Like the vents on your ski pants...

Yesterday, we began our first "venting" treatment of the year.  I could use the words aerification or aeration, but those nasty words (at least in the opinion of some golfers) do not do justice to what this process does for the putting green and its playability.  First of all, the tines are flat and small, creating narrow, 3/4 inch long slot which allows water and air to move more freely through the soil profile (hence the "a" word).  In addition, because we are not creating a hole that will take time to grow in, no organic matter is removed, and the effect on ball roll is minimal.  Therefore, turf managers are using words like "venting" or "slicing" that to most golfers do not carry negative connotations in order to more accurately describe the agronomic process.


After sand topdressing and venting, we brush the green to work the sand into the newly created "vents" and plant canopy.   We generally do this process once a month during the peak summer season to help the greens tolerate the mid-summer stresses by improving water and air flow.  One should note that this has little effect on thatch and organic matter in the soil profile, so it will never replace traditional aerification and vertical cutting (we will get to those topics later in the season).

Later in the week, now that we have thousands of little open "vents" in greens, we will take advantage of the improved water infiltration conditions and apply our monthly greens soil treatment.  But we will save the "what's in the spray tank?' question for tomorrow...