The Joys of Aeration Communication
It’s that time of year again. Time to dust off the aerifier, grease up all the bearings, change out the tines and design the attack plan for the wall to wall hole punching extravaganza known as fall aeration. I would also argue that’s it time to brush up on your stump speech touting the numerous agronomic reasons why aeration is absolutely necessary to maintain the golf course quality the golfers demand. You know you’re going to be using it.
No other golf course maintenance practice draws more golfer questions and indignation than core aeration. None. After a beautiful summer with high performing putting greens, golfers always question why we would want to punch so many large holes on the green and then cover it all with sand. To them, they simply don’t understand why this makes any sense; especially since it disrupts their morning tee time on the weekend.
Knowing and understanding the concrete agronomic reasoning behind aeration is one of the most defining differences between golfers and professional turfgrass managers. It’s a simple matter of short-term thinking versus long-term strategy.
Skipping fall aeration will likely not be a significant impact on compaction, organic matter accumulation or water and air movement…in the short-term. It will, however, force a more aggressive adjustment for the next time aeration or verticutting is scheduled. Because we all know once you get behind the 8-ball on managing any of these areas, you’re asking for problems.
Take organic matter for example. To prevent organic matter accumulation, research suggests that 15-20% of the surface area needs to be impacted via aeration or aggressive deep verticutting. Either method will require filling the holes or grooves with sand. By missing one event, you will need to impact more surface area to catch up to keep the organic matter in manageable check.
So it comes down to a timing issue more than anything else. Strategic planning and successful execution always yields more effective results than having to react to problematic issues that could have easily been avoided by not shifting outside the historically proven time frame.
Golfers simply want to play golf on great playing surfaces. When they are interrupted, it causes them to complain. Like it or not, part of the superintendent’s job is to explain why this is an absolutely required practice that shouldn’t be re-scheduled. This is not a new conversation; it’s just another education opportunity for your golfers.
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