Hoping to Heal the Holes

To be blunt, the past two weeks were a brutal time to be aerifying, and trying to have turf recover.  While aerification provides some great long-term plant health benefits (such as decreasing compaction, thatch removal, increased pore space), the short-term injury can be significant.  Couple this with the longest heat wave of the year, and it kept things interesting to say the least.

One of the other things we continue to see is the significant difference in recovery time from aerification, based on environmental growing conditions.  If you were to walk from #9 to #18 greens, you'd quickly see that 18 appears to be several days behind in filling in.  Even on the putting green, the inner half, which has less sunlight and air movement, looks totally different than the outer half. 

These two pictures were taken within 30 seconds of each other:

 

Fortunately, we'll be getting a brief break in the weather this week.  Some cool nights will do a world of good for the turf, as it looks to reach the finish line of a marathon-like summer.