Our summer aeration is concluding this afternoon and the golf course will reopen tomorrow, Thursday, August 31st, 2017. Before I start to cover what was accomplished and what lies ahead, I'd like to recognize our maintenance team, but specifically, our 3 senior assistants: Robert Andershonis; Duggan Cannon and Mike Nowicki. I'd also like to recognize our equipment manager: Terry Kennedy. Although our staff was amazing, as always, the leadership from the guys mentioned above steered the ship throughout.
On putting greens we applied a medium topdressing followed by a deep tine. Once the deep tine cleared the greens, we core aerated with our 648's. After several rolls and some brushing, we fertilized the greens with Hi-Cal Lime, Pro-Mag and Potassium. 10 days later and the greens are healing nicely.
On fairways, approaches and intermediates, we ran a solid tine machine followed by a deep tine. We then applied gypsum and rolled everything to avoid scalping. Like the greens, the fairways and approaches are positioned nicely for a strong fall season.
Our tee boxes were deep tined and then core aerated. We pulled cores on the tees due to some extra thatch accumulation. After a light topdressing and brush, we also applied gypsum to the tees and then rolled them out. The tees looked outstanding this afternoon after their first mowing since the process began.
August can be tricky with respect to weather so we did not aerate our rough. We did, however, install 7 pallets of turf type tall fescue to high traffic areas and areas that will be tough to recover through seed. For August 30th, our rough has had a good a season and like the other surfaces, we are expecting a strong fall season.
Yesterday, we received .75" of rain which cleaned things up nicely. This afternoon, we put the final touches on our detail assignments and mowed all surfaces. All in all, this aeration was fairly smooth and a lot was accomplished. Once again, thanks to our entire staff and managers.
Now that the aeration is complete, its time to plan our recovery and return of playable conditions. While the fairways, tees and approaches will play well right away, the greens will take a bit longer. Starting today, we single mowed the greens with our floating head mowers. We use these mowers because the floating heads will produce less scalping on the freshly aerated surfaces. We will single mow for the next 7 days. You can expect increasing smoothness and speed as each day passes. However, during that first week, our goal is not to produce tournament ready surfaces but to produce healthy, well mowed grass as we transition to more aggressive maintenance. On our around the 6th of September, we will re-introduce our fixed-head units. These mowers cut tighter than our floating head units so we want to remove any bumpiness prior to their use. From the 6th of September through September 11th, we will continue to single mow the greens. Sometime during the week of the 11th, we will re-introduce semi-regular rolling in conjunction with daily mowing. And by the week of the 18th, our goal will be daily maintenance that produces firmness and quickness. From start to finish, considering the aeration itself, this process takes about 4 weeks. But, these 4 weeks will lay the foundation for great conditions through Thanksgiving and beyond.
Thanks to our membership and management for the flexibility to do the things necessary for the care of the course. We are excited about what has been accomplished, but even more excited about the fall season ahead. See everyone soon...
