If you’ve played golf long enough, you’ve probably experienced aerated greens—and while they may not be every golfer’s favorite sight, there’s a lot more happening beneath the surface than you might think.
Each year, our Greenskeeping team dedicates time to aerating our courses as part of the ongoing work required to maintain healthy, high-quality playing conditions at Coyote Creek Golf Club. It’s a short-term disruption that provides long-term benefits to the health of our greens.
And it’s also one of the many examples of the work our crew does behind the scenes every day.
Have a look behind the scenes: Scroll to the bottom of our post OR check out our Instagram or Facebook video.
So, What Exactly Is Aeration?
Over time, regular play, maintenance equipment, foot traffic, and everyday course activity naturally compact the soil underneath our greens. When soil becomes too compacted, it becomes harder for air, water, and nutrients to reach the turf’s root system.
Aeration helps address that.
The process involves creating thousands of small holes throughout the putting surface, relieving compaction and opening up space for air, water, and nutrients to penetrate deeper into the soil. Depending on the aeration method, small cores of soil and thatch may be removed from the green before the surface is cleaned, topdressed with sand, and worked through the recovery process.
That temporary disruption plays an important role in:
- Relieving soil compaction and creating more room for roots to grow.
- Improving drainage and water absorption throughout the green.
- Allowing oxygen and nutrients to reach the root zone more effectively.
- Managing thatch buildup that can affect turf health.
- Encouraging deeper, stronger root growth for healthier turf.
- Supporting better long-term playing conditions throughout the year.
In other words, the greens may look a little rough immediately afterward, but there’s a reason we do it.
The Work You Don’t Always See
A lot goes into maintaining 36 holes of golf, and much of that work happens before most golfers ever arrive at the course.
Aeration is no exception.
Our Greenskeeping crew spends long days working across each green, completing the aeration process, cleaning up, applying topdressing, watering, monitoring turf health, and helping the greens recover as quickly as possible.
And aeration is only one piece of what they do.
Mowing, watering, bunker maintenance, course setup, irrigation repairs, turf management, landscaping—the list goes on. Maintaining two golf courses (plus an all-grass practice facility) is a year-round operation, and many of the best playing conditions our golfers enjoy are the result of work they never actually see being done.
We want to give a huge thank you to Hector, Erik, and our entire Greenskeeping team for the time, expertise, and care they put into Coyote Creek every day. Their work plays an enormous role in the experience we’re able to provide our golfers.
Fall Aeration at Coyote Creek
This August, our crew completed aeration on the Tournament Course on August 3–4, with the Valley Course scheduled for August 17–18.
We know that freshly aerated greens can temporarily impact play, which is why we’re offering special rates during the recovery periods.
Tournament Course: 20% off tee times from August 5–16
Valley Course: 20% off tee times from August 19–30
It’s a great opportunity to get out for a round at a lower rate while our greens continue their recovery.
A Little Patience for Better Greens Ahead
Course maintenance is always a balance between providing great conditions today and protecting the health of the course for tomorrow.
Aeration is one of those times when we ask our golfers for a little patience while our team does the work necessary to keep our greens healthy and playable throughout the year.
So, the next time you see those little holes across a putting green, remember: there’s a lot of good happening underneath them.
Thank you to our golfers for bearing with us during the recovery process—and, most importantly, thank you to our Greenskeeping crew for everything you do to keep Coyote Creek looking and playing its best.