How are the greens?

On the eve of our putting green aerification, I was scrolling through Turf Twitter — sorry, but Turf X just does not sound right — and I ran across a post from our fearless publisher + editor-in-chief Mr. Cipriano asking if golf courses should discount their rates for a brief period following greens aerification.

I once worked for an upscale daily-fee facility in northern Virginia that reduced the greens fees by a certain amount for the first week immediately following aerification each spring and fall. The manager believed it created goodwill with the public customer base. The superintendent I worked for thought it promoted more play immediately after aerification instead of the greens getting a break because most golfers do their best to avoid playing on recently aerified putting greens.

But before I had the pleasure of that work experience, here’s a true account of something that happened to me and Mrs. Greenkeeper before we were married …

I had traveled with her to Richmond, Virginia, while she attended a continuing education event for an insurance license. I had mapped out a route on our way back to southwest Virginia that would allow us to play a nice golf course I had experienced several times during my undergraduate days at Virginia Tech.

We made the several-hour journey, and I promptly went inside the golf shop to check in. There were a few other people inside and while I was patiently waiting a young lady stepped out from an office and asked an older lady behind the cash register, “How are the greens?”

The older lady replied, “What do you mean, how are the greens?” And the younger lady said she just got off the phone with a man who asked, “How are the greens?” The older lady said, “What did you tell him?” And the younger lady said, “I told him they are green.”

This should have been clue No. 1, but after driving all morning, I was just ready to play what at that time was one of my favorite courses. I paid our fees and immediately went outside to place our clubs on a golf cart. We proceeded to hit some practice putts on the practice green located immediately outside the golf shop.

The practice green was smooth and true, and I looked out over 400 yards away toward the direction of the first green, which was visible in the distance from the elevated position of the clubhouse. The young lady was right; they were green.

We drove to the first tee and we both striped shots down the middle. I was excited for Mrs. Greenkeeper to experience this scenic mountain golf course. I smoothed a 7 iron to the front third of the first green and she also hit an excellent approach, and we made our way closer.

As I walked onto the green to repair my pitch mark, I instantly became aware why the man called and asked, “How are the greens?” To my surprise, we discovered the entire green had been aerified with 5/8th-inch hollow core tines and cleaned off, but they had not yet been topdressed.

It was at this time I proceeded to tell Mrs. Greenkeeper about the odd exchange I witnessed in the golf shop. Considering the practice green was not aerified and you could not tell anything about the others from a distance it had not occurred to me to inquire.

So, we played on, a full 18 holes of Plinko as our putts bounced on and off line. At least the weather was nice, and we were together on a golf course. Seems we took things like that for granted back in those days. But, at our age, we better understand it is the time together that means the most.

After completing our round, a young man waiting at the golf car return asked how our day went. I told him it was a little disappointing to not learn of the aerification until walking onto the first green. He said, “Yeah, they weren’t able to get the dirt to put back into the holes.”

Sometimes you just have to laugh and remind yourself why it is important to explain what we do and why we do it when it comes to cultural practices. Because the folks answering the phone and talking to the customers as they leave might just not know what you think they do.

Matthew Wharton, CGCS, MG, is the superintendent at Idle Hour Country Club in Lexington, Kentucky, and past president of the Carolinas GCSA. Follow him on Twitter at @IHCCGreenkeeper.