Timing is everything!

The greens aeration has not been going as smoothly as I had hoped. Wouldn't you know it, during one of the driest summers on record, the day before I aerify the greens we almost 2" of rain, with more forecast for the first half of the week. Thankfully the weather men got it wrong again, but that is little comfort considering the problems we have been encountering.
There have been two main problems with the aeration thus far. First, the rain on Sunday soaked my topdressing pile and added just enough moisture to the greens to make it very difficult to clean up the cores following the aeration. Thankfully the rain that was forecast for Monday and Tuesday never arrived and we were able to get the holes punched, the cores cleaned up, and the greens top dressed. Unfortunately it has been a challenge to get the holes filled as the sand is very difficult to move across the surface and into the holes unless it is perfectly dry. Eventually we will get the holes filled in and before long they will be smooth and firm and ready for fall golf.
The second issue that we have faced is the equipment that we rely on to complete the process. Last week we took the aerifier out to make sure it was running properly. It was not. In fact it blew a gear and was leaking oil. After some not so quick repairs we had the machine running again, but the spacing cable was not working. We examined the situation and realized that an adjustment we had made last winter rendered the spacing cable useless and we would have to adjust the hole spacing with the foot pedal. Never again. Most of the greens turned out fairly well, but after a routine breakdown, the machine did not operate as smoothly. The last few greens that were aerified suffered some damage due to improper hole spacing. Instead of creating nice round holes, the machine tore the turf leaving oblong holes that are very difficult to fill. The worst greens are 3, 8 and the practice green. It will take some extra attention and a lot of TLC, but I am confident that in time we will not be able to tell the difference.
The holes that were top dressed on Monday (1, 2, 6, 9) received a heavy layer of damp sand that was very slow to dry. The forecast for that night was for scattered showers which forced me to brush the greens a bit too early. The sand at the surface seemed dry enough to work, but the soil was moist enough to prevent the topdressing from pouring into the holes. The sand bridged across the holes and now, it will be very difficult to get them filled. We will continue working on this until we are confident that the sand has filled the holes and not just covered them.
The remaining holes have been filling nicely, but it is very difficult to get the sand in between the holes to move which makes the rest of the process very challenging. We will continue to brush and verticut the greens until the holes are filled, which works best with bright sun and dry winds. Thankfully they should arrive later in the week. I will be applying a variety of fertilizers tomorrow that will speed up the recovery, and I hope to have the greens mowed sometime over the weekend. If all goes well, and I have no reason to believe it will, the greens should make significant progress over the next week to ten days and be ready for the Labor Day weekend.
I apologize for the inconvenience, but I assure you that no one at Suffield C.C. is more frustrated with this process right now than I am, and I promise that we will do everything in our power to get the greens back in pristine condition as soon as possible.