Venting Greens

This morning the agronomy staff is venting greens with bayonet tines on our new walking greens aerator.  These knife-like tines create a small slit in the surface but create a hole 3.5" deep.  As mentioned in the video, this process has several great benefits: improves water infiltration, increases soil oxygen content, releases CO2 trapped in the root zone, allows for the upper 3-4 inches of the profile to dry more consistently, creating a firmer putting surface.  Healthy roots equate to a healthy turf, which will be better suited to handle the harsh conditions of our Oklahoma summers.  This process will be repeated every two weeks until the weather cools off in the fall.

#8 Native Area

#8 before the conversion

I was digging around in some old photos earlier and I came across a photo of #8 before the native conversion and it caught my eye.  The new native area on #8 has been established for long enough now that I'd forgotten what it used to look like.  I think that bringing the native area around to the front of the tee boxes adds more character to the hole, as well as some intimidation to an otherwise short par 3.

#8 after the conversion

Tee aeration

#6 tee 

Yesterday the agronomy staff began core aeration of the front nine tee boxes.  This process uses our Soil Reliever aerator with 3/4" hollow tines.  Once the aerator is finished with a tee box, the cores are left to dry for a few minutes before the metal drag mat is used to break them up.  Breaking up the cores separates the soil from the thatch so it can be reincorporated into the canopy.  Then the tee box is blown off and mowed.  All the front nine tee boxes were completed yesterday.  The remaining tee boxes will be finished on next Tuesday when we are closed.  We appreciate everyone's patience during this time.