Yesterday we started our spring aerification of the fairways here at the pines. With an early start for my staff and a back nine start for the golfers we were able to knock out all of the fairways on the front nine. The process started with a 5/8" aerification by our mechanic Jim followed by a double dragging of the cores with a metal drag by Enrique (Tom and I pitched in for a while to have two drags going at times). We use the dragging as a bit of topdressing and then follow the drag with a turbine blower to blow the leftover plugs into a line down the middle. Hung and Tom were the guys manning the blowers. Then we use the core harvester to pick up the remaining debris. A big thank you to Jake and Tom G. for staying a little longer yesterday to finish up with the core harvester. The final process yesterday was to water any hot spots and check all the sprinklers to make sure we didn't hit anything during aerification portion. Here's a few pictures of the different processes of our aerifiction.
Overall the process on Monday went very smooth. My staff did an amazing job! There are a couple little adjustments we will make for the next time around. We were able to finish up two more fairways today and will have to reschedule the rest of the back nine for next Monday.
The other guys not pictured, Mike and Jose, were doing a great job trying to mow rough and banks before the rain that is scheduled for the rest of the work week.
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| Our mechanic Jim with coffee in-hand on #5 |
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| Nice dry plugs ready for the drag. |
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| Hung blowing the plugs towards the middle. |
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| Jake and Tom G. picking up the plugs. |
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| Checking heads and watering hot spots. |
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| Final Product. Looks nice and clean. |
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| A look down #1 after the clean up. |
Overall the process on Monday went very smooth. My staff did an amazing job! There are a couple little adjustments we will make for the next time around. We were able to finish up two more fairways today and will have to reschedule the rest of the back nine for next Monday.
The other guys not pictured, Mike and Jose, were doing a great job trying to mow rough and banks before the rain that is scheduled for the rest of the work week.
