Aerification Schedules?

[Bucki1968]

Not sure where to post this but....my club is 27 holes. They start the aerification next week. They close one of the 9 hole courses for two weeks and then rotate. The thing that I have not always understood is that they do this three times, so one of our 9's are closed from just short of 4 months. I have not heard of any other courses doing so many aerifications. Usually most courses do it twice a year or maybe three times? I'm just curious if anyone else's golf club does this sort of thing? I'm actually thinking about leaving because I feel like I'm paying full price for 66.6 % of the club. It just seems like 4 months is a exorbitant  amount of time. Trying to decide if I'm being unreasonable. 

[Club Rat]

Not sure why they would close the course after aerating for two weeks?
Most courses allow play the next days...
Not sure on schedules in the south punching greens 3 times per season?
Is this common to southern courses with bent greens only?
Or is it common for Bermuda green also?

1 hour ago, Bucki1968 said:

so one of our 9's are closed from just short of 4 months

Also, not really sure what your gripe is?
The course has 18 holes for play year round!

Also, it's not uncommon for courses in the south to close when they over-seed their fairways.

[DeadMan]

I've never heard of a course that shuts down for 2 weeks to aerate. As far as I know, courses around here let you play on the aerated courses the day after aeration. My home course has 27 holes, and they aerate the same week and keep them open after aeration.

It seems strange to me. Since you're at a private club, maybe you could can ask the pro or greens staff why they do it this way? Maybe there's some advantage that you don't see or know about.

[NM Golf]

Two weeks to aerate? Seems like an exorbitant amount of time. My course has 27 holes, and closes down each 9 for one day to aerate the fairways and top dress the greens twice a year. So each 9 is closes 2 days a year.

[Bucki1968]

Just now, Club Rat said:

Not sure why they would close the course after aerating for two weeks?
Most courses allow play the next days...
Not sure on schedules in the south punching greens 3 times per season?
Is this common to southern courses with bent greens only?
Or is it common for Bermuda green also?

Also, not really sure what your gripe is?
The course has 18 holes for play year round!

Also, it's not uncommon for courses in the south to close when they over-seed their fairways.

My gripe is I think closing 9 holes for two weeks and then rotating 3 times is absolutely over doing it. With outings and leagues Tuesday- Thursday afternoons it really limits the available holes for me to go after work.  Like I said, I'm losing a big piece of what I pay for, for a third of the year.

[David in FL]

We’re fortunate to have 2 courses.  

The first was done 3 weeks ago, on Monday and Tuesday.  Play resumed on Thursday, though most members opted to play the other course for the first week after.  

This week, today and tomorrow, the other course is being blown up with play starting again on Thursday, but roles have reversed and most will play the first course for the next week or so.

We’re pretty much back to normal in 5 weeks, start to finish for both courses, but no course is completely shut down for more than 2 days...

 

[NM Golf]

1 hour ago, Bucki1968 said:

My gripe is I think closing 9 holes for two weeks and then rotating 3 times is absolutely over doing it. With outings and leagues Tuesday- Thursday afternoons it really limits the available holes for me to go after work.  Like I said, I'm losing a big piece of what I pay for, for a third of the year.

 

@Bucki1968 How busy is your course? If this schedule greatly impacted my access to golf I would be irritated as well. 

Edited May 3, 2021 by NM Golf

[jsgolfer]

Our course, is closed today and tomorrow for aeration and opens back up Wednesday. They do the same thing in the Fall right after Labor Day. Aerating and then letting the course to heal for 2 weeks, sounds excessive, but maybe there is something to letting the course heal for a longer period of time.

[Bucki1968]

Just now, NM Golf said:

 

@Bucki1968 How busy is your course? If this schedule greatly impacted my access to golf I would be irritated as well. 

It's gotten much busier since the COVID flu. That's what I'm not real pleased with. There are some other courses in the area that we are going to look at (Club Corp) this week-end. 

[mcanadiens]

45 minutes ago, David in FL said:

We’re fortunate to have 2 courses.  

That's one of the biggest things I miss about my old place. We had three courses if you count the executive course. 

They'd punch em nine holes per week, so there were always options.

[Rkrider99]

Our course is closed today for aeration, but we're doing the dri-ject aeration, and we'll be open tomorrow.

The greens will be sandy but otherwise, a couple of days, they'll be back to normal.

[Billy Z]

The course I call home aerates only 1/2 the green at a time, lets it heal, then aerates the other half. They always cut the hole on the unaerated side so putting isn't affected that much. If you keep your ball on the unaerated side you are in business. This is not a private course, it is a public course that takes pride in how they keep their greens and how they treat their customers. Their greens are some of the best I have seen for a public course.

[mdl]

The closed for two weeks thing is unusual. But greens tend to be shitty
(or at least not great) for at least that long. I'd honestly be super pro except that you say pre-COVID it made it harder to get tee times. Maybe see if you can get members aligned around, say, 1 -week closed?

12 minutes ago, Billy Z said:

The course I call home aerates only 1/2 the green at a time, lets it heal, then aerates the other half. They always cut the hole on the unaerated side so putting isn't affected that much. If you keep your ball on the unaerated side you are in business. This is not a private course, it is a public course that takes pride in how they keep their greens and how they treat their customers. Their greens are some of the best I have seen for a public course.

I've never seen this but I LOVE it! Changes course strategy, and makes the course tougher, rather than just making it play shitty for a few weeks!

[Billy Z]

23 hours ago, mdl said:

The closed for two weeks thing is unusual. But greens tend to be shitty
(or at least not great) for at least that long. I'd honestly be super pro except that you say pre-COVID it made it harder to get tee times. Maybe see if you can get members aligned around, say, 1 -week closed?

I've never seen this but I LOVE it! Changes course strategy, and makes the course tougher, rather than just making it play shitty for a few weeks!

Yes, I have never seen it at any other course, but they do it to cater to their customers. It is a public course, but has great putting greens for such a venue. If my ball lands in the aerated portion, it doesn't bother me too much because the better part of the putt is in the unaerated portion. Don't know why other courses don't try this. Maybe when the aerate the first half I will take a couple photos to post.

[David in FL]

9 minutes ago, Billy Z said:

Yes, I have never seen it at any other course, but they do it to cater to their customers. It is a public course, but has great putting greens for such a venue. If my ball lands in the aerated portion, it doesn't bother me too much because the better part of the putt is in the unaerated portion. Don't know why other courses don't try this. Maybe when the aerate the first half I will take a couple photos to post.

Interesting.  I have to admit that I’ve never seen that approach before.

I think I’d rather yank the bandaid off quickly though.  Do it all at once and pretty much be back to normal 2-3 weeks, rather than deal with 4-6 weeks of the half measure.  
 

[Club Rat]

1 hour ago, David in FL said:

Do it all at once and pretty much be back to normal 2-3 weeks, rather than deal with 4-6 weeks of the half measure.  

I agree, besides a good greenskeeper can top dress greens which allow the ball roll decently.
They will be a bit bouncy on a few greens, a few putts which will bounce or be deflected off line.

Sometimes the deflection is good and the ball goes IN !!!  😁

While I have played on greens with no top dress and the ball bounced every direction imaginable... 
Typically, greens are very playable after a week.

[sjduffers]

Shutdown for aeration? Don't know what that is!

Around here the munis do the aeration over a day or two, while play is ongoing. They provide a temporary "green" (i.e. a circle with a hole in it in the middle) in the middle of the fairway, about 50 yards from the actual green while they are working on it.

Sure the greens may take 5-6 weeks to recover, like any other aerated green, but they won't lose a penny in revenue due to the courses (or half of them) being closed. Most courses don't even have discounts during those aeration days, or in the early days post-aeration.

[Bucki1968]

On 5/3/2021 at 10:28 AM, Club Rat said:

Not sure why they would close the course after aerating for two weeks?
Most courses allow play the next days...
Not sure on schedules in the south punching greens 3 times per season?
Is this common to southern courses with bent greens only?
Or is it common for Bermuda green also?

Also, not really sure what your gripe is?
The course has 18 holes for play year round!

Also, it's not uncommon for courses in the south to close when they over-seed their fairways.

I have checked almost all the courses in the area and NO ONE aerates this much. Apparently this is how it's been done for years. We have gotten many new members since the pandemic and so the course is not in as good of shape as has been in the past (that's a whole new thread) because we have guys driving carts up next to the greens and all over the place. Maybe this will improve the greens but I didn't see it this year. My real gripe is closing 9 holes for almost 4 months. I'm not really getting what I am paying for. And with closing one of  the 9 hole courses for two weeks at a time, it only leaves 9 holes available in the afternoon to play (because of leagues) so all the members are confided to 9 holes with no option to turn to another 9 when you are done. It just seems like I'm losing (as far as what I'm spending). So, my only alternative is move somewhere else (and actually spend more) to have the course(s) available. I also don't understand having leagues at a private golf club two night a week (non-members) but I digress.