Hermitage CC Golf Course Management

  Both courses enjoyed some time at 59 degrees this past weekend at night. Before the weekend the low had only been below 70 three or four times in the past 60 days. A nasty stretch for bentgrass and humans for sure. The bermuda is performing well though and the Latitude on the Manakin was ready for the VSGA State team matches this week. Grant had his crew ready for the week and the double tee starts. The fairways dried out nicely on Tuesday for the first round and a quick morning mow of 60 acres had the Manakin shining through the rain Wednesday. As the ladies finished up Thursday we were locked and loaded with another round of topdressing sand for the Manakin greens. We will hit them again on Monday as they start to grow a little more through some summer stress. The lower night time temps make a big difference in bentgrass health which is very welcomed as we prepare for more heat and the Valentine. With a full golf course this week in the afternoons the Manakin guys took some tim...

  Why not get clobbered with rain one more time for July!? This small storm snuck up from the south and just dropped a half inch in about 20 minutes. More is on the way and then we should see some cooler temps, especially at night over the next 7 days. We tried to beat the rain with some topdressing sand on the greens but only got through 15 on the Sabot before getting pounded the first time. Wetter sand is going out now on the Manakin which hopefully will get washed in by the next storm. Topdressing bentgrass can not be done in the heat so it has been a while since we were able to get this done. The sand helps relieve some "puffiness" of the bent in the tropical environment we have been operating in and may help slightly with ballmarks. The difference between Manakin greens with and without fans is stark now. The humidity and soil temperatures have been oppressive but the fans bring the tropical weather back down to sub tropical. It is hard to remember but the greens with fa...

  Friday July 18th at 1:30 pm it was 95 degrees with full beaming sun. Ben turned his hose off on 18 green and some sort of water hammer loosens up a pipe elbow under the Putsy tree at the Sabot putter. This is a small 2" pipe feeding two negligible irrigation zones behind the clubhouse. That 2" line however is fed right off the mainline from the pumphouse and water was blasting 20 feet into the tree and flooding the putting green. As the elbow leak was before the shutoff valve, the only way to stop the leak was to turn the entire system off and drain the pipes. This now meant we had no water pressure across the whole property. The guys quickly scrambled the water trucks that we use for flowers and sod to keep the greens cool for a few hours. The system took an hour to drain and stop leaking. Look how happy Ben is on a hot Friday afternoon. We capped the line for the time being and added some solid thrust blocks. John Gibson said some prayers for 30 minutes and then we cranke...

  Rain and oppressive humidity continues to be the story this July. We have only had 3, 2-day periods this month where we did not see rain hit the property. The bermuda has slowed slightly with our growth regulator application last week but the weather has been perfect for all our warm season turf.  The afternoon rains have helped keep the humidity at a maximum in the mornings which has meant the courses have been a little slower to dry out. We snuck the deep tine aerator out this week on a few of the lower lying Sabot fairways in front of the mowers to help release some moisture. Next week the Manakin will be closed Monday through Wednesday for our annual verticutting and topdressing on the fairways and approaches. The timing is perfect as the Latitude is more than ready for a little thinning and topdressing thanks to the weather. Our bentgrass greens are getting the most attention this July. The humid mornings that turn into high blast furnace full sun afternoons followed by...

Just over a month ago we were yearning for some bermudgrass growing weather and boy do we have it now. Temperatures and humidity have been stiffling and the thunderstorms have been hitting their target all week. Over 3" of rain has come down this week. The storm that came through Tuesday night included some serious winds in the 2-13 corridor of the Manakin. The wind blew over the heavy divot and cold towels chests at the cross over and knocked any kind of loose pine straw out of the trees. The bermudagrass is loving life with all the rain. We were able to mow everything out Monday and Tuesday as well as get some growth regulator out on our 85 acres of short grass across both courses. Our older bentgrass on the Manakin greens is certainly in survival mode with the heat and excessive rain but now is when you see all of our programs pay dividends, really all across the property. Fungicide programs, wetting agent strategy, fan placement and operation, aeration and topdressing techniqu...

  After an absolute scorcher of a week last week we finally saw some clouds form up Sunday night and the thunderstorms starting taking a few direct hits on property. The .17" that fell Sunday night was burned up quickly on Monday and then a monsoon took shape Tuesday night bringing plenty of wind and close to 2" of rain through Wednesday at lunch time.  The rain on Sunday was the first in 10 days with multiple 100 degree days in between. The bermuda, cared for by our rock solid irrigation systems, could not be happier, rain or no rain. This past Monday the Manakin team took advantage of our normal closure and went ahead and lightly verticut the approaches and topdressed them. About 40 tons of sand were quickly brushed in around the greens keeping those surfaces tight and firm. The battle begins now for quality of cut and keeping the bermuda mowed out in between thunderstorms. Over on the Sabot Monday we finally made the call to remove the large oak to the left of 3 black tee....

  On May 29th we were worried as the forecast for June did not have a day above 90 degrees in it. Here we are a month later sitting on a 102 degree high from Wednesday and the bermudagrass is loving life. In less than 6 months we get to manage turf on a 92 degree wide spectrum! All 20 fans made their way out to both courses last week and as of today we have 19 out of 20 running with 3 Sabot just waiting on a new oscillator motor. These 20 fans remain imperative to our bentgrass greens health. On these greens with naturally less air movement the fans drop surface temperatures up to 10 degrees and keep soil temps generally out of the death zone. For this summer we have 4 new moisture meters made by the USGA. The meters connect via bluetooth on your phone and then show you every moisture reading as you work around the green poking it with the meter. Anything under 15% is going to wilt pretty quickly and anything over 30 is probably too wet. The different undulations in the greens will...