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Course Maintenance Reminders:
We Thank you in advance for your understanding and patience as the staff looks to improve and inspire member happiness throughout the Club.
Periodically, the Bald Head Island Club Golf Course closes for aerification, over seeding and other maintenance. Scheduled maintenance dates are shown below. Occasionally, the course may delay opening due to rain, frost or other weather conditions.
Please call the Golf Shop at 910.457.7310 with any questions and continue to check this page, as the professional staff will post updates as we communicate with the golf course maintenance team. Please note that as seasons change to late fall, winter and early spring, all openings and tee times are subject to delays, weather depending.
Reasons for Aerification:
Preventative maintenance is an integral part of a successful golf course management program. Aerification can be viewed as an inconvenience that affects putting surfaces for many days before healing, but golfers need to understand how important aerification is to produce healthy turf conditions. Aerification is merely a short-term disruption that has long-term benefits and needs to be recognized as an essential process to golf course maintenance. Aerification (also known as aeration) is a mechanical process that achieves three important objectives:
- Relieves soil compaction.
- Provides a method to improve the soil mixture around the green's roots.
- Reduces or prevents the accumulation of excess thatch.
Older greens often have significant amounts fine organic particles that are prone to compaction. Filling aerification voids with sand improves drainage and relieves compaction. The periodic introduction of sand to a green's top layer can, over time, avoid or postpone expensive rebuilding or renovation of greens.
Aeration creates air space in the soil and promotes deeper rooting, thus helping the grass stay healthy, and allow maintenance programs to use less water and pesticides to maintain vigorous plant health that can withstand stress. Different forms of aerification that create voids in the soil and greens canopy by removing or displacing thatch, can allow for an infusion of air and water that is critical for soil microbes and plant biology. The spaces are then filled with sand (topdressing) that helps the soil retain air space and makes it easier for roots to grow downward and allows the greens cavity to drain properly creating firmer, more aerobic conditions.
Consistent mowing, fertilizing and watering of turf adds to a layer of organic matter below the surface. This layer, called thatch, is an accumulation of dead stems, leaves and root tissues. A certain amount of organic matter is essential and makes for resilient turf, but too much invites diseases and insects, as well as holding moisture leading to softer, anaerobic conditions. Aerification is one of the best ways to reduce an existing organic layer and prevent an excess of thatch from becoming established, and topdressing can prevent thatch buildup by diluting the organic matter with pure sand.
