The Process of Aeration

This week is aeration week. It is called "airification" by the Grounds department, but I suspect the correct word is aeration. No matter what, though, it is an interesting process!

Three times a year, the golf course goes through this process, a necessary rejuvination of grass that takes quite a lot of abuse from its constituents. (So to speak...) But the August one is the biggie - the whole course gets done, not just the tees and greens. And the fairways definitely take longer than anything, as they take up a lot of the space. Gold courses are big creatures - and ours is a 36-hole course (the Upper course and the Lower course), so there are acres of grass to be done. Not a day's work!

The process is this: holes are bored through the course, about one and a half to two inches apart, and maybe two or three inches long. The dirt cores are all shoveled and carted off (I don't honestly know what they do with all the cored dirt). Then, sand is thrown onto the area to fill in the holes. The idea is that this process allows the grass (which is by no means normal "check out my yard" grass) to grow in better, thicker, etc.

As usual, I can go to Wikipedia and see what they have on it... they seem to know everything!

"Refers to the extent of air gaps in soil. Aeration commonly refers to the process of using mechanized equipment to either puncture the soil with spikes (spike aeration) or remove approximately 1"X2" cores of soil from the ground (core aeration). Spike aeration involves the use of an aeration machine with spikes up to a foot or more in length. Spike aeration is sometimes used to address drainage issues in areas with turf. Core aeration is done on turf areas as a means of reducing turf compaction, reducing thatch buildup, improving the infiltration of water/nutrients, and creating an environment where grass seed can have direct contact with the soil."

Having seen this last year, the difference is staggering. I mean it is very visible almost immediately - the grass looks so amazing about a week to two weeks after this is done. The course always looks great and this is in July when we have had a full season with golfers compacting the grasses and gouging pieces of it and us changing the holes around very few days. That is a ton of wear and tear. To see this magic occur in a matter of days is incredible.

Unfortunately, the weather gods have not been good to us this year - more so than usual. This week was a perfect example. We should have had this all done by Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, but with the overcast drizzly weather on Monday and Tuesday's active rain, there was nothing to do but wait. Last year, we had perfect weather for this - they started Sunday night, waited for the outing on Monday to end, then worked their butts off until Thursday morning. Thursday night we had a storm that gave all the newly refurbished ground a good soaking, and all was well! I suspect that they are still working on the aeration process today (which is not great, as it is disgustingly humid out there!).