Greens aeration

The turf team has been hard at work since Monday aerating the greens.  We completed the front nine greens Monday and the back nine greens Tuesday.  The last two days have been spent cleaning off excess sand and  rolling greens to make sure the the putting surface is smooth and consistent.
Although golfers seem to understand that greens aeration is necessary, we still want to get the greens back to their original condition as soon as possible.  For those that aren't sure exactly what aeration is or what the process looks like, I've included some pictures to help explain the process.
To start the process we double verticut (de-thatch) the greens and blow off the debris.  Then we mow them to clean them up further.  Once this is done, we begin pulling cores with the aerifier.

The aerifier pulls cores at a specific width and spacing to remove as much organic matter as possible.

Once the cores are pulled, the harvester comes through and picks them up.  Any remaining material is then blown off to get the green ready for topdressing.

The topdressing sand is broadcast onto the green at a specific thickness to be sure that enough sand is there to fill all the holes.

After the topdresser is finished, and the sand is dry, a mower fitted with brooms brushes the sand into the holes and removes any excess off the green.

Here are a few pictures of the finished product.  Our goal is to make it so that only when you walk onto the green can you tell that they've been core aerated.

If you have any further questions or would like to learn more about the process please feel free to contact me.