For the first time in two years...

We aerified our putting surfaces

At the beginning of August, we aerified our greens for the first time in two years. When I say for the first time in two years; I’m talking about every kind of hole one could imagine–with the exception of two times in which we needle-tined three individual greens this summer–I mean no holes at all. 

I’ve written a lot about our approach before, and if you are interested; these four posts will take you on a much deeper dive.

Is that disruption?

Are they right?

The data says…

The paradox of progress

How we are managing putting surfaces here at Hazeltine is not conventional wisdom. If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you’re interested in what we do, but I’m aware there are some in the industry, who may not agree with what we are doing, and/or think it can’t work over the long term. In response I would only say; I think we’re well down the road of proving this non-conventional approach works.

Our aerification three weeks ago was a process myself and the team have been thinking about and planning for, for two years. From the time of our last event, in August of 2021, I knew there would eventually be another event and I wanted to accomplish three things, at the highest level possible:

• Create a hole, about 3-4 centimeters deep and fill it completely with sand.

• Do the work in a manner that would leave the putting surface with the least leaf tissue damage possible.

• Get back to pre-aerification conditions ASAP. 

So…

We made some nice holes…

Filled them with sand…

Like this…

Watered…

And rolled…

A week later, they looked like this, and rolled pretty good…

Another week later, they looked like this and rolled beautifully. Our couples club championship was played just two weeks after aerification, our club championship weekend another week later. Both events played on Championship-level putting surfaces. In the end, this process accomplished our three goals. The weather was hot and it was hard work, but working together, the process was complete and the result was amazing. Now that it’s finished, we probably won’t do it for another two years, maybe more and we’re already back to daily Championship conditions.