Hermitage CC Golf Course Management

  This past weekend hosted some of the best weather of the year so far. Cool and dry made for some great playing conditions. 1.2" of rain Tuesday evening brought some moisture back in but nothing that either course wasn't ready for. The greens are rolling great and the rough is starting to show some life while our herbicides are shrinking the Poa down. The Manakin will be closed Monday and Tuesday so that we can poke some solid tine holes in the fairways like we did on Sabot two weeks ago. Again, this should go relatively unnoticed by the golfer. Boomer is enjoying the Zoysia being awake again around the bunkers. We are in what pretty much equates to a full on mowing schedule again. Our summer staff is on board and ready to pick up Boomers slack! The big project for the week was to get the pool kitchen area prepped and sodded before the rain came on Wednesday. A truck load of Northbridge bermuda was delivered Tuesday morning and this area is close to being buttoned up and read

  The big aerators knocked out the Sabot fairways early in the week, poking 5/8" wide holes about 3" into the soil. This annual event helps the bermuda strengthen its root system as we head into the growing season. Manakin fairways will receive the same treatment in two weeks. After a mow this aeration is basically unnoticeable by the golfer. The walk behind aerators took care of solid tine aerating all the tees and approaches. They are able to go a little tighter on their spacing and are much easier to maneuver around the greens and tee slopes. And when we say walk behind aerator we are not kidding! David was running one of the three 648 aerators and clocked in over 22 miles on Tuesday!  Our annual compost application went out in the rough this week as well. The humid air made it difficult to spread in the mornings but that also kept the dust and the smell down. This application is the base of our fertility in the rough for the year, putting down about 1 pound of nitrogen pe

  Sabot Superintendent Ben Longest picked the right day to get married to his new bride Nikki last Friday. A cool sunny day let the two tie the knot and then head west to Primland for their honeymoon. Back to reality on Monday buddy! It has been hot and dry on our side of the state this week which has made for some pretty firm fairways out there. Night time soil temps are still in the mid-60's so the rough is still a ways from waking up.  The Manakin greens are getting close to fully healed. The fairways and approaches have great color for May, and that really goes for both courses! We had a few things on our Monday outing list this week to get done. The guys dug a well water line in for a new shoe cleaner for the clay tennis courts. When you push down on the black stick water jets will clean off the bottom of your shoes. We may have to put one of these in at the new shop! With the outside of the new pool kitchen pretty much done we have been working to reconnect and install new ir

  We are in our normal holding pattern for spring now. The fairways have greened up nicely but there will be no exciting amount bermuda growth for a bit, even with 90 in the forecast next week. The soil temperatures rise slowly, just as the water temperature does. Above 80 degrees makes it close to comfortable to jump in the pool and that is when the bermuda will start moving. We are hovering in the mid 60's right now. In the meantime enjoy the bouncy golf course and lack of rough! We were able to knock out our final bunker renovation of the season on Manakin this week. Joe and Sloan scrambled the guys on Monday and excavated the 20 year old sand and drainage out of 15 fairway bunker. At 2,800 square feet this is no small bunker. Two trucks with 18 yards of concrete total were laid out perfectly on Wednesday on top of the new drainage pipe and gravel. The guys are filling it up with new sand now. Between excavation and installing the new drainage, concrete and sand, over 100 trips

We were back up at the Pickleball courts this week to take another stride towards completion. Another section of silt fence was pulled up and the soil was graded out. A truck full of tall fescue and bermuda arrived Wednesday for a variety of areas but the first stop was the Pickleball berm. 5 Kousa dogwoods and Korean Spice viburnum now line the top of mound. A healthy amount of flowering trees and perennials were added to the newly shaped plant bed at the entrance what will most likely be called the Fitness and Racquet Sports Complex. We should have a variety of color supplied to every season here once it all gets rooted in. River City Tennis has been on site all week working on the net post holes and the light pole footers. You should see some things starting to get vertical next week and then hopefully some paint will hit the asphalt. Once that happens a firm opening date should be able to be spread around but Cinco De Mayo is looking pretty good. The stream on 16 Manakin was button

  With all 3 aeration machines in action on Monday the guys ran through all 19 greens on Manakin before 3:00. The upper profiles of these Manakin greens continue to become healthier. The plugs contain much more sand than in the past, with plenty of new root growth already taking place.  The quarter inch sized plugs are relatively easy to blow off the surface, eliminating any abrasion during the clean up process. Our zeolite clay along with some calcium, potassium, magnesium and humic acid were all applied to the open holes before close to 40 tons of sand was spread over the green. This is our one chance to get a significant amount of beneficial nutrients into the profile before they are sealed up in front of the bulk part of the season. Grant got everything brushed in as the moon moved across the sun.  The Sabot greens are trying to fill in after two weeks from their aeration. With 80 degree temps next week we should see some significant changes across the whole property. Steve Corwin