Aeration Benefits

I leave these pictures up because they explain the need for some of the practices that we continue to do year after year to improve the course. 
Superintendents are always defending their aerification practices by extolling their benefits to golfers who think we are just out to make a mess.  Many times the benefits derived from aerification are unnoticed, but I have some pictures that clearly illustrate the virtue of poking holes.  In the first pictures you can see some broken darker green lines which is where the holes are.  That grass is obviously healthier and happier!  The bottom two pictures illustrate that the holes punched by the aerator definitely improve water infiltration.  The dry brownish squares you see are where the aerator was picked up to miss the sprinkler.  Proof that we are accomplishing something when aerating and not just "making a mess".