Myrtle Beach Golf

Aeration, a VERY necessary inconvenience

By Paul Contento in the Litchfield Country Club June Newsletter

Just when it seems the conditions are perfect, we are subjected to the injustice of the Superintendent and his crew taking little plugs out of the greens. The way some golfers rant about this necessary maintenance, you would be led to believe that it is done just to ruin their lives! Whoa big shooter! Before we get all Tommy Bolt about this, let me fill you in on a little secret. If it is not done, the course wouldn't be worth playing because the greens would be no better than your backyard.

I spoke to Dan Saber, our Course Superintendent at Litchfield Country Club, about aeration and asked why it is done, so that we can all understand a little better the need for such a major project.

First question Dan, what is the purpose of coring the greens?
“The main purpose is to de-thatch the grass and allow a free flow of oxygen, water and nutrients to the roots of the grass. It also helps with drainage and stimulates growth. It permits us to get sand into the soil mixture too. Sand is much more firm than soil so we can get a more solid surface for people to play on. If we didn’t, the ground would be squishy and leave depressions when we used our mowers or walked on it.”

I see that you use smaller holes sometimes, why can’t you use them all the time so that the greens are not disturbed so much?
“It’s a numbers game. A rule of thumb is that you must remove 20% of the surface each year, and if I used the smaller tines we would be coring the greens 50 times a year instead of only twice.”

This is a process that every Superintendent has done for hundreds of years and will continue pretty much forever. So lets enjoy the 11 months of great greens, because without aeration we might as well putt in our yards.