust up the cores
  4. Used two turbine blowers to blow cores towards the center of the fairway. 
  5. Removed cores with 2 - Toro Pro-Sweeps and 1 Super 600
  6. Re-drug fairways with sweep and fill machines 
  7. Applied gypsum at a rate of 15#'s per 1000 square feet 
  8. Drug in gypsum with a core buster drag mat 
  9. Watered in products and sand. 
  10. Allowed 10 days to pass prior to first mowing 
*During the off-season, the fairways were vertically mowed and deep tined 2x.* 
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