Never the same twice...

We keep detailed notes on our aerification protocol, and while it may seem that it is pretty much the same year in and year out from a player's perspective (with the exception of the timing), we are constantly making adjustments to this critically important practice.  In very general terms, regardless of when we aerify, we are always trying to balance the long-term needs of the turf, along with greens recovery and playability.

One of the modifications we have made over the past couple of years is applying the topdressing sand--an average of 8,000 pounds per green--as the first step in the process, prior to solid tine and hollow tine aerification.  Many might think that it is better to wait until you have created the holes before adding sand, so why have we made this change?

#15 currently looks more like a beach than a green.

By putting the sand down right in front of the solid tine aerifying, much of it gets moved down into the holes as the aerifier passes over it, due to vibration.  Following the solid tining, the team hits the greens with backpack blowers and are able to work the remaining sand into the holes. This has the material in place prior to any equipment "traffic" on the green.  If we apply the sand later in the process, the aerifiers, core harvesters, carts, etc. may have started to close off some of the holes, and limit the amount of sand we can incorporate into the soil profile.

Is this the last time we will modify our protocol?  Golf course maintenance isn't different than anything else in our lives, so probably not.  Thanks to both academic research, as well as improvements in the equipment we have available, aerification practices will constantly continue to evolve.