Greens Aeration Woes

Mother nature has struck again!  Yesterday afternoon we closed the front 9 holes around 3 pm in an effort to get a jump start on the aeration process.  We were able to aerate greens 1-6.  The plugs are currently laying on the greens surfaces.  With rain falling today we do not have any plans to work on the cleanup of these greens or to start any additional plugging.  We feel that already going into the aeration process with soft playing surfaces we are unable to push the cleanup of these greens in fear of creating even the lightest of rutting on the greens tops with heavy equipment.  

The following are the steps for this springs greens aeration:
1) Pull cups, fill holes with sand to prevent cave-ins, mark all invasive irrigation outlets as to not be damaged by the aeration process.
2) Aerate the green
3) Clean up all plugs using blowers, rakes and scoop shovels
4) Topdress with sand
5) Brush sand thoroughly
6) Remove all excess canopy sand with the power broom
7) Roll the green
8) Change the cup
9) Water the green

As you can easily see, this is a time consuming process that has to be repeated for every green.  This is why these poor weather conditions can be detrimental to our plans as almost every step is dependent on somewhat of a drying process.

Taking all variables into account we still are not able to predict an exact time frame for the opening of the front 9, the start of this process on the back 9 or the completion of the entire process.  We do plan to keep 9 holes open to our members at all times this week and will continue to work hard on constant evaluation and moving forward to return your entire course to you as quickly as possible.  Thank you for your patience.