Aeration

     It is time to talk about every golfers favorite word "aeration."  At Prairie Highlands we punched our greens on Monday the 23rd and Tuesday the 24th.  The crew completed holes 1-12 as well as all three practice greens on Monday.  The remaining six greens were completed on Tuesday.  

     The question that I get asked most often about aeration is "why?"  Trust me, if superintendents could avoid aeration they would.  But without those little holes filled with sand, the greens would eventually die.  Aerification has three important objectives:  relieving soil compaction, improving the soil mixture and preventing excess thatch.

     Here at Prairie, we first pull the cores to the surface of the green with the aerator.

The next step is to sweep the cores of the green.  This requires lots of man power.  It takes a crew of four guys 25-30 minutes per green.

After all the cores have been removed we then verticut the greens two directions.  This process cuts tiny slits in the green, helping to provide a healthy root system all season long. 

Now the greens are ready for sand.  We apply enough sand to fill the holes with a topdresser.  

After enough sand is applied then we begin to drag the sand into the aeration holes using specialized drag mats behind our carts.  

With the holes filled we then apply fertilizer and water them in.

 Now that the aeration is complete we will begin to remove excess sand by mowing and blowing off the surface of the greens.  I would like to thank all the golfers for being patient with us through the healing process.