Wanted to get in touch with all of you that have had many
questions on our greens healing from our Spring Aerification program. To start off, I can insure you that I am far
from happy on their healing and it has bugged us here immensely, there is no
one more upset than myself and my staff.
I want to go through why we aerify, why we aerify when we do and the
lasting impact it has on our greens.
Lastly I will discuss reasons why they have not healed in an adequate
time frame.
Any facility will core aerify (pulling material) several
times per year, this maintains our underground composition. To maintain our greens health it is required
to remove 15-20% of material each growing season from practices such as this. Over each year we get buildup of organic
matter (dead tissue, root decay etc) from having A-4/A-1 Bent-grass mix, these
are some of the best bent-grasses courses can have on their greens but they are
heavy producers of organic matter. With
the buildup greens can get puffy, soft, have inadequate drainage, poor air
quality in the root-zone and disease infestations. These issues have massive lasting consequences
if they are not controlled, up to and including a complete rebuild of the greens,
core aerifying each month, drill and fill slicing, higher pesticide usage, each
causing a huge impact on play far beyond our current practices. We chose the size tine and spacing we used to
best pull that 15-20% over 2 yearly aerifications based on our ISTRC testing
(spring and fall) to keep our greens healthy not only for this coming summer
but for 5-10 years down the line. A
mistake, skipped aerification or an improper tine size has lasting
consequences.
Each golf course is different, even having the same A-4/A-1
Bent-grass mix as most of our neighbors does not entail that we have the same
root-zone, yearly fertility levels, same microbial population but most
importantly we all have different growing environments. We chose here at Canyon to aerify in mid to
late April, this is a typical “best” time to aerify without massively disrupting
your playing ability. The earlier you go
in the year, not only have you not had adequate time from the previous falls
aerification to get the best bang, but you can see very slow recovery times as
seen in 2009, 2013 and 2014.
To the questions on our greens this year, since we aerified
on April 21th we have seen horrendous night temperatures that have
slowed the growth of not only our greens but the rest of our golf course. Keep in mind that an A-4 / A-1 mix desires
sunlight and soil temps of at least 60-70 degrees for adequate growth. During our time since April 21th
we have had lows drop to 33 (April 22) 40-45 (April 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, May
1, 11, 12) causing a stunting reaction to our greens and slowing their vertical
and horizontal growth. As much as I wish
I could snap my fingers and have grass grow we require some help from
Mother-Nature. We have supplied the
greens with well above average fertility since my arrival and have kept them at
the best water to air ratio for growing grass.
The only item left is Mother-Nature to turn on the sunlight and warming
soil temperatures.
I have contacted many other courses and fellow
Superintendents in the city that aerified the same day that we did, all… and I
repeat that ALL have struggled to get their greens to heal up in the
normal window of time. We are not in the
minority and in some cases have healed up “faster” than they have.
I ask for your patience, as I stated before we are doing,
will do and have been doing everything in our ability to get our greens as
healthy as possible for you and your playing partners. To the questions of our “open holes” needing
more sand is not what they need right now.
Applying sand, dragging it in is an abrasive process and it causes tremendous
amounts of friction and can stunt growth of filling for another 4-5 days as the
grass heals from the added sand, we still end up in the same predicament we are
in today as the grass tries to grow and fill between the open areas. Right now the greens are at the cusp of
healing, as the old saying goes “It is always darkest before dawn” greens after
aerification will always be the bumpiest and hardest to putt right before they
fully heal.
Thanks for your patience and remember, we are here to make
Canyon Farms one of the premiere courses in the Kansas City area, we have made
changes from previous management to the benefit and health of our great Club.
Mark Newton, CGCS
Certified Class A Superintendent
Certified Class A Superintendent
