Good example of aerification

I took this picture last week while changing cups on number three green.  I took this picture to illustrate the benefits of aerification.  Notice in the middle of this plug the roots coming through an old aerification hole.  This is exactly the point of this practice.  Creating channels in the soil and replacing the medium with sand allows the roots to burrow deeper into the soil.  Deep roots are extremely important to plant health.  As the heat of summer comes, roots will naturally die off as the plant wants to go dormant.  Promoting deep roots now will give the turf more food reserves to feed on as summer nears. 

A reminder to everybody, we will be aerifying the greens April 25th and 26th.  The weather this time of year is good for turf growth, warm days and cool nights.  The greens will be healed from aerification in 10 days to two weeks.  Thank you for your understanding of this necessary practice.  Aerification if one of the many maintenance practices I plan to use to keep your greens in the best shape possible all year. 

See you on the course!

-Elliott