Yesterday was our first aerification for 2013. We used a 6 inch(length) by a 1/4 inch(width) solid tine(see image below). Typically in the past we have used a 4inch tine but this time decided to go a little deeper to drive the root system as deep as possible. After the greens were punched we rolled to smooth the green surface then came in and top dressed and dragged the sand.
We used a quad tine set up with double rows of tines at a 1 inch and 1/4 quarter spacing. We operated the toro in setting 2.5. With the double row of tines this gave us our desired spacing of the inch and a quarter.
The image above shows the tine situated in the second row of tines. As you can see it is considerably shorter than when we started. This was changed out after the putting greens and front nine greens were complete.
This tine shown is the leading tine on the the aerifier, which means it was the first tine to make contact with the green. As you can see it is almost 2 inches shorter than when we started our process. This was also after putting greens and front nine greens was complete.
This photo shows why it is so important to keep an eye on the tines when aerifying if you want to reach your desired depth.
Here is the end result after a hard days work. Top dressing proved to be extremely difficult with wind gusts around 35 mph so we were not as accurate as we would have liked but all in all a successful day.
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