Lawn Aeration

St Aug doesn’t do too well in areas with heavy foot traffic. Idk how much your kids are playing in these areas, but it’s possible the grass is doing poorly there bc of foot traffic alone and nothing to do with soil compaction. Is it a shaded area? If so that’ll compound your problem and st aug may never really thrive there. Are you sure soil compaction is the core issue?

This did nothing to answer your question about aerating tools lol, never done aerating myself. Just trying to save you from potentially spending time/money on a job that won’t help the problem.

Like already said a core aerator is the only way to go. It’s always a good thing to aerate. Make sure you mark your sprinkler heads.