Now, I know what you are thinking. "The greens are in great shape - why aerate them???" The motto here is "short term pain for long term gain." I have explained the benefits of core aeration is previous posts. They include; the incorporation of sand into the rootzone for improved water permeability, the removal of thatch and organic matter from the surface, relieve compaction, improved gaseous exchange, improved rooting, etc.
The latter of those benefits is where a spring time core aeration will benefit the putting greens the most. Picture our putting greens as a profession athlete. And picture the core aeration process as stretching. If a professional athlete didn't stretch - and set out to run a 200m sprint. They would most likely injure themselves somehow. Aerating is like the stretching preparation in that we are preparing our greens for the upcoming stresses of summer. The healthier our greens are heading into summer the more aggressive we can be with our maintenance practices which in return will provide BETTER PUTTING SURFACES for the rest of the season. Short term pain!
Now, I stiiiiiiill know what you are thinking. "Well we didn't core aerate the greens last spring and they survived the summer???" You are correct in saying that, BUT. Think back to the spring of 2015, when the fall aeration holes were twice as large as this spring. They took a long time to heal. This past fall aeration holes were much smaller and healed much faster. To maintain thatch levels a certain amount of thatch should be removed each growing season. So basically, two smaller aerations will be completed rather than one large one in the fall.
The aeration last fall saw 12.2mm (~7/16") tines used. To put things in perspective, the 12.2mm tines impact roughly 4.5% of the surface, and the 9.6mm tines impact 2.8% of the surface. That's a total of 7.3% of the green being impacted during the 2016 season.
The aeration holes are small and the weather is perfect for growing grass, therefore the healing time will be relatively quick. I'm not going to pick a healing date because that's like playing with fire! But I can tell you we will be doing everything in our power to ensure the process goes smoothly and efficiently and that the greens are back to prime for the upcoming summer!
We know aerating isn't a fun process for golfers, it's not much for fun us either! It's labor intensive and we don't wish to have less than perfect greens at any point in time. But we know it's for the best and we appreciate your patience. So, as you hit a putt on an aerified green - just remember "short term pain for long term gain!"
Here's a video from the USGA basically summarizing what I've just explained.
Here's a photo of a plug taken from #8 links green that shows the dividends of last fall's core aeration.
