Although frustrating at times, today went better than yesterday. The crew put a great effort in to have the greens all aerated and cleaned by 10:30. The aerators were then switched over to larger tines and sent out on tees. By the end of the day they had 7 sets of tees completed, which is right on schedule.
Clean-up on 1 tee
The greens topdressing and fairway aeration however did not go as well as expected. The contractor got started early, but an afternoon shower was just enough to dampen everything; the cores on the fairways from yesterday could not be dragged or swept. We switched our plans again and finished up just aerating the remaining holes; so all is left for tomorrow is to drag and sweep those remaining six fairways. Thankfully the forecast is for no precipitation for the next two days so we should get everything back on track tomorrow.
I had planned to have most, if not all the greens topdressed today but our loader broke down on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately it is not a quick fix so a rental had to be ordered and it was mid afternoon before it arrived. At least it arrived just as the rain passed and the sun popped out, so we were able to get 6 greens topdressed (including the pocketed 'problem' greens) before the heat arrives tomorrow. This will greatly reduce the stress on the plants on the pocketed greens ensuring there will be no turf loss. It wasn't the result I wanted but at least we were able to salvage something good from it. Again with the dry weather forecast the remaining greens should be finished up tomorrow.
Topdressing Greens
Loading the topdresser
Brushing the sand in on the greens
The last two days have been a test of patience showing how easily the weather effects golf course maintenance. Although extremely frustrating at the time, the quick decision making and adapting to the change in plans is fun and keeps the job interesting! Although I am looking forward to a perfect day tomorrow.
Goodnight from an nearly aerated LedgeRock
