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Green aeration and heeling

At my course it is like they feel they have to constantly be doing something to the greens or they aren't doing their job. It gets frustrating as one day the putts seem to be starting to roll better and the next day it is like putting on a waffle iron with the ball spending almost as much time in the air as on the ground on its way to the hole, bumpity, bumpity, bump. I almost cannot remember what it is like to putt on a smooth green anymore.
 
Phil75070 said:
At my course it is like they feel they have to constantly be doing something to the greens or they aren't doing their job. It gets frustrating as one day the putts seem to be starting to roll better and the next day it is like putting on a waffle iron with the ball spending almost as much time in the air as on the ground on its way to the hole, bumpity, bumpity, bump. I almost cannot remember what it is like to putt on a smooth green anymore.
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What type of grass on your greens? Do you play late or early each time? Some grasses get bumpy later in the day.
 
Depends on what kind of greens they are. Bent can stay sandy for a bit after aeration, but it clears up real fast when they do the cross hatch thing. Also depends on whether the course rolls the greens. That gets the sand cleaned up well also. If it's bermuda and they do that scalping thing i am not sure how long that takes to clear up.
 
The greens are Tif Eagle Bermuda and we are the 2nd group off every weekday, weather permitting.
 
Snickerdog said:
Problem was we knew it was done just over 3 weeks ago. Still on full rates for this course, everything else was great with the course.
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My Greens are mostly Bent, if done correctly, they seem to take 3-4 weeks to get back to normal(we check after 2) depending on which tines they use.
What grass are they using at your course?
 
I would hope 2 weeks with proper application and brushing in of the sand, assuming favorable weather conditions.

Hopefully they recover soon. Its a shame that aerations and sanding can ruin golf for weeks.
 
Mad_Brad said:
...Its a shame that aerations and sanding can ruin golf for weeks....
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It probably only needs to be done twice a year, possibly three times? It is when they go overboard with the maintenance that it gets frustrating as it seems one is never putting on the quality of greens that all of the maintenance is supposed to lead to.
 
Since this thread was posted I have been watching my local course and the greens were aerated between 3 and 4 weeks ago and they are still healing up. They are looking much better. Yesterday I noticed though they still have a ways to go. So I am guessing green healing time really depends on the course and weather most of all.
 
Phil75070 said:
It probably only needs to be done twice a year, possibly three times? It is when they go overboard with the maintenance that it gets frustrating as it seems one is never putting on the quality of greens that all of the maintenance is supposed to lead to.
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I agree. I belonged to a club once that was constantly messing with the greens. Small tine, big tine, sand, no sand....sheesh. The greens seemed like they were constantly recovering from some treatment or another. They rolled nice in April before any treatment and from October on till the end of season. All the summer months, they were so-so at best.
 
There are a lot of variables including type of grass, quality of soil, size of the plugs, etc. The greens at my home club recover very quickly - 6-8 days and the are rolling smooth again. At my club in California it took 2-3 weeks.
 
what I always dislike is when they fertilize at the same time as they sand right after punching... a few times I've seen fish meal or fish based fertiliser... getting sand on the ball is bad enough... getting fish scales is :eek:
 
Pretty much agree that the 3 week range and they should be pretty damn good IF the Greenskeeper knows what they are doing, muni's sometimes don't have the money to do it as fast as private or Semi Private....
 
2-3 weeks sounds about right. Fortunately my home course did both courses the second week they were shut down. Actually never seen em near this good.
 
ApexFan said:
2-3 weeks sounds about right. Fortunately my home course did both courses the second week they were shut down. Actually never seen em near this good.
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That's what I thought a lot of courses would have done if they were able... it seems that some of them were like "course is opening to the public tomorrow. Need to punch the greens."
 
Our home course just did this and did a pretty good job, we're 10 days removed and the greens are acceptable again. Still some bumps/jumps and a few minor groves, but for the most part the putts roll true. I'd guess another week or so and we'll be back to normal, still a bit slow as they haven't mowed it tight yet.
 
Luchnia said:
Since this thread was posted I have been watching my local course and the greens were aerated between 3 and 4 weeks ago and they are still healing up. They are looking much better. Yesterday I noticed though they still have a ways to go. So I am guessing green healing time really depends on the course and weather most of all.
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Yep - Also in Virginia and our greens have been bouncing back pretty slowly this spring. We haven't had any warm nights and quite a few cooler than normal days. I didn't get out to the course this weekend, sadly, but I'm hoping by next weekend they will be pretty close to normal.
 
Scorpion12 said:
That's what I thought a lot of courses would have done if they were able... it seems that some of them were like "course is opening to the public tomorrow. Need to punch the greens."
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I am pretty happy with the efforts my course put in during the 7 weeks being closed. Grounds crews were working throughout and they had a plan in place for re opening. So when the time came they had everything done and ready to go. Another local course stayed closed for a week after being given permission to open to figure out how to do it. I wont play that course anymore, showed poor management and a lack of commitment to their members. Im lucky to have lots of great courses close by.
 
imabadgolfer said:
My Greens are mostly Bent, if done correctly, they seem to take 3-4 weeks to get back to normal(we check after 2) depending on which tines they use.
What grass are they using at your course?
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Not my regular course so not sure on type of grass.
 
ApexFan said:
I am pretty happy with the efforts my course put in during the 7 weeks being closed. Grounds crews were working throughout and they had a plan in place for re opening. So when the time came they had everything done and ready to go. Another local course stayed closed for a week after being given permission to open to figure out how to do it. I wont play that course anymore, showed poor management and a lack of commitment to their members. Im lucky to have lots of great courses close by.
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How can you not have a plan? You had 7 weeks! It sounds like it was "we're gonna do what everyone else is doing..."
 
2-3 weeks is the normal healing time here in my area. Maybe they aren't watering enough?
 
It's a good couple of weeks to heal. I wish I knew more about turf maintenance though in general. I need that knowledge for my own backyard haha
 
Here’s a couple of pics of our greens from Wednesday 7 or 8 days after being sanded and punched(smaller diameter). They are putting well already, just 20% slower than normal.

76A35F09-FE72-45AB-9AF2-358CCEC2A51B.jpeg029D81E0-941B-4ABA-828B-EBDB5FBAC8D0.jpeg
 
overdue for grasses to be created that require far less of this nuisance - or maybe they have been already and just cost too much to introduce?
 
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