Aeration, slicing, and linear decompaction are commonly used practices to improve the ability of fairways, roughs and green surrounds to accept water. There are powerful aeration tools in the marketplace that do a phenomenal job; however, these tools are expensive and require high-horsepower tractors to operate. Traveling throughout the Southwest for many years, the most highly compacted, rocky soils I see are in southern Arizona. It is common to see PTO-driven aeration equipment beat to the point of failure in these soils, hampering productivity. These soils are where aeration equipment comes to die! But there is a resurgence in courses turning back the clock and using some of the “old-school” tow-behind slicing and aeration units. The simplicity of these tools is their true advantage.
The use of ground-driven slicers and aerators is regaining popularity, especially at courses with hard, compacted and rocky soils. These tow-type decompaction tools may come with a hydraulic lift option and can have independent, rotating heads to improve surface coverage. Many can be equipped with weights, slicing tines, hollow tines or solid tines. These machines can typically be run at 8 to 10 miles per hour, which is considerably faster than a PTO-driven aerator. This is a real advantage for courses with high play volume where maintenance needs to stay ahead of golf in the morning. On a recent USGA Course Consulting Service visit I learned that the maintenance team was able to slice nine holes of fairways and roughs in one morning with two 78-inch units.
One disadvantage of tow-type aerators is that they do not offer the deep aeration or soil fracturing that can be achieved with some of the larger PTO-driven machines. However, experience has shown that the benefits of aeration of any type typically only last four to six weeks. With the tow-behind units, some type of hole or slice can be made frequently without disrupting golf to any great extent. Furthermore, the tow-behind units are a fraction of the cost of the PTO-driven machines and are often more reliable.
For superintendents looking to conduct fairway, rough and green surround aeration on a routine basis, look to these “old-school” machines to use exclusively or supplement your aeration program. If you would like to discuss aeration methods in greater detail, reach out to your regional USGA agronomist.
West Region Agronomists:
Brian Whitlark, regional director – bwhitlark@usga.org
Cory Isom, senior consulting agronomist – cisom@usga.org