FLCC Course Maintenance

Posted: 08 Dec 2021 07:40 AM PST

We have an unusually pleasant weather forecast for the next 10 days so we will take advantage of this opportunity to "aerate" greens. Much like last December, we'll use very small tines and remove just a little bit of the excess organic matter. We expect to have nine holes closed on Monday and Tuesday in order to get this done. Frosty mornings may slow us down and require some time on Wednesday to wrap up.

The holes will remain visible for much, if not all, of the winter, but should not impact putting enough to notice. We will also use our new deep tine aerator on a few greens in order to get familiar with it and gain some info for future use. It may be something we'll prefer to do this time of year in addition to, or instead of, spring. We just want to try it and see how it goes for planning purposes.

You may remember that in August we had a full week of rain when we were scheduled for core aeration. We had to push the job back and, as a result, were not able to pull cores as originally planned, due to the golf tournament schedule. We used solid tines instead, but that doesn't fully address some of the age/resource related challenges greens are facing. Aging greens need more and more input as the years go by. We can't afford to miss opportunities like this to do something good for them. When weather is suitable for turf growth in the spring, summer, and fall we can be more aggressive with our efforts. However, doing a little now is better than doing nothing.