Location, location, location...

It is always interesting (although somewhat frustrating) to see the greens recover at different rates following aerification.  This truly shows the impact of varied environmental conditions throughout the golf course.  

For example, #14 green is one of the hottest spots on the course, which is not something good for the turf during the summer.  However, a little extra warmth in the spring also means that this green is one of the first to heal from aerification.

In contrast, the exposed greens which have more air flow and are generally cooler--positives when growing fine turf in July and August--are lagging behind in recovery.

So if you ever wonder why one part of your lawn may grow faster than another, remember that it's all about location, and the micro-climate.

Ouch!

 Two weeks ago, we put a whole lot of holes in the greens--somewhere around 250,000 per green, with just the hollow tines on Monday.  So at this time, some may question the need to repair ballmarks.  Well, the picture below pretty much speaks for itself, and answers that question:

If you think of the greens like a person in recovery following surgery, the last thing they need is another wound.  The surfaces are receiving a little water daily until the holes close.  With softer conditions, we see some nasty ballmarks.  So the argument can be made that now is actually the most important time to repair them.  As always, when you get to the green, please walk to your ballmark first, then to your ball. 

All or Nothing

Several tons of sand are applied to each green during the aerification process.  In the first week following the hole punching, the rolling and mowing can be quite messy with sand sticking to the machines' rollers, and clumps of sand all over the greens. 

To eliminate this, we could wait until the greens are completely dry before trying to put a piece of equipment on them.  However, starting to address the greens at 11:00 in the morning doesn't work too well with play all over the course.

A look back towards #17 tee shows the green with a nice (but sticky) coating of dew.

The other option is to give the sprinklers one spin immediately before putting a mower or roller on them.  While it may seem counterintuitive that more water would make them less prone to picking up sand, this actually works really well.  

The irrigation water knocks the dew off the leaf blades.

Of course, if you think about walking down the beach after a wave rolls in, maybe it shouldn't be too surprising that water leads to less sticking.  With this method, we are able to get out ahead of play, and produce a relatively smooth putting surface more quickly.

Switching things up...

 This week the greens are receiving a much needed breather, as we aerify them in preparation for the summer.  Traditionally, we pull cores, remove them whole from the greens, and then apply a lot of sand--somewhere around 70 tons.  

With the good weather in the forecast for Monday we decided to change the order of the process.  The sand is going down first, followed by the actual aerification.  We allow the cores to dry, and go over them with a drag mat, which separates the thatch from the sandy soil.  The thatch is then blown off, and the green receives a light brooming.

The benefit of this is that we are reducing the amount of equipment on the green after aerifying, as well as reincorporating the existing sandy growing medium, allowing us to apply less sand.  Again, this means less traffic and less abrasive brooming.

A Tale of Two Fortnights

 It would be hard to recall a more upside down weather month than this April, with a very warm first half, and a chilly end to the month.  The April showers sure did arrive, but again, primarily in the second half of the month.  Unfortunately, much of this rainfall occurred around weekends, putting a damper on golf and other outdoor activities.

With the flooding rains to closeout April, we more than doubled the average precipitation.  However, despite the chilly weather during the last week of the month, the earlier handful of days in the 80s still had us at close to six degrees above average.

Only a few enjoyed this past weekend's weather...

As we often say, when we close the book on this year it might actually be close to average from a precipitation and temperature perspective, but it was definitely a crazy rollercoaster ride to get there.