Turf Talk September 25, 2015 By:  Andrew Buchholz, GCS Aerification a Necessary Evil The process of aerification on the greens, tees and fairways is necessary and highly beneficial golf course agronomic practice.  Aerification achieves three very important objectives.  It relieves soil compaction, it provides a method to improve the soil mixture in the major root zone of the turf and it reduces the accumulation of excess thatch. Like so many things, the quality of a great putting surface is more than skin deep.  In fact, the condition of a green has a lot to do with what goes on below the surface.  In order for turf to grow at 1/8” or lower it must have deep healthy roots.  Good roots demand oxygen from tiny pockets (pore space) of air trapped between soil and sand particles. Over time, traffic from golfers, carts, mowing equipment tends to compact the soil under the turf particularly when the soil contains a lot of clay.  When soil becomes compacted, the air pockets (pore space) on which the roots depend are …