Just a normal Monday

A few Mondays ago, we did some work on the greens to maintain the current speed and improve smoothness.  The greens have healed up nicely from aerification and are responding to warmer temperatures with better color and growth.  However, the surfaces can get a little bit puffy if they are not groomed properly.  We like to go after this problem before it is a problem to maintain our current conditions.

Above, we have Tomate (that's his nickname, but I don't know why) verticutting the greens two directions while Ricardo cleans up any debris left behind.  The photo shows the effect of this light, vertical mowing.  We follow that with a dusting of sand and broom it in to finish the process.  The sand fills in any imperfections and the slits we cut into the green.  The result is a much smoother surface on greens that were already stimping around 11 feet, now closer to 11.5 with very true roll.

On the same day, Elidio was out with the Wiedenmann aerifier, punching some holes in the green surrounds.  According to the staff, this is the first time this area has received a traditional aerification in it's entirety.  This will improve water infiltration and reduce the amount of water required to keep the green surrounds in good playing condition.