Rolling Greens

If you were paying attention to the blog this spring, you know how soft the greens were while clearing them of snow. For those of you who are new or can't remember last week, such as myself, here is the story.
Due to the early snow fall, the greens did not harden off and turn completely dormant for the winter. While the snow continued to pile up, temperatures stayed warm enough in the root zone for disease activity and even shoot growth!
Once we began clearing, we immediately notice how soft the soils were and the snowblower would occasionally cause depressions into the surface and create ruts. We clear the greens to prevent or lessen snow mold and ice damage (winter damage).
So now we are left dealing with the lesser of two evils; smoothing out the surface.
The 13th and 1st greens were the worst overall. This week we rented a 3,000 lbs. vibrating roller and it seems to be working great. This could be an annual tradition, in fact. I won't tell you the ruts are gone, but they are much better. Spiking and aerification over time will completely heal them. Next week we will be doing just that.
We liked this roller so much, it ended up on all of the greens. Yesterday, our intern Mike (Rutgers) stimped the 2nd green before, during and after the rolling. Before the rolling, they read 7.2. After the first roll the green measured at 8.5. After the second and final roll we measured it at 9.
Also, the greens heights were lowered for the final time in preparation for the season today.