Green Speeds

In the upcoming weeks, the speeds of the greens will be increased for the Men’s and Ladies Club Championship as well as the Pike Lake Open.  Putting speeds are increased by verticutting, topdressing, rolling, double cutting, limiting the growth and limiting the water applied to the greens.  We can control all of the above except excess moisture Mother Nature dumps on us.  A quick green is often a stressed green.  It is unrealistic to maintain fast, stressed putting greens all season long.  Especially during the heat of the summer when decline is most likely to occur.  For the majority of the season, the health of our putting greens has priority over the putting speeds.

Good luck to everyone competing in the Club Championship and the Pike Lake Open.

Aerification

August 6, 2014

                It’s hard to believe it’s already August 6th and summer is already past the halfway point.  But there’s still plenty of golf to be played at Pike Lake with some exciting tournaments in the schedule.

 

During the week of July 28 - August 1 the greens were aerified using ¼” solid tines.  Immediately after the holes were punched, a greens mower was used to roll the surface smooth before cutting the green.  Some of you may not have even noticed the aerification holes as they are very tiny.  While they are tiny, they are still very effective in relieving compaction, allowing oxygen to enter the rootzone and allowing toxic gases to release that build up over time.  The older greens at Pike Lake are comprised of sand, silt and clay while the newer greens are comprised of sand.  The older greens are prone to compaction due to their soil structure.  This makes it difficult for roots to breathe and find room to grow.  The sandy soil greens are not prone to compaction but they still breathe a sigh of relief when much needed oxygen enters the rootzone via the aerification.   This “cultural practice” also ensures the flow of water through the surface into the rootzone.  During the summer heat the surface can become very firm and water has a difficult time percolating. 

While the solid tine aerification is very beneficial to the putting greens, it’s not near as beneficial as a hollow tine aerification where cores are pulled from the surface.  We hope to use solid tines on the greens once more this season before we complete our annual fall core aerification.

This photo was taken in the spring and captures the roots enjoying the environment that the tines created during the fall aerification of 2013.

The greens were saturated from rain prior to the aerification and they received some fertilizer afterwards to encourage a speedy recovery.  The combination of the aerification, rain, fertilizer and some heat created a lot of growth on our healthy greens.  This makes for slower putting speeds.  If you remember from the last update, verticutting is a tool we use to thin out the excess growth and regulate our putting speeds.  If they haven’t already, the speeds of the greens will return to normal shortly.