Today we started the process of deep tinning putting greens. This machine is equipped with 12" long tines and injects high pressure air into the greens root zone profile. The high pressured air fractures the soil at a depth of 12" and then another air blast occurs when the tines are 6" deep. While this type of aerification isn't beneficial in terms of removing organic matter; it serves another purpose, just as important. At HCC, we do an excellent job of aerifying the top 3" of the profile, like most golf courses do. Over time, a compacted layer can develop at the 3" deep mark; the point at which traditional hollow tines stop. To prevent this from happening, it's important for us to disrupt the root zone at varying depths. This machine takes care of that for us. It isn't something we use through the season because it can cause some heaving at the surface that can ultimately lead to scalping if we aren't careful. Performing this procedure twice during the winter months does a nice job in keeping water moving downward all season long.
