Finally finished

 We completed fairway aerification this past week.  In an ideal world, we could get everything done during the few days we are closed, but Mother Nature rarely provides us with perfect aerifying weather this time of year.  Between rain events either the day prior to, or the day of planned aerification, we only had one nice, low humidity day to work on 34 acres of fairways.

The thatch-picking wagon train on #9.

Because of this, we had to complete the process on #9 and #15 on days we were open.  Working around play obviously makes things a bit more challenging, but we all ate some dust and dirt and got it done.

#15--the final fairway.

We often joke that the actual aerification could be completed in a single day, however the processing of plugs and cleanup is what really takes a whole lot more time.  The last fairway we aerified was #15 on Thursday, which was another hot day, peaking at 92 degrees--definitely hot enough to stress both man and turf!  

Coming in the next morning and seeing the turf looking happy was great, and is proof that the extra time we put into this process is well worthwhile.

Clean and green on Friday morning.

Other tasks tend to get put on the back burner during our August aerification, so it's nice to have this labor-intensive activity out of the way.