Summer Update - South Course 3rd Week

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The third week of the South Course closure brought the completion of verticutting and aerifying the tees, collars, and approaches. Above you can see the machine that was used for the process of aerifying these areas. We had the machine set at 1" x 1" spacing, which pulls 144 cores per square foot. This process removes a lot of the dead and decaying material (thatch) that can produce so many negetives for both the turfgrass and also the golfers playing. The process of verticutting and aerifying also will help smooth the surfaces from the previous season.

The above pictures show a completed tee and also a close shot of the material being brought to the surface through the aerification process. These surfaces are normally back to normal within 7-10 days.

The above pictures show the process we use to drag the aerification cores back into the tees. We use a steel drag mat pulled my a utility vehicle. The steel mat separates the soil from the thatch, and the soil helps fill in the holes. The thatch, which can be seen on the upper right picture, is simply blown off with a blower.

The above pictures show the verticutting of the collars and approaches. We went over each area twice, really removing a lot of the thatch from these areas. Following the verticutting, the same aerification process that was completed on the tees was completed on the collars and approaches.

Overall, things are progressing very nicely. We continue to receive the normal afternoon rain here and there. Finished the month of May with almost 6" of rain average on the property.

Continue to check back for more updates.