Greens Renovation

We have talked in the past about the importance of regular aeration work on the surfaces, especially the greens. This year it has been very difficult with the weather to establish consistently high quality putting surfaces but the work must be done to continue to achieve improved results. After a very wet winter and a late, cold spring the greens were slow to get going and so the decision was made not to core in the maintenance window in August.

Although coring was not undertaken this time, we still managed to achieve a lot in a small window. The Air2G2 machine was hired in to blast air into the profile deep down, lower than we currently spike down to. This breaks up any pan in the soil profile, allowing air, water and roots to reach further down. It also is a fantastic machine as it creates very little surface disruption.

A few days after the Air2 we started to Vertidrain the greens. This machine is our own and it can spike down to about 12 inches. We used half inch tines and spiked down to 10 inches so that the toxic air could escape and fresh oxygen could enter the profile. It works like you would stand on your back garden with a pitchfork to relieve compaction (you all do that don’t you!?)

The greens were then topdressed and approximately one ton per green was applied to the surfaces.

After this the Procore was then used to spike the greens to a depth of 4 inches using 8mm tines.

 

We use this machine to drive sand into the profile and also to help close up the Vertidrain holes.

We then went across the greens brushing with the Sweep and Fill brush, making sure the topdressing was brushed into the surface. As we have not cored we are not intending to totally fill any holes on the greens, just give them a dressing. Typically the weather turned as we started to dress the greens so some of the dressing was very wet, however the sweep and fill brush coped very well.

 

Finally the greens were cut and then ironed to help with smoothness. The process was reasonably straightforward and was completed with the minimum of disruption, although you can see by the pictures the kind of machinery needed to keep the greens in the best possible condition.

Recovery is well underway and the greens will be back to normal in no time. An organic granular fertiliser has been applied since to aid the recovery and to give the greens a gentle feed for the next month or so. Next week the weather looks to be a lot warmer so the recovery time should be very minimal. Although we won't look to core the greens until after the season finishes, more aeration work will continue throughout the season on a little and often basis.