Aerification Update

Well it has been ten days are we are recovering from greens aerification right on schedule. For the most part all of the holes are filled in and the greens have digested the sand topdress. Over the next two weeks we will increase are rolling frequency in order to firm and smooth the putting surface. In the addition to the rolling, we will also be lowering our cutting height to increase our smoothness and speed. The Club Championship is just two weeks and we are on the right track to provide smooth, firm and fast putting surfaces. Just as a side note speaking of putting, I picked up one of the new Taylor Made Spider putters that we now have in the pro shop. Now I know why all the Champion Tour Pro's are using them. They line up so well from 10 feet and in, it makes you feel like you can make everything. See Craig or one of the guys in the shop for a demo, this might just be what your game needs to win the Club Championship.
Our irrigation pump was finally reinstalled before last weekend's prelude to a summer heat wave. Many ask about how we irrgiate the golf course. Well this time of year we try to irrigate deep and infrequent. This means heavier water cycles every other to every fourth night. Research has shown that this is the best irrigation method to promote a deeper root system. In our case this style of irrigation is also promoting our transition back to the more heat tolerant Bermuda grass for the summer. Currently our transition back to bermuda is going well. Through the use of growth regulators, proper fertility, deep and infrequent watering, and lowering the height of cut we have seen a good population of bermuda already. During the month of May we will be aerifying fairways and fertilizing them to really get the bermuda growing strong. After our strong effort over the past three years to increase our bermuda population I hope to have a good transition and maintain a dense stand of turf on the fairways for the entire summer.
Coming up next week is tee aerification. We plan on aerifiy the Front Nine tees on Wednesday and the Back Nine on Thursday. This will require a one tee start both mornings. In conjunction with aerification some of the tees will be topdressed to improve the soil structure on the tees.