Sleeping Beauties

A golfers worst nightmare, aerification, happens to be one of the most essential management practices in producing championship conditioned putting surfaces. Winter was much kinder to Northeast Ohio this year allowing our greens to be awoken peacefully from their hibernation ready to kick off a successful 2020 season! Now is the time to set ourselves up for success to combat the difficult weather conditions we may face in June-September by producing as healthy of turf as possible through our aerification process. This years process was slightly altered (no core removal) due to the challenges of COVID-19 and our current staff numbers. Our staff finished aerification of greens and tees in two days, we cant thank them enough for their hard work and dedication day in and day out.


Greens Aerification Process:

          1. Solid Tine using Toro ProCore - aeration channels enhance gas exchange and water movement in the soil
          2. Topdress (slightly heavier than usual due to rain) - Sand dilutes the thatchy nature of the soil profile, cushions leaf tips and crowns improving turf smoothness and recovery, increased firmness and improved rootzone
          3. Verticut - Promotes vertical growth, reduces thatch, and breaks up stolons of the plant to allow for new leaves creating a denser turf 
          4. Brush - Evenly distributes the sand into the aeration channels 
          5. Roll - Smooths any areas that could have been disrupted during the aerification process and helps speed up the closure of the aeration channels

Tee Aerification Process 

          1. Solid Tine using Toro ProCore

          2. Topdress using Toro ProPass/Ty-Crop 
          3. Brush to fill holes with sand 


Solid Tine

Topdressing