Greens Aerification

Standing Water #9



When life gives you Lemons, you make Lemonade!

 

 

 

 

 

Mother Nature provided the ingredients for a sour, yet sweet, weekend.  Lemonade consist of: a lot of water, a few lemons and a hint of sugar.  The water is easy to explain, more than 6 inches of rain fell on Stonebridge during the evening hours of Friday the 6th.  The result of this weather event caused significant standing water throughout the golf course.  This leads us to the Lemons in this recipe, the course closures.  We had to close the course on Saturday and after another downpour in the evening, we remained closed on Sunday.  The "sugar" in this recipe is the fact that we had the opportunity to get a "head-start" on the greens aerification.  Sunday afternoon provided clear weather and an empty golf course, that is when we went to work.  Although the course remained closed because of the standing water, we took the opportunity to aerify 9 greens this afternoon.  The weaker greens were pinpointed to give them an extra day of breathing.  Aerification provides compaction relief, organic removal and thatch control, but most importantly, it releases built up gases in the soil and provides oxygen to the root system.  We have a full slate of projects schedule for this final week of maintenance.  I am confident we will complete the tasks at hand, regardless of the ingredients presented.

 

A quick point of reference, the photos for this blog were taken on Sunday at 2 pm.  The standing water in front of #9 green actually covered the entire front half of the green Saturday morning.