We always get the questions and concerns on why do we pull cores and why does the hole size need to be what it is. Well there are a number of factors that go into determining this such as the spacing and hole size. Every year I take 3 samples on 3 different greens from a company called ISTRC, this stand for Sports Turf and Research Center. They take a 4 inch depth core back to there lab to analyze at 1 inch increments to see where we are in terms of organic matter percentages. By doing this they can determine the over all build up through out the year and how the green can be re mediated by pulling cores and what hole size to achieve our goals, which is to reduce the organic matter percentage to an acceptable level.
Overall if the organic matter at the top of the sand profile surface gets to high you start to see the surface stay to wet and the green become to compacted to allow air and water to infiltrate to the roots efficiently. This can also lead to numerous disease problems as well as poor putting quality and soft greens. Our overall goal for the year is to remove 20+ percent which happens to be right in line with what the USGA recommends. Every time we pull cores on the greens the weather patterns can be different and can really help the healing process or slow it down considerably, this mainly happens in the spring because of the chances we still have of frost.
Please Note that starting on August 12th the golf course will be receiving an aerification. The greens and tees will have cores pulled and will be sandy for a couple of weeks. The fairways will be deep tined and all that is involved is poking a hole to a depth of 8 inches, no top dressing will be performed at this time. The rough also will be aerified with cores dragged in.
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| Here is what you will see after we aerify the greens.. |
