Quick collar coring

We made a single aerification pass on the collars last week, using the small, 3/8" tines.  With our regular greens aerification still a couple of months away, you might be wondering why this was necessary.

There are a few reasons this additional process will be helpful this year.  We can start with the same benefits we see when aerifying any area of the course:  increased pore space in the root zone, decreased compaction, thatch reduction, improved water infiltration, and increased efficacy of plant protectants.  Achieving just these objectives is particularly important for the collars, as they have to deal with a lot of wear and tear throughout the year.

In addition to the typical reasons we need to aerify, we are also addressing the problem of "sand dams" which have developed on many of the collars over the years.  Sand dams are areas where topdresssing sand has accumulated, causing the collar elevation to have raised, thus blocking free water runoff from the greens.  Aerifying the collars more frequently than the putting surfaces should prevent the sand dams from growing.

A final reason we are increasing collar aerification is to smooth out the tie-ins from the Master Plan work on the green surrounds.  That is, eliminate any "carpet seams" which are still visible where the new sod met up with the greens.

The guys worked like a well-oiled machine to get this job done quickly.  After aerifying, we made one pass with the core harvester, then blew off the rest.  We finished with a quick roll of the collars to smooth things out.

As to the timing of this, we still have cool conditions, but are starting to see some growth in the greens.  Rain (and snow) was in the forecast, which helped with the final cleanup.  This was definitely a good way to make a positive impact on conditions, without impacting playability.