As most of you know, we closed the course Monday June 23rd to perform scheduled aeration. This work was planned last year based on our tournament schedule. I have received a few comments concerning the reason we aerated was due to issues with the greens. This process was performed to be proactive with maintaining healthy greens during the summer months when we are irrigating with well water which is high in sodium. Due to the sodium, monthly flushing is performed to move it through the profile and this procedure will help facilitate that.
I apologize for not communicating this prior to the procedure. We were scheduled to aerate with ¼ inch tines, but due to the slow recovery of the spring green organic removal process we reduced the size so the impact would be less for the membership.
Today was the first mowing after the Monday procedure. After a few days of mowing and rolling the holes will disappear. With that being said, it must be known that procedures like this are a necessity to get the playing surfaces through the summer months. We will experiment with different tines in the future that will accomplish our goals while reducing the impact. I will strive to communicate more so the membership is informed on the maintenance of the golf course.
On another note, we are in the process of researching grass varieties that will best handle the Sonoma Valley climate and water going into the future. Once we decide on a few, we will use Par 3 fairways as plots for the fairway turf and the nursery area to the right of 2 green for rough grass plots. We will communicate more on this as we move forward.
As always, please feel free to ask me questions by emailing me or waving me down on the golf course.
Yours in turf,
Stacy l. Wallace, Golf Course Superintendent
Sonoma Agronomy 