Aerification has gone well at Grand Pines the past two days.  We pulled 3/4" plugs on 4x4 spacing on all 18 fairways.  We let the plugs dry to a point that we could then verticut all these plugs, which break apart the soil and thatch, and then mow off the fairways.  I firmly believe that this will allow for better turf going forward.  This process took approximately 50 hours to complete.  On our greens, due to a heavy organic layer that is about 4" deep, we covered the greens in approximately 0.25" of sand and deep tined all greens.  These tines were 3/4" in diameter and 8" long.  We were able to break through this organic layer with these tines to promote vertical drainage and then drug the sand into these holes to keep them open and allow for proper vertical drainage. Today we pulled cores off the greens with 0.5" tines on a 2x2 spacing.  These plugs were allowed to dry and then we followed that up with verticutting.  We pulverized these plugs to generate the needed sand to final fill all holes in greens.  We will finish approaches on Thursday as well as start running our slicer airway machine in the rough.

Having said all this, there was a lot of poking of holes in this beautiful golf course.  This will promote better gas exchange into the root zone, alleviate compaction as well as providing a healthier stand of turfgrass throughout the remainder of the year.

What to expect:  We will be opening the course on Saturday June 3rd.  You should expect some sandy greens.  We will grow through this in the coming days, but on Saturday, there will still be quite a bit of sand remaining on the greens.  We will heal up from this and I think you will be very happy with the results.  Thank you for your patience.

Donny Latham