Aeration notice

It is the time of the year when the Grounds department watches for a window of good weather to perform greens aeration. Hopefully, in the next two weeks we will get our opportunity. Our timing is often weeks ahead of other courses in the area, but there are reasons for the timing, and it has worked well for us in the past.

We maintain a “scheduled” aeration time on the Bretton Woods yearly golf calendar, usually around the 3^rd week of March. This is our guaranteed time, meaning if all other plans fall through, this is when we will for sure get access to the course. By this late in the spring, we are much less likely to face severe frost delays or other weather-related delays. The problem is, by this time, rounds are increasing rapidly, but more importantly, we are well into our seed head suppression program.

So, we aim to aerate as early as we can in February, usually around the 2^nd or 3^rd week. There are often some mild temperatures mixed in to promote healing and give us our window to work. And the busy spring golf season has not fully kicked off. Most importantly though, February aeration provides at least two weeks buffer before we must start our seed head control. Here are several past posts that paint the picture of our full spring program: discussion regarding seed heads, discussions about timing and reasoning here and here.

Aerating early seems to be a win-win: the Grounds department can time our practices in the best way possible for the turf and the disruption to golfers is minimized by having less seed heads to deal with and avoiding aeration in the middle of spring.

 

 

We will be resuming weekly posts starting in March. Thank you

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please avoid walking through overly saturated or puddled areas on greens if possible.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org