Cypress Course Aerification - August 10/11

We are into the hottest month of the year, but fall is definitely on the way!  I’m sure no one will be upset when the 100 degree days go away.  In order for us to get ready for the long fall and winter we have ahead we have one final aerification on the courses left to do.  We will be closing the Cypress Course this coming Monday and Tuesday (August 10-11) and reopening for play on Wednesday.  This will give us a chance to prepare the turf and soil for the next 8 months until our next aerification next May. 

This aerification will be a little bit different than what you saw from me last time in May.  The Emerald bermudagrass that we have on these greens just doesn’t produce the thatch/organic material that the ultradwarfs like Tifeagle, Miniverde, and Champion do – not anywhere close.  My analysis of the greens profile (the soil from 0-12” deep) is that in the 5 or so years that this grass has been on these greens very little material has accumulated and our organic matter percentages just aren’t high enough to warrant an aggressive core removal program.  That doesn’t mean that it won’t change in time, but I just don’t see the necessity in pulling cores just to pull cores.  I never thought I would say that, but Emerald is just a different grass. 

So, on the green surfaces starting Monday we will be doing a series of verticutting before any topdressing or aerification is done.  We will go two different directions, down and back over the same pass to try and remove as much grainy leaf material as we can.  This will open up the turf canopy for topdressing to work its way in.  We will double cut the greens after the surface is blown off.  As you have seen over the past month since we started verticutting weekly the ball roll actually improves and does less wobbling back and forth.  Our next step in the process is to topdress the greens heavily and then follow behind with a needle/pencil tine aerification.  It is a solid tine that is about 2/10” wide and goes down to a depth of about 2-3”.  Once this is complete we will roll and drag in the sand into the small holes and the verticut lines.  The heal time on this will be more like a few days as opposed to a couple of weeks.  This is the best thing for these greens at this time.  We will follow behind with a soil spray consisting of wetting agents and fertility to improve rooting depth and plant health. 

While we are working on greens we will also be aerifying tees and continuing our aerification of fairways.  Just like in May, we will be removing a ½” core from the tee areas and practice tees.  This is a minimally invasive process that will help water penetration and plant rooting depth on our second most important surfaces.  As many of you know, these tees are very hard and compacted, making it difficult to place a tee on the ground at times.  Consistently doing this process a couple times a year will help alleviate that issue.  We will continue aerifying fairways and pick up where we left off in May.  With rains in May we were only able to get 4-5 holes complete.  We would like to finish that process and get the entire course done once this year.  Without aerification on these heavy clay soils you just can’t get the proper plant health that is desired for great turf conditions.  The roots aren’t allowed to penetrate which stunts the top growth and doesn’t allow it to mature and spread like it should.  The core removal process has not been done on these fairways in a number of years.  On the fairways that were done in May we are already seeing great results.  This process along with monthly spray applications of wetting agent and growth regulator will allow the plant to mature and reach deeper root zones. 

We will give the Cypress Course about 3 weeks to heal and then we will be doing the Pecan Course on August 31/September 1.  This will ensure that you always have one healthy/non aerified course to play golf on.