100 Day War Begins

It's aerification week and we all know that means... there's gonna be a lot of holes, a lot of ripping, a lot of tearing and long days. This time around however, it started out very wet. The weather as it was didn't seem to affect us to greatly in the beginning of the week, but in the end it really put us back about two days. 

As always we began with a whole lot of vertical mowing trying to eliminate the thatch build up and the grain accumulation from the previous growing season, followed by aerification and sanding. This time around however was also the beginning of our putting surface reclamation project. 

As everybody knows the putting surfaces that had been encroached by the celebration Bermuda grass was killed in an effort to prepare for this process. This week my staff was able to successfully reclaim the edges of the putting surfaces on holes one through nine. The weather delayed us such that we were not able to get to the back nine. We will complete the back nine reclamation process in July when we close down to aerify again.

The dead encroachment area being cut for removal. 

Trench view of the area being reclaimed. Only the dead grass and underlying thatch was removed. 

Then the greens were aerified to produce the needed new grass plugs for the trenches. 

The millions of small cores were pushed into the perimeter trenches to "plant" the new grass. 

Before being planted in their new homes, the plugs were spread and leveled out

Once the plugs were leveled they were compacted and watered. Let the grow-in begin. 

The perimeter areas were purposefully left a little low so the mowers would not scalp off the freshly planted areas. 

The plan will be to continually add supplemental sand to the perimeters of the putting surfaces, thus raising the level up to a point where it is all on the same plain. 

Holes 10-18 will have the putting surfaces reclamation process start in July when we close. Due to the weather delay, I decided to do a phased approach for this project. I didn't want to take a chance and try and complete the holes 1-18 and be unsuccessful before having to reopen for play. 

Random pics from this week...

Mowing in a cloud of dust scalping down the fairways. Scalping helps remove grain, or the tendency of the grass to grow in a particular direction. All of the grain causes the swirly look. 

The aftermath, not much greenery left around the tees and approaches. 

The mound of material removed from aerifying the greens, minus all the material that was reused. 

1/6 of the pile left from verti-cutting the fairways. At remedies amount of thatch is removed from verti-cutting. This helps with grain and sponginess. 

Lunch for the guys one day I made. Each one is 5 lbs of pork sausage rolled with rub, onions, peppers and lots of cheese. Then wrapped in 1.5 lbs of bacon, topped with BBQ sauce and slow smoked for 4-5 hrs. It's called a Bacon Bomb! I made 4 of these and they didn't last long.  I always cook for the guys when we are closed for the week for aerification. 

Long week but we're almost there. Lots to do and a short time to make it all happen.