Here at ALS, we specialise in sports turf aeration, whether we’re hollow tining your golf green, football field, rugby pitch or bowling green, we can get the job done properly. We’ve been in this industry for over 30 years and we have a fantastic client retention rate, our customers keep coming back to us because they know the standard of work we strive to.
Also known as hollow coring, our greenkeepers hollow tine golf courses (and many more sports pitches) to aerate the surface. We have the latest machinery to complete these services, which aerates the greens by inserting hollow tines up to a depth of 5”. The tines remove the ‘cores’ from the grass which are left until all of the turf has been hollow tined, our greenkeepers will then remove all of the cores and sweep sand into the remaining holes, known as top dressing.
Aeration is an essential part of golf green management and maintenance and hollow coring is one form of it. We also complete verti draining, another form of aeration, which uses solid tines instead of hollow ones, so no cores are removed. The reason why we place so much importance on aeration is that it ensures the quality of the turf is maintained at a high standard throughout the season. Golfers, both professional and amateur, are very focused on the turf quality when choosing where to play – this is because the surface of the green is so important as it can affect both the speed and direction of the ball if it’s not maintained properly. When we hollow tine greens, the percentage of air in the soil increases, encouraging healthy grass roots and allowing the release of unwanted gases out of the soil. Most importantly, these spaces in the soil help in the decompaction of the green. There are several more benefits such as removing thatch, improving the structure, better performance, keeping the surface dry and aiding water movement.
Top dressing is an essential part of the hollow tining process, our greenkeepers do it because it helps dilute the layer of thatch below the surface of the turf, this improves the quality of the soil significantly whilst also helping with drainage. The surface becomes smoother and the grass can grow a lot better. If you don’t top dress your greens regularly, the turf can become uneven and overall disappointing to play on.
At ALS, we recommend to hollow tine your greens twice a year – once in Spring and then again in Autumn. We normally complete hollow tining in the months of April and August/September, this ensures that your turf’s quality is maintained for the playing season. We can also hollow core your fairways, which has a slightly different timeframe of in March or April and again in August, September and October.
If you want to see how it works, here’s a video of our team completing hollow tining on a sports turf:
If you’re wondering whether to contact us for solid (verti draining) or hollow tining, but you’re not too sure what would work best for your sports turf, you can always ask our helpful team. We can advise you on which form of aeration would work best for you, whether hollow, solid or a combination of both. This answer really differs for every type of sports surface, so we’d rather not generalise – you can email us, request a call back or call us and we can offer guidance.
Ready to get started with booking in a hollow tining service for your green? Contact the ALS team today – we’re one of the UK’s leading companies in sports turf services for a good reason. Our experts will never let you down and dedicate themselves to meeting your every requirement.
Aerates to a depth of up to 5″ with hollow solid or micro tines, variable heads for different patterns and spacings.
For more information about the services provided by ALS, to book a site survey or receive a quote contact our team today.
