VARYING TYPES OF AERATION??

[tarrantian]

Hey all,

It's apparent that courses seem to use varying styles and processes when greens need to be aerated before the season winds down...

A convenient course I play often in the area, Puslinch Lakes which also happens to be one of those that is very inexpensive to play, has some of the best greens in the area, rivalling those of private and premium courses - They aerated about 2 weeks ago, with finer aeration marks, much farther apart than most and your putts are barely impacted...

Then we have the other extreme, just finished playing Rebel Creek, a very premium (GolfNorth owned) course, and they must have done their aeration over the past week, wide holes, tightly patterned and filled with sand. Needless to say, any putt outside of 3' would not hold it's line and frankly wasn't worth the price of admission...

I presume there are multiple reasons why a course picks a form of aeration vs. what other courses do. I'm sure the type of machinery they have, how well they have cared for their greens over the season, the level of abuse they've seen per number of rounds, etc.

Anyone have a definitive rationale as to what determines aeration 'quality'?

Just curious, I get it that it must be done, but a wide degree of inconsistencies as to how it is executed.

Thank you,

- Ian

[bcampb00]

Hey all,

It's apparent that courses seem to use varying styles and processes when greens need to be aerated before the season winds down...

A convenient course I play often in the area, Puslinch Lakes which also happens to be one of those that is very inexpensive to play, has some of the best greens in the area, rivalling those of private and premium courses - They aerated about 2 weeks ago, with finer aeration marks, much farther apart than most and your putts are barely impacted...

Then we have the other extreme, just finished playing Rebel Creek, a very premium (GolfNorth owned) course, and they must have done their aeration over the past week, wide holes, tightly patterned and filled with sand. Needless to say, any putt outside of 3' would not hold it's line and frankly wasn't worth the price of admission...

I presume there are multiple reasons why a course picks a form of aeration vs. what other courses do. I'm sure the type of machinery they have, how well they have cared for their greens over the season, the level of abuse they've seen per number of rounds, etc.

Anyone have a definitive rationale as to what determines aeration 'quality'?

Just curious, I get it that it must be done, but a wide degree of inconsistencies as to how it is executed.

Thank you,

- Ian

I don’t really know the answer to your question, but have one anecdote. The course where I play the most originally had bent greens which after 35 years are now a mix of bent and poa grasses. Two years ago a new practice green was built with all new bent. The poa / bent greens were all aerated over the last two weeks with large holes and filled with sand. The new bent practice green was aerated in the spring with small tines that healed in a week. No fall aeration for bent green. I was told that in this case the different grasses determines the style of aeration.

[RutgersKev]

Soil type, turf species, superintendent’s preference, and equipment availability would be the most common reasons.
Most supers have a percentage of material they like to remove per year, so that would determine frequency and tine style/size.

[Hugh Jass]

I have a tee time for Rebel Creek on Wednesday, should I give it a swerve?

[tarrantian]

I have a tee time for Rebel Creek on Wednesday, should I give it a swerve?

Love the course, but any putt over 3’ is problematic with their version OS aeration.

[Hit n try to find it]

I will try answer your question for you.

Aerifying greens is a process of removing a core from the green to reduce compaction, remove thatch, allow for a material exchange, and allow water and air to move through the surface better.

Thatch - layer created at surface that becomes like a brillo pad of grass, roots and organic matter

Material exchange - removing layer of organic matter that builds up just beneath surface.

When you remove a core or plug , you add top dressing to replace that area that has been removed. The superintendent can choose the size of tines being used to remove the core, and also the spacing between the holes. The newer machines allows the operator to change the settings with ease.

As far as putting post aeration, it usually depends on the amount of topdress used that fills in the holes afterwards that determines whether the green is bumpy or somewhat smooth. I have seen large tine aeration with a proper topdress be reasonable to putt on and some small tine aeration with too little topdress be bumpy. The art is knowing how much topdress is needed and when or how many applications is needed. The weather like rain, can impact these things as well.

Hopefully this may help. I added a picture of a few of the different tines from Toro.

[ARL67]

I have a tee time for Rebel Creek on Wednesday, should I give it a swerve?

I played Rebel this past wonderfully-warm Friday ( 2nd group out ) , and the greens we as Ian described , so doubt they will be healed up for you by Wednesday. That said I did unexpectedly snag a few birdies, but a bumpy ride to the hole for sure. I'm not too picky at this time of season and just happy to be out.

[rulie]

A good read:

https://finegolf.co.uk/what-is-fine-golf/jim-arthurs-5-greenkeeping-principles/

[Hugh Jass]

I played Rebel this past wonderfully-warm Friday ( 2nd group out ) , and the greens we as Ian described , so doubt they will be healed up for you by Wednesday. That said I did unexpectedly snag a few birdies, but a bumpy ride to the hole for sure. I'm not too picky at this time of season and just happy to be out.

Thank you and OP for the heads up.

I wouldn't normally be as picky either but I'm taking a day off work to play and it's about an hour from home, and there's 30+ other courses closer that we could go to. My buddy will be travelling by there tomorrow so he'll have a gander.

To keep on the subject, played Glen Abbey a few weeks back and they had punched the greens and they were smooth and true, smaller holes that seem to have been 'rolled' a few times to flatten bumps.

[tarrantian]

I played Rebel this past wonderfully-warm Friday ( 2nd group out ) , and the greens we as Ian described , so doubt they will be healed up for you by Wednesday. That said I did unexpectedly snag a few birdies, but a bumpy ride to the hole for sure. I'm not too picky at this time of season and just happy to be out.

I generally accept it as a necessary evil, and I’ve played my 100 rounds for the year so it is what it is...

The problem is my regular foursome decided to do a year-end competition, 4 rounds at 4 different courses - Thankfully our tourney ended today at Puslinch where the greens are beautiful...

Just happy to be golfing!!

[tarrantian]

I will try answer your question for you.

Aerifying greens is a process of removing a core from the green to reduce compaction, remove thatch, allow for a material exchange, and allow water and air to move through the surface better.

Thatch - layer created at surface that becomes like a brillo pad of grass, roots and organic matter

Material exchange - removing layer of organic matter that builds up just beneath surface.

When you remove a core or plug , you add top dressing to replace that area that has been removed. The superintendent can choose the size of tines being used to remove the core, and also the spacing between the holes. The newer machines allows the operator to change the settings with ease.

As far as putting post aeration, it usually depends on the amount of topdress used that fills in the holes afterwards that determines whether the green is bumpy or somewhat smooth. I have seen large tine aeration with a proper topdress be reasonable to putt on and some small tine aeration with too little topdress be bumpy. The art is knowing how much topdress is needed and when or how many applications is needed. The weather like rain, can impact these things as well.

Hopefully this may help. I added a picture of a few of the different tines from Toro.

This was excellent BTW, thank you!!

[surette23]

Some good reading material... short answer, the bigger the tine and the smaller the spacing (more holes) the more material and Organic matter that will be removed, therefore diluting thatch. Too much thatch = soft greens that can become hydrophobic and therefore not perform. Prime example would be Oakmont has arguably the best poa greens in the world and they aerate like crazy. "In the last two growing seasons, the putting greens at Oakmont Country Club have been double drilled-and-filled four times, core aerated five times, deep verticut five times and deep-tine aerated four times." Obviously in a public or for profit business world this is not feasible for most courses so we try to only limit listening to the whining to one or two times a year

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2019/09/answers-about-aeration.html

https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/images/course-care/infographics/ins-and-outs-aeration.pdf

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/clubhouse/2017-ungated/09-17-ungated/5-things-every-golfer-should-know-about-aeration.html

[tarrantian]

Some good reading material... short answer, the bigger the tine and the smaller the spacing (more holes) the more material and Organic matter that will be removed, therefore diluting thatch. Too much thatch = soft greens that can become hydrophobic and therefore not perform. Prime example would be Oakmont has arguably the best poa greens in the world and they aerate like crazy. "In the last two growing seasons, the putting greens at Oakmont Country Club have been double drilled-and-filled four times, core aerated five times, deep verticut five times and deep-tine aerated four times." Obviously in a public or for profit business world this is not feasible for most courses so we try to only limit listening to the whining to one or two times a year

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2019/09/answers-about-aeration.html

https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/images/course-care/infographics/ins-and-outs-aeration.pdf

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/ho...-aeration.html

LOL - Yes, I've been much better on the whining front, accepting the necessary evil of this process...

I find the process variability of this facinating, you're simply dealing with a living, breathing entity where there are a multitude of rules per micro-climates, grass-type, soils and profitability.

There is a word in the wine world - 'Terroir', which essentially means the sense of place where grapes are grown and how it impacts the final product...

Kind of seems like the same in the golf world.