Course Care
Annual Aeration
Once a year, Westview’s maintenance team performs important annual maintenance across all three nines with a process called “Aeration”.
This necessary work helps reduce compaction, improve drainage and allows for better air flow which leads to firmer, healthier turf.
The first step of the process involves the use of an Aerator, which pulls cores of grass and soil from the ground. The machine moves across the green and creates a series of small holes as it goes. These holes will later be filled with sand, which helps with the recovery of the playing surface.
The cores are then removed from the green and shovelled into piles, which are taken away by tractor and disposed of, clearing the playing surface of all removed thatch.
Golfers can expect to see traces of the sand-filled holes for up to two weeks after aeration has been completed, even after the playing surface has started to recover.
A heavy layer of sand is applied to the green surface to fill the holes left by the cores. Adding sand to the soil profile further improve drainage and air flow, and helps to dilute the remaining thatch.
Once the sand is dried, brushes and blowers are used to fill the holes left from the aeration process.
The greens are then rolled to smooth out any bumps that may have been left behind, followed by fertilization and seeding to help ensure the playing surface recovers to full strength.
Finally, the pin is changed and the course is ready to re-open (after a quick putting contest for the Maintenance team, to ensure quality control, of course).
Westview typically completes this process in the month of August, which ensures that our turf will be healthy when Aeration begins and set up for a speedy recovery. This timing also allows the turf to be completely healed before heading into winter, which means fully recovered and healthy greens will be waiting for you in the Spring!
