This afternoon, we 1/4" tine aerated a couple greens on the golf course (#'s 2, 15, 16). Unfortunately, we have experienced minor thinning in several areas. This is a result of scalping caused by our air injection machine. When the machine fires a blast of air, the ground around the hole rises slightly. To correct this, we double rolled the greens following the procedure. However, the weight of the roller wasn't enough to fully compress the root zone back down. Over a period of a week or two of aggressive mowing practices (we double cut daily), we started to see some thinning in a pattern that matched where the tines entered the green. The scalping wasn't instant, rather it took a period of a 1-2 weeks where the effective height of cut on those areas was much lower than the .125" we mow at. Due to the poor growing environment that these greens are located in (lack of any morning sun), the turf simply couldn't recover. It was also exacerbated by the constant rainfall we've been receiving. By opening some holes on these greens, we are getting much needed oxygen to the root zone and ultimately softening up the surface, allowing us to smooth it back out. In the meantime, we will be saving the air injection machine for the winter time, when we will run the machine in multiple directions, approximately four times. This has been a disappointing learning experience but the thin areas will ultimately recover and certainly will not worsen.
