We make several references on the blog about trafficed areas. These are the areas that receive a disproportionately large amount of cart traffic or foot traffic. Traffic on the course packs the soil and removes air from the soil. Roots can only grow in air pores that exist in the soil, the more the air is pushed out of the soil from traffic, the less space there is for roots to grow. This results in thin, weak turf that is more vulnerable to unideal growing environments (hot and dry weather this summer).
Though these areas may show thin turf on the surface, the problem exists underneath the surface. We fix this by adding more air space in the soil through the removal of a plug during aeration. This was done yesterday around the bunker edges in the fairways.
In other areas across the course, the cart traffic is spread enough for the compaction to be relieved through our regular aeration and the freeze and thaw cycles through the winter. Here is a picture of Torres deep tining the fairways. This started yesterday and should be completed today. We will do this as many times as we can before the ground freezes. The more air we can get into the soil the better the turf will be.
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