Yes, like the title reads there is a tremendous value opening the surface of the green. This promotes air and gas exchange along with water infiltration. Our greens are USGA greens that are designed to accept water and then let it go through drainage. As for a push-up green which is composed mostly of native soils, this is designed to shed water much like the turtle back greens you see at Pinehurst #2. In order to keep up with the physical properties of the sand we need to do routine aerifications such as pull a core to replace with clean fresh sand. This removes the organic material that can hold water at the surface creating many problems and soft playing conditions. After we do those things we need to regularly open them up through non aggressive techniques during the playing season and not interfere with the enjoyment of the game. One example that we like to do is the use of a needle tine that is less than the thickness of a pencil, approximately .200 of an inch. Although small, this is a great tool, to continue the drainage characteristics of our USGA greens. So where am I going with all of this? We have a tool that can quantify our results to show you the benefits of doing this practice and its called an infiltrometer. This tool allows us to measure in inches per hour how fast the greens will drain. We took a measurement and received a whopping 9 inches per hour before we used the needle tines on the greens. The next day after the needle tine, we came back to the similar location and took another reading. Our results were 24 inches per hour and we almost tripled our infiltration rate by doing this practice. So you can see the benefits are great and will help our greens make the grade!
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| Needle tine in action |
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| The infiltrometer we used |
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| Fill both rings with water and then we start the timer |
