Monday, March 18, 2024

The Why's of Greens Aerification

 Grass Clippings

Brian J. Stiehler, CGCS, MG


Depending on the temperatures in the mountains, it seems like it can take forever for the greens to heal from spring aerification. I know it can be frustrating, by why is it so important that we do it?

Aerating putting greens on golf courses is a crucial maintenance practice that is necessary for the health and sustainability of the turf. While it may seem disruptive to players and aesthetically unpleasing, aerating greens plays a vital role in ensuring that the turf remains healthy and in optimal playing condition.

One of the main reasons for aerating greens is to alleviate soil compaction. Over time, foot traffic, golf carts, and maintenance equipment can compact the soil beneath the turf, which restricts the movement of air, water, and nutrients to the grass roots. This can lead to poor drainage, shallow root growth, and overall decline in turf health. Aerating the greens helps to loosen the compacted soil and create channels for air, water, and nutrients to penetrate the root zone, promoting deeper root growth and healthier turf.

Aerating also helps to improve water infiltration and reduce surface runoff. By creating holes in the soil, aerating allows water to penetrate the root zone more easily and prevents water from pooling on the surface, which can lead to disease and turf damage. Proper water management is essential for maintaining healthy turf, and aerating helps to ensure that water can reach the roots where it is needed most.

In addition to improving soil structure and water infiltration, aerating greens also helps to promote healthy microbial activity in the soil. The holes created by aerating provide oxygen to the soil and stimulate beneficial microorganisms that break down thatch and organic matter, improving nutrient availability for the grass. Healthy soil biology is essential for maintaining a balanced ecosystem and supporting healthy turf growth.

But the most important reason we aerify putting greens is to control to growth of organic matter below the surface.  This organic matter is comprised of decaying roots, old grass shoots and other things like pollen, that clogs valuable air space below the greens. It is important to remove organic matter on a green because it can contribute to the growth of disease-causing organisms such as fungi and bacteria. These organisms can weaken the grass and make it more susceptible to pests and environmental stress. Additionally, organic matter can prevent water and nutrients from reaching the roots of the grass, leading to poor growth and unhealthy turf.  Most importantly, this organic mater (sometimes referred to as “thatch”) makes the greens soft and slow. We try to incorporate as much sand as possible to the greens because this is what will keep the playing surfaces fast and firm.

While aerating greens may be a temporary inconvenience for golfers, the long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term disruptions. By aerating regularly, golf course superintendents can ensure that the turf remains healthy, resilient, and playable for years to come. So, the next time you see putting greens being aerated, remember that it is all part of the necessary maintenance practices to keep the course in top condition for your enjoyment.

Can’t wait to see you all back on your golf course!

Monday


You can see by the photo that it is a chilly day in Highlands.  Fortunately, our new bentgrass sod is rooted well enough to aerate it with 3/8" hollow tines.   By aerating/topdressing and then rolling, it will smooth the surface faster.  These photos show the work being done on the 17th green.



It is also that time of year when we rent a one-ton asphalt roller for the week.  After a winter of various forms of aerification combined with the natural freeze/thaw action that occurs in sand based root zones, this heavy roller helps get us to the point where we want to be before regular scheduled mowings commence.  We could use our own lightweight rollers, but it would take quite a few times to get to where this puts us after one rolling.  You can see Chad is focused on the croquet lawns now, before moving onto the golf course.  We'll be rolling all putting greens and our new sod areas (new tees and approaches) two directions to achieve the maximum benefit.  

Bobby Jones


Quite a jump!

Friday, March 15, 2024

Thursday


While our focus is primarily on the golf course, we can't forget about the amount of time and care spent on the various landscapes around the campus.  Above, Nathan is busy giving the boxwoods at the courtyard a haircut.  Nathan and Rita are often times given additional help from the golf course to have the grounds looking good by the time the club opens.  Edging beds, pruning shrubs and installing new mulch are projects that require a lot of time and resources.  Also this year, we are making some minor changes to the landscape around the clubhouse. The courtyard will have a fresh new look, while in other areas, overgrown trees and shrubbery has been removed and will be replaced with more appropriate plant material.

Below, two members of our team are putting out fertilizers on the putting greens.  One is a Magnesium amendment and the other is a Potassium amendment.  Spring is the best time of year to 'feed the soil' to get ready for the season.  A neutral to slightly acidic soil pH along with balanced nutrition is a key way to ensure healthy turf over the course of the summer.  Maintaining Bentgrass/Poa annua greens through the summer is like a marathon and there is no better way to ensure we finish the race, than to start with healthy turf that has a dense and deep root system.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Wednesday


Below the 13th green is the area we've been working on tirelessly to clean up.  This is the same area that we were well on our way to finishing, but on a windy night three weeks ago, the large Oak tree in the area uprooted, taking out numerous rhododendron and three large, healthy hemlocks.  That changed the scope of the project significantly.  We spent three days removing the tree that fell.  In that process, we did extensive damage to the bank and the grass around it that will take another few days to repair.  We are also left with trying to improve the swamp below.  After working in the mud for a day with an excavator, we were able to identify and dig out a channel of water flow.  You can see in the photos, the channel, and the mud that was excavated and pushed to the side.  The water is no longer backing up into the area.  Unfortunately, there is no way to remove this sediment and mud.  Therefore, the plan is to try to let the material dry out and if it does, we'll be able to shape it, rake it and ultimately grass it.  We still have a long way to go on this project but it is nice to see a small amount of light at the end of the tunnel.



As plant life wakes up from winter, there are several things we need to keep an eye on it.  Boxwoods, for example, seem to be affected by leaf miners (an insect that is common in spring time) more than usual this year.  We've spent a good portion of the day treating our Boxwoods with an insecticide that cures leaf miners.  If you see tiny flies around the shrubs this time of year, you are more than likely seeing the insect, Boxwood leaf miner. 

Monday, March 11, 2024

Greens Aerification Starts


Our spring greens aerification program started this afternoon.  Below, you can see the greens are topdressed with sand first, before the holes are created.  This eliminates having to drive heavy equipment on the putting greens after they are softened up by the creation of millions of 3/8" holes.  With exactly one month until the club opens, the greens will have time to heal, provided the temperatures remain mild.

Chris is working on pouring new "ramps" at the ends of each bridge to make the transition flawless.

Thursday, March 07, 2024

First Mowing of 2024


Pretty exciting day today at Highlands CC; greens and approaches are being mowed for the first time this year.  We are also spraying them with foliar nutrients in addition to a plant growth regulator that limits Poa annua seed head production. By eliminating the grass' ability to produce seed, keeps the greens smoother during the month of May.  Also, it conserves a lot of energy for the Poa annua, which will allow the turf to better manage the stresses it's subject to through the season.  For a plant of any kind to produce a flower and ultimately seed, takes a huge amount of energy from the plant.  When it uses this energy in the spring, it can put the plant in a weakened state for a period of time afterwards.

Next Monday (11th) we'll be aerating greens, using 3/8" hollow tines on a very tight spacing.  This necessary practice will ensure the greens remain healthy for this season and into the future.  This will be the last cultural practice we do to the greens before the season starts.  In terms of how fast they heal, is dependent solely on night and day temperatures.  While fertilizer helps, turf growth is driven by air and soil temperatures.  70*F day temperatures and 50*F night temperatures are ideal for active cool season turfgrass growth.  

Hap is delighted to be getting this work underway.

Monday, March 04, 2024

Monday

On the 12th approach, we started a small drainage project to fix a small spring that would occasionally surface right where the fairway meets the approach.  We dug 8" down before hitting solid rock!  This makes routing a pipe to the spring head impossible.     



Above, the new bentgrass surrounds at #3 green/#4 tees are standing out with bentgrass slowly starting to green up.


As you can see by #1, fairways are really greening up!

#13 Clean-up


Work on #13 continues... the size of the tree is making it a huge chore to get it out of this spot.  You can also see a small burn pile where we are cleaning up the back side of the swampy area at the base of the hill.  It is still our goal to be able to get this area looking presentable.  From the start of this project, it has been one challenge after other.  For such a small project, it's also been very time-consuming.  In the background of the 1st photo, there is a cluster of Hemlocks that the Oak tree fell into.  When that happened, it stripped the branches off all the Hemlocks.  Therefore, that cluster of trees is set to be removed tomorrow.


Thursday, February 29, 2024

#13 Oak Tree

As you know, one of our capital improvements this year was work to the #13 green complex.  Below the left side of the green, we eliminated a fair amount of the vegetation and created a send tier grass shelf to help collect balls that are hit to the left of the green.  In this general area, were two large Oak trees that we did a lot of pruning on to remove dead branches and to beautify the trees.  Last night at about 6:00PM, a cold front moved through the area, bring  a 1/4" of rain and some high winds.  Unfortunately, the wind uprooted one of the two Oak trees, fortunately falling in the opposite direction of the putting green!

The photos clearly show the roots are not very healthy on this tree.  A tree of this size would normally have a root ball that is at least 10' in diameter.  We have large cleanup effort taking place to get this oak off the golf course.  Once that is done, we'll be doing work in this area to beautify the creek at the bottom of the hill.  This is just a minor setback, but stay tuned for more photos in the next week.

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

USGA GS3 Ball

We recently purchased the USGA Green Section's GS3 ball, which was just recently released after a couple years of extensive testing.  Using this ball that pairs with my cell phone's Bluetooth, releasing this ball off a stimpmeter will now report green speed, smoothness and trueness.  This ball has a built in feature that tracks how far the ball rolls (speed), the up and down movement (smoothness) and the side to side movement of the ball (trueness).  The data is collected and stored on the USGA Deacon app on my phone.  This allows us to track data over time and pull it up in the future.  It's a pretty awesome tool and I can't wait to put it to use and show you first hand what it's capable of.   

Monday, February 26, 2024

Monday



Another truck load of sod was installed on #1.  We lack one more truckload to finish, and we should get that last truck by Wednesday or Thursday, hopefully.


The bridge reconstruction is officially complete!  Many thanks to Wayne Wilborn and Tim Fish for their hard work on this project!  The bridge is now smoother, quieter and much safer.  We still need to stain the bridge, which will happen in the next two weeks.  



We also removed three feet of concrete at both ends of the bridge.  We'll re-pour new concrete to slope the cement to the new elevation of the top of the deck on the bridge.  Our goal is for you to hardly notice the transition.