The New “Holy Trinity”

Topdressing, aerification and overseeding must be approached as integrated, and not isolated, procedures.

by Betsy Gilliland (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
May 2008
 

Routine maintenance practices such as topdressing and aerification help keep turf healthy. However, the growing need to complete these tasks quickly and efficiently to minimize disruption of play has given the planning and execution of these duties added significance.

"We’re under increasing pressure to keep the course open and playable," notes Dan Dinelli, Certified Golf Course Superintendent at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Ill.

Some superintendents find that they can complete these jobs faster and more efficiently with new and improved equipment—and that, in turn, leads to a healthier bottom line.

Changing Tines

Dinelli has altered the aerification practices in the past four or five years at his private, 18-hole property in north suburban Chicago.

"We used to do a lot of core aerification," he says. Now, however, the North Shore crew primarily uses aerifiers with solid tines that have diameters of a half-inch or smaller and go down 10 inches deep.

"We can still cultivate the soil using these solid tines, and yet not disturb play as much," Dinelli explains. With solid tines, he adds, "You don’t really have the laborsome clean-up afterward, like you do with core aerification."

Dinelli says hollow tines are the "tool of choice if you’re dealing with layering of any kind." He also says crew members used to backfill aerification holes with sand, but now they topdress after aerifying to ensure that the surface is as smooth as possible.

This practice has created another benefit as well. "Our root development has improved greatly," he notes.

Another routine maintenance task led to this change. When the staff changed the cups on the greens, Dinelli reports, they noticed that the sand-filled holes had fewer roots.

"Over time, you can actually track the effects of any management practices," he notes.

Helping the Healing

Chenal County Club in Little Rock, Ark., aerifies its greens twice a year in the spring and the fall and fills the columns in with sand—a process that takes two to three weeks to heal. The crew uses hollow tines that measure three-eighths of an inch in the spring, and half-inch hollow tines in the fall.

However, Certified Golf Course Superintendent Jed Spencer says the private, 36-hole property made a change last summer, by "venting" its greens with smaller tines in May and June. He plans to add a third venting this year in September.

This venting process creates air flow around the roots during the warm summer months, and cuts the healing time to about a week, he explains.

"We’re not using sand on top of them," he adds. "It’s very difficult to get the sand in those holes."

He uses hollow tines with diameters of one-quarter of an inch if the turf is healthy, or three-eighths of an inch if problems have occurred.

Chenal performs spot aerifications on the greens with solid tines every other week in July and August, switching to three-eighths-inch tines to reduce stress on the plant. The property also aerifies its tees, fairways, collars and approaches once a year in June or July.

Chenal CC aerifies its greens in the spring and the fall and fills the columns in with sand—a process that takes two to three weeks to heal. “Venting” greens and performing spot aerifications helps improve air flow and speed the recovery, reports Superintendent Jed Spencer.

Tim Stanwood, Superintendent at Woodstock (Vt.) Inn & Resort Golf Club, says his resort property follows another aerification trend that has developed in recent years.

"For the past two years, we’ve contracted the greens out," he notes, "but we do everything else ourselves."

The property aerifies the greens, tees and fairways of the 18-hole golf course, which was built in 1895, in August. Stanwood says his crew aerifies the tee—a two-day process—about a week before contractors aerify the greens.

"They can do it in one day," he adds.

New Equipment, Better Results

Spencer says the aerifiers that Chenal has used for the last three years can do the work of two machines. "The equipment has allowed us to be more efficient," he reveals, making the aerification process "cleaner, faster and more reliable."

Jeff Elmer, Certified Golf Course Superintendent at Oakwood Country Club, a private, 18-hole facility in Kansas City, Mo., says newer technology allows courses to aerify their properties more rapidly. "If you could aerify faster, you could aerify more often," he notes.

Dinelli agrees, adding that improved equipment now enables North Shore CC to aerify every four to six weeks. "These newer tools allow you to aerate the soil without disturbing play too much," he says. "With the past equipment we had, you would be disturbing play quite a bit."

In addition, Dinelli notes, the more frequent applications with the improved equipment results in healthier plants, better root growth and better exchange of soil gases.

It’s About Time

Even with more efficient equipment and procedures, however, scheduling these projects still requires savvy strategic planning by superintendents.

Aerifying each of Chenal’s 18-hole courses generally is a two-day task, Spencer reports. The crew begins on a Monday, when the courses are closed. However, the course that is being aerified remains closed for a second day to complete the process.

The grounds crew aerifies and picks up cores on the first day, and then topdresses on the second, Spencer says.

At Woodstock, the course is closed for the day when contractors aerify the greens. However, adds Stanwood, the heavily played property closes nine holes at a time to aerify the fairways.

Elmer also says Oakwood tries to aerify on days that the course is closed. The property uses hollow tines to aerify greens twice a year in the spring and fall, fairways once a year in the summer, and the rough areas once a year in the fall.

Oakwood aerifies and topdresses nine holes at a time, taking two days to complete the entire course. After aerifying the greens, notes Elmer, the crew brushes sand into the holes and rolls the surface. Time and cost make it impractical to fill the holes on the fairways and rough, he adds.

While North Shore also tries to aerify when the course is closed, Dinelli notes that "Those times are getting fewer, because we’re getting more Monday outings."

He aerifies the entire course at the same time to maintain consistent conditions. "We start early, to stay ahead of play," he explains.

Brent Vermeer, General Manager and Superintendent at The Meadows Country Club, a semi-private, nine-hole property in Moville, Iowa, aerifies tees once a year in the fall and the greens two times a year, in the spring and the fall.

"We alternate between deep-tine aerifying and hydrojecting in the spring and pulling cores in the fall," he notes. The deep tines, which can go down to 12 inches, can penetrate many different soil layers, Vermeer adds.

Getting Dressed in a Hurry

Like many courses, Oakwood CC is now integrating its aerification and topdressing processes more closely, reports Superintendent Jeff Elmer. The club now aerifies and topdresses nine holes at a time, taking two days to complete the entire course.

New and improved equipment is also making it possible to topdress courses in a quicker, less labor-intensive manner, superintendents report. "You can lightly topdress more often and still end up with good agronomics and good playability," Dinelli says.

North Shore now topdresses every other week during the golf season, to maintain smoothness and grain-free turf. "The overall goal with topdressing is to keep up with the growth rate in the turf," he explains.

Stanwood says his Vermont property topdresses heavily after aerifications. Otherwise, however, the crew topdresses the property two times a month throughout the season, to create consistent speed and to break down the layers of thatch.

Ditto for Oakwood Country Club. "At aerification time, we use heavy applications," says Elmer. "Throughout the season, we will lightly topdress on a monthly or bi-monthly schedule." This "contributes to the smoothness of the surface," he adds.

Vermeer also topdresses after aerification at The Meadows, and uses light applications at least once a month to control thatch and firm up the greens.

At Chenal CC, Spencer says his topdressing practices have remained steady through the years. "If you do it frequently enough and keep on your program, it will help you protect your plant," he notes.

His crew topdresses lightly after aerifying, which aids ball speed and ball roll. "It helps with playability, and golfers like it," Spencer says.

Seeds of Content

Finances and geography generally determine whether or not superintendents overseed their courses.

At The Meadows, Vermeer’s overseeding practices are budget-driven. With the cost of seed going up, he says he only buys the amount he needs to overseed tee boxes or fairways.

"I overseed in the fall if I’ve lost any annual bluegrass during the year," he reports. "I might skip a year and nurse some of those weak areas back, instead of overseeding."

Neither Elmer nor Stanwood overseed their properties, while North Shore uses compost to overseed its rough only.

And while Chenal’s courses get frequent winter play, Spencer only overseeds about half the driving range—a total of three-fourths of an acre. "I think people just enjoy seeing something green in the winter here, when everything is brown and dormant," he observes.