Driving Range Tee Aerification

Today was a great day to work around the clubhouse and the driving range since we had the Notre Dame High School  Irish Classic golf tournament out enjoying the golf course.  We were able to use our Toro 648 Aerifier to core aerify the teeing surfaces.  The cores were allowed to dry and were then drug with a heavy steel drag mat to break them up and then blown off with the 1145 blower. 

You may wonder what has happened to all the plant materials along the right side of the clubhouse.  The clubhouse will be cleaned and restained later this summer and we were requested by the Facilities Department to clear the plants away from the building so the workers could get to the building to work.  We will be replanting after they are done.  Please be patient with our renovation project.

Verticutting tees and greens surrounds

The other project we recently completed was the verticutting process of the tees.  We used our Sisis scarifier to perform the task and Derek did a great job of completing the process in just a couple of days.  Verticutting the tees accomplished the same benefit as when we verticut our greens which is to remove old leaves and stems providing new growth points for new leaves to flourish.   

After the tees are verticut and the debris is allowed to dry they are blown off using the front end blower.

The tees are then mowed with the tee mower to smooth out the tee surface and remove additional plant material

Tee surface following mowing.

The next step is to apply sand topdressing to the surface of the tees.  We are using sand which we removed from the bunkers this winter so that we do not have to purchase any sand.  The sand is applied rather heavily, allowed to dry and then brushed into the surface.  The topdressing will provide a more level surface on the tee box, improve the drainage of the tees, and will provide easier insertion of tees into the soil.

All in all I am very well pleased with the process and the result.  Next we are going to try and do this process to some of the green surround and see how that works.