Aerification Schedule

September is the perfect time of year for aerification.  Aeration is critical to grow healthy grass and provide superior playing conditions during the stressful months of July and August.  In September the day lengths are shorter and nighttime temperatures are cool (50’s).  This environment allows a quick recovery (about 10 days) since the grass is still actively growing. 

Below is the schedule for our greens, tees, and fairways:

September 3^rd- Holes 13-18 (Tees/Fairways)

September 9^th- Holes 4-9 (Tees/Fairways)

September 11^th- Holes 1-3, 10-12 (Tees/Fairways)

October 27^th- Greens (1-18)

Why do we aerify?

Aerification provides the following primary benefits:

-Thatch reduction

-Air/water movement

-Compaction reduction

We will try to complete this work as quickly as possible.  If everything goes well, we may be able to complete the entire tee/fairway aeration in 2 days. 

Below is a link to a video that the USGA prepared on greens aeration and its benefits:

Project Updates

This past week we finished leveling and seeding the #7 and #16 Championship tees.  The sprinklers will be turning on automatically at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM for the next couple of weeks to ensure proper germination. 

Questions have arisen about the areas next to #14 tee and behind #15 green.  We are in the first stage of a project to reseed this area to fescue.  These areas have been designated as “low maintenance” and we are seeding a mix called “Bandon Dunes.”  Weather permitting, seeding of these areas will begin next week.  The best time for any seeding is August 15^th - September 15^th.  This time is ideal because soil temperatures are high and nighttime air temperatures are low.

Couple weeks in review!

As the length of daylight shortens, the maintenance crew begins their day later in the morning.  We currently start at 5 AM so that we don’t interrupt golf play on any of the holes.  Starting Monday, however, we will start at 5:30 AM due to morning darkness.  If you tee off before 7 AM you may meet up with our greens mower or set up person.

In the past couple of weeks we’ve been able to get more detail work done throughout the course.  We’ve begun the process of limbing up the pines on #13, 14, and 15.  The next trim area is the area to the right of #5. 

#14 Before

#14 After

You may have noticed the edging of sprinklers on the course.  

Click on the video below to see the head edger in action!

Finally, you may have seen one of our staff poking little holes on the greens with a device that looks like a pogo stick.  This is actually a new piece of equipment we purchased to measure soil moisture in the greens.  It provides information that allows us to water more efficiently, save water, and “dry” the greens out without worrying about wilt.

Reynaldo Ocampo (our foreman) checking the greens for soil moisture.

The output screen of our meter.  VMC% means volumetric water content percent.  The reading of 18.4 indicates that the soil moisture is adequate.  If the reading registers below 10, watering would be initiated, as wilt would set in during the afternoon hours.