Post Aeration Update

Last week's aeration went very well. The weather was in our favor and the team was able to do something to all our bentgrass areas. The rain we needed came just as we completed our process, over five inches since Wednesday, with more still coming. Our hope is that the greens will be completely healed by Labor Day weekend.

Greens, Tees and Approaches
The greens tees and approaches received the same prescription. They were core aerated, fertilized and topdressed. This process is very laborious but gives us the best results over the long run. Our process manages our organic matter, creates pore space, and keeps our infiltration rates high to keep our surfaces dry. 

Fairways
The fairways were sliced. This is a process that is very quick and low impact. It creates a opening in the soil for gas exchange and water infiltration. We have found doing this several times during the season combined with our late fall core aeration and deeptining balances the agronomic needs of our fairways and the playablity of our golf course. We will be applying an organic fertilizer to the fairways in the next few weeks to give them a little carbon based feeding at the start of fall.

The Rough
This week we hope to start fall renovations to the rough. The aerovator seeder is being put on the tractor as I type. We will be aerovating, seeding and fertilizing the majority of the in play rough in the next few weeks. We will be working from the 1 inch cut out. Traffic areas that need to be sodded will be refreshed late in fall. 

Thank you all for the understanding during last week's aeration. We do not like taking the golf course away from the membership, but it is a very necessary process for the long term health of the Crest.