A breathing fresh air

This week the maintenance staff has started "venting" the putting surface. Venting is a new name for an old practice called winter aerification.  The new term was created because aerification is usually associated with big hole and long recovery. Wherein venting uses very small holes and there is no recovery time. 

This is a normal venting setup on a machine. The tines are 1/8 solid spikes used for just poking some vent shafts into the soil to allow air exchange and water infiltration 

This is what summer aerification is all about, soil exchange using big holes....big difference!

After the putting surfaces have been vented, a roller is used to smooth them out with no affect on playability. You might see a tiny open hole every now and then but no major surface disruption. 

The purpose of venting is increase soil gas exchange and allow better water penetration during a time when the greens are under the most stress. Benefits of the venting can be substantial. The increase in oxygen in the soil surrounding vents will trigger a massive root growth explosion...the better the roots are, the better the shoots are.  Additionally, the vent holes allow for a dramatic increase in water infiltration with allows me to better manage soil salt build up, localized dry spots and surface playability.