Welcome back for the 2103 season.  We are excited to be back on the course to provide great conditions on the golf course this year.  As many of you witnessed in the fall, the reconstruction  of #2 Tees,#3 Tees and surrounds.   Since the final grading and sod work were finished late in the year, the turf had not had a chance to root in.  With the cold start to spring this process has been slow as well.  We have been able to open the two forward tees on #2 for play, and expect to be playing on #3 Tee boxes for Men's Opening Day.

Standing behind #3 Tees

        Our goal to improve the golf course and playing conditions every year lead us to start improving our greens right out of the gate.  We decided to aerify the greens on Monday April 15th.  Instead of the traditional method of core removal and filling with sand, we brought in DryJect of Michigan to inject 20 ton of sand into our greens.  There equipment uses high pressure water to penetrate the greens surface, and filling with sand simultaneously.  Since no core is removed the disruption to the greens surface is a small clean hole. 
        The more channels of sand we have in our greens tremendously helps our native soil greens drain and also helps us move water through the organic matter build up on our sand greens.  Below are a few photos of Monday's aeration project.

First we deep tine spiked the 12 native soil greens to help out
sand penetration

DryJect machine in action with the maintenance crew bringing
 out dried sand to the hopper.

Injecting sand on #7 Green

Great look at an injection hole making its way through the
 organic layer into the sand base of the green.

Brushing the remaining sand into the green which worked out
 as a nice light top dressing
 

      Although Monday was a very long day hand loading 20 ton (40,000 lbs) of sand into the aeration hoppers, the aerification was a success.  The benefits will be measured as the season progresses, and the successes can also be measured in the smoothness of the playing surfaces 1 day after aerification.
      We will continue to add sand by topdressing during the golf season, to keep the greens smooth and firm.  Not to forget we will be core aerifying in September to continue improving our greens quality and profile structure.