You can see how much progress was made on #10 today! We are moving right along with sod removal. As I mentioned yesterday, our first load of sod comes Thursday. These pictures start to give you a feeling of how much area was gained on the left.
Above, I am standing in the "swamp" that used to be a no-go zone. One would sink up to their waist walking in this area. Below, we have the benefit of much of the soil under the sod being comprised of river sand. The excess sand from the fairway construction many years ago was floated into the rough.
Greens aerification commenced this afternoon. Before aeration, we applied a nice layer of sand first. This allowed us to get sand down without driving across the freshly aerified greens, which can be soft, leaving tire tracks. Our aerification schedule this spring will be very, very light. In fact, it only consists of 1/4" tines on a 1.5" spacing. We've been very aggressive in the past few years and I love the direction we took these based on ISTRC testing, which determines the percentage of organic matter in 1" horizons of the greens mix. We have 20 year old USGA greens with a percolation rate of 13"/hour and contain just above 2% organic matter in the top 1". That is solid data. As a super with a science based mindset, I'll continue to monitor these numbers and adjust the program to meet our needs. In the meantime, it will be a slightly better spring golf season.
After a good rain or two, the sand will be washed into the aerification holes. These tiny holes will heal quickly; in fact, many will seal off in March once I rent the 1 ton asphalt roller that I use once annually to firm up and smooth out the putting surfaces.
