Well this is the time of the year that everyone is starting to preform some sort of cultural controls on the golf course. Core aerating is one way most golf courses use to remove the organic matter in the greens, tees, and fairways sometimes even the rough areas. The big questions that I am referring to is, Are and when are you going to core the greens? This year my answer will be WE ARE NOT coring the greens. I have to evaluate the areas on the golf course that have excess organic matter that has accumulated throughout the year, when the organic matter reaches a point the does not allow gas and water exchange there could be many problems that would development below the surface. One way to help control the organic matter build up is through topdressing sand over the surface and working the sand down into the soil profile. I do preform a sand topdressing about every 2 weeks throughout the growing season, I do make changes in the program as the turf slows growth or when the turf is growing vigorously. the more the turf grows the more organic matter is built up. I try to match the growth with the topdressing program. On the greens it works very well and since there is no additional organic matter from the past years I do not need to remove any this year.
The tees on the other hand are a different story. There is a considerable organic matter layer in the tees. Financially, a tee topdressing program is just not workable so we have to remove the excess organic matter by coring the tees. I will be starting this process over the next few weeks.
The approaches to the greens are somewhat treated as greens. We do topdress the approaches to firm and smooth the surface. I will be veritcutting( basically slicing into the turf and removing a small amount of organic matter)this process also slices the tillers of the plant and removes some of the grain. We have started this already and have completed 9-18. After the approaches have been verticut we will apply sand to help fill in the grooves from the verticutting.
The fairways this year will again be spiked at least 2 times before the winter
Neil