Greens Aerification

We are in the process today of venting the greens with small needle tines. We will follow this process with a lite topdressing to smooth out ball marks and then apply a small amount of fertilizer to help with healing and ball mark recovery. The small holes will only last for a few days and will help with oxygen exchange to the root system and relieve compaction in the upper profile.

New Ball Mark Tool

We have recently purchased a new ball mark tool that places small amounts of sand in ball marks to help smooth out the putting surface. Our crew fixes ball marks before mowing each morning and we will start using this tool several times a week. The sand that we are using is green and contains a small amount fertilizer that will help with ball mark recovery.

Eliminating Poa on Greens

Recently you may have seen small plugs on the greens. We are in the process of plugging the poa annua out of our greens before the areas get to large. If we can eliminate the poa while the areas are small, these greens should stay poa free for the future. Poa annua is a type of grass plant that grows well in almost any climate. It is considered a weed when you are trying to maintain a pure stand of bentgrass. Poa annua produces a small seedhead in the spring and has a shallow root system which does not make it a desirable plant during the hot dry weather. Poa is mainly transferred by golfer shoes and birds carrying the seed. Poa will first form on the driving range tee and be transferred to the first tee. It will then progress to the greens on the course. We will be trying a new product this Fall on the driving range tee to eliminate the poa but keep the bentgrass.

Verticutting Greens and Topdress

Today, we will be verticutting and topdressing greens. Verticutting is a process of creating small slits in the turf canopy to help eliminate excessive growth and to provide an area for the topdressing sand to be incorporated into. We have recently had a soil analysis done on greens, tees and fairways to help us analyze our nutrient needs and overall soil structure. We have found during this analysis that the top 2" of our green profile is beginning to become to tight and needs to be opened up to help with oxygen exchange and water infiltration. This can be accomplished by aerification, verticutting, and venting. These processes will help create small openings that will help accomplish our goal. We will be verticutting and topdressing on a two or three week rotation depending on weather. We will also be creating small holes in the greens during the year to help break up this top 2". We
will have another test done next spring to see our progress.