So the greens are aerified and completely healed. We finished off the process last Monday, three weeks after aeration, by verticutting the greens at a depth of 1/8 inch. This helps to close any remaining holes and smooths out the dips and bumps that remain on the surface from all of the recent traffic and disruption.

Now we turn our attention to other amenities like our tees, approaches, and fairways. Aerifying all of these areas is a standard practice at most golf courses. The last few years, we've really ramped up our cultivation and will continue to aerify frequently until we reach the quality we are looking for.

A year and a half ago, I was ready to quit aerifying fairways because the process was tearing them apart. I know what some golfers are thinking, "Of course it tears them apart, that's what I say every time you aerify." 

The process is always disruptive to an extent, but the photo below shows you what I mean.  The old aerifier we were using would pull up large chunks of earth even with solid tines spaced very far apart.  The ground was so tight and the machine so violent that the roots could not hold the turf together and portions came up the size of softballs. 

I had to send out the staff to flip over the clumps and step them down like the audience of a polo match during intermission.  Some of the craters would not get patched and a depression that could harbor a ball was the result. 

Now take a look at what a modern piece of equipment can do on the same soil:

We are using closer spacing, much quicker speed, and more depth than the old machine could ever handle.  I usually don't promote the products or equipment we use, but the Wiedenmann aerifier has worked beyond my expectations.  Hopefully, all of this shameless promotion will result in a free set of tines or a hat or something.  You can't buy this kind of exposure; almost 30 hits a day (mostly my mom).  Thanks for reading.