over the greens with them, although this was probably just for peace of mind. They didn’t really need it.”


HENLEY GOLF CLUB Built 1907 Henley-on-Thames, Berkshire. Terrain Aeration hired for one day’s work in November 2005 Machine used: Airforce Terralift Air Pressure:12 to 18 Bar. Coverage; 2 metre spacings on a staggered grid pattern.


Deputy Head Greenkeeper Mitch Stewart had used this type of aeration treatment previously on another course and hired Terrain Aeration to treat 5 greens plus the putting green. “We’re a parkland course and these particular greens suffered from flash flooding” he explains. “When this happened it could take us anything up to two hours to get the water off and we needed to get them into play a lot quicker.” The 3rd and the 18th are situated in the bottom of the old Harp river bed on the lowest part of the course. “They’re built on sand and gravel,” says Mitch “and they should have drained freely. I think over the years with all the top dressing and cutting they had become capped with a layer of about 14 to 15 inches, and we needed to get through that. By contrast, the 8th and 9th, the highest greens on the course had been built to hold water.”


Constructed in the traditional push-up manner of clay, gravel and hoggin stone, they were the wettest on the course and, according to Mitch, had the consistency of a large sponge. Although conditions improved


following deep compressed air de-compaction treatment Mitch has since dug two trenches, one 10ft long and the other 40ft long on the lowest section of the 9th green. Both trenches are 6 inches wide by 3ft deep and they have finally resolved the problem. The 4th green consists of a mixture of chalk, flint and clay and, according to Mitch, “it was certainly not free draining.” Instructed to treat three quarters of this green, where the worst puddling occurred, Terrain Aeration completed the task and proceeded to the putting green. “This is the smallest green on the course and gets the most wear. It’s three metres from the clubhouse and has the walls of the building on two sides and hedging and mature Yew trees on another,” Mitch explains. “We had a lot of surface water even after a small downpour and we needed something to relieve the compaction and get the water away. We do a lot of verti- draining, solid tining and hollow coring, but we needed to get further down. I would love to get as deep as that with the verti- drain.” After the company left Mitch ran a turf iron over the treated greens and reports that within 2 days no one would have known that de-compaction treatment had been performed. “We’re getting the greens into play a lot quicker,” he maintains. “Before, after heavy rain, it could take us two hours to squeegee the water off. Now the puddles are a lot smaller and drain a lot quicker. It takes us half an hour to get these greens into play.”


www.terrainaeration.co.uk


Complied by Carol Dutton with introduction by Peter Britton


DAVID STANSFIELD David Stansfield Ltd. Golf Course Agronomy E-m


mail


agronomist1@aol.com The success or


otherwise of a greens management


programme depends entirely on subsurface structure and how drainage rates affect water balance around the grass roots. Within


this I think everyone now appreciates the importance of cultivation works using various techniques to achieve maximum aeration within the top 25-30cm of profiles. However, for greens sited on natural ground, compaction problems can be even more deep seated still, and on wet greens it is not unusual to recommend specialist equipment such as the Terralift to ensure vertical drainage is at a maximum before resorting to pipe drains or reconstruction.


Best results from the Terralift come in situations where the barrier to vertical water movement into the deep subsoil is compacted (but not impervious) clay or where an iron pan has formed in sandy soils. In such situations the results can be quite dramatic and the effects of 1 or 2 operations may last 5 years or more, before the problem repeats itself.


“the results can be quite dramatic and the effects of one or two operations may last five years or more”


PETER JONES MSc. MBPR Peter Jones Associates Golf Course Advisory Services Email:


pjassociates@clara.co.uk


Deep air injection is a system that can work particularly well if used as part of an overall aeration and drainage strategy and, in my opinion, is of most use for alleviating problems where severe compaction or impermeable layers have reduced the


potential for good natural drainage into free- draining sub-soil that lies beneath.


It is always a worthwhile exercise to dig


an inspection hole as the first step to see what kinds of soils are below the surface, and


determine whether there are layering problems. On one particular golf course, I recall the problem was found to be a layer of Terram that had been installed during construction between the stone layer and the rootzone material. (Which was totally inappropriate). The depth of the Terram ranged from 375mm to 600mm in places, and was found to be completely clogged up with silt and, as such, was impairing any drainage.


A one metre deep


compressed air probe was used to puncture the Terram cloth (which was out of reach of a Verti- drain), and shatter the compacted soil in the process. Results were excellent and obviously cost effective when compared to other alternatives.


I would add that, ‘timing’ of this type of aeration (in terms of moisture levels) is fairly critical if one wishes to achieve optimum results. Avoid periods when soils are too wet.


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