West Seattle Golf Course - April Coupon

Latest News

Aerating and Sanding the Greens- Tuesday April 5^th

April is a big month for all courses to prepare their putting surfaces for the upcoming season.

We often get the question, "Why do you aerify and sand the greens?" West Seattle GC annually entertains 60,000 rounds of golf per year. Under this kind of foot traffic the soil will compact so severely that water, nutrients and oxygen cannot penetrate the turf layer. The process of aerating the greens and filling the holes with sand relieves this stress on the turf and allows it to breathe and feed. It is a standard maintenance practice that all golf courses do in the spring and fall to promote good healthy putting surfaces during the play season. 

Our Tentative Target Date for Spring Aerification is the week of April 4th and the fall application is September 12th.

We expect the greens to be closed for a couple of days while the crew is working on them and then when the greens open back up we typically see them a bit bumpy and sandy for about 10-12 days.

In addition, further sanding continues throughout the year.  This bi-weekly sanding during the play season does not require holes to be punched into the greens ~ it is simply a light dusting of sand to smooth out the footprints and ball marks and helps let the greens roll as smooth as possible.  This application occurs once every two weeks (approximately 10-12 times during the year) and is spread out between Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Finally, the greens will be verti-cut every other week from April – September.  This process removes thatch and opens up the top layer of turf so that it may receive air / fertilizers / nutrients more effectively.  Again, this will happen about a dozen times per year and is spread out among Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Unplanned maintenance on our putting greens also occurs throughout the year.  These applications of fungicides, fertilizers, disease control, etc are reactionary to conditions throughout the year.  There are dozens of turf grass diseases that continually threaten the health of a putting green that often requires immediate attention before they quickly spiral out of control.  Did you know that John Price, our course superintendent, steps on every green to inspect their health every single day?  This attention to detail ensures the best possible playing conditions throughout the year.

Thank you all for your patience throughout the year as we strive to make West Seattle GC the best maintained ‘in season’ course in the area.

Long Time West Seattle GC Member David Edwards Turns 100!

Mr. Edwards has been playing West Seattle GC for more than 50 years and on his 100th birthday he decided to celebrate it by hitting a couple of balls from the 12th Tee.  It was a wonderful birthday celebration for him as he had his family fly in from around the country to be with him on his special day.