South aeration complete, ready for this rain!

 Micah took the reins this week with his South Course cultural practice closure so the blog is his as well!

Summer in the Carolinas can bring all sorts of weather and this year is no different. In the month of July we have had 19 days with temperatures above 90 with 8 of those above 100, not to mention the 20mph winds.  We received just under ¾” of an inch of rain this past Sunday night which brings our monthly total to 1.7”. That shot of rain was more than welcomed here at Carmel as we started the aeration on the South course warm season grass. 

With the sun just starting to come up Monday morning Charlie and Danny were off to the races punching solid tine holes in 16 fairway. With so may cultural practices to get down across 40 acres of tees, fairways, and approaches we start on different holes to keep the show going.


While the 1298 tractor aerifiers were rolling on 16 fairway, Christiam and Yhan Carlos enjoyed making a mess out of 18 fairway with the new VC60 tractor verti-cutters. This is the same practice that the North course did a few weeks ago. It’s always incredible to see how much thatch and organic material can come out of the zoysia grass even with the blades just set to a half inch below the surface. These new attachments are well worth the investment.  


With every mess comes an extensive clean up process.  The team used a drag mat to help bust up and dry out the material brought up by the verti-cutters. The blowers come in next to create some windrows for the Wiedenmann sweepers to pick up and dump in trailers to carry off the course. This is a slow process as there is a LOT of material to clean up.


Between the sweepers and the blowers this is not a quiet week for thatch removal on the zoysia.


Once the fairways are blow clean...... then “Enter Sand Man” Bryce! He knocked out topdressing all fairways in two days putting out over 300 tons of sand. 

The final touches. Here is Jason Snead, one of our summer college students, on the large brush set to work all the sand down into the surface. Mother nature will hopefully help out with some rain to wash the sand in. Replacing thatch with sand is what helps us keep these playing surfaces firm for the remainder of the season.

Jackson and Sergio working their magic on the bailout on 18 with a small de-thatcher on collars and the 648 aerifier punching holes out to the where the 1298s stopped. 


All the tees and approaches were solid tine aerated as well and then verticut with the triplex unit which is a little less aggressive than the big fairway units. Next year we will not be as nice here and try to get the tractor units on these smaller surfaces.


Tees and approaches received a similar dose of sand as the fairways in order to cover up the crown of the plant and provide a firmer surface.


Hopefully the greens have seen the last of the 100 degree weather for a while. With rain in the forecast we went ahead and dusted them with a finer sand and spread some potassium out, all to be washed in and ready for play on Friday.

While the course was closed it was the prefect time to try out another new attachment, our Wiedenmann Terra rake was put to use in the rough. This helps dethatch the rough by standing it up so that we can get a tighter, more consistent cut. 

 

We appreciate your patience the last few weeks as we treated all the warm season to plenty of overdue cultural practices. Enjoy the rain over the next 24 hours and we hope you have better luck out here than whoever got their ball stuck in the wall on 15 South last week!


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