Hermitage CC Golf Course Management

           Monday we got off to a great start with some perfect weather. Even though it’s not officially fall yet, the "fall like" weather has been a huge benefit for our bentgrass greens and staff. We were able to remove a good number of trees along the right side of 13 cart path before the not so perfect weather started. With these trees gone it will open up the fairway to more sunlight and help us reduce the risk of winter kill that tends to occur in that area year after year. We also managed to seed a couple of cool season grass areas along with the clubhouse lawn just before the rain moved in. The timing couldn’t have been better, as the moisture should give us a great boost in germination. Tuesday and Wednesday, however, were far from ideal. A rain front settled over the golf course for what felt like an eternity—but in reality was just two days—dropping 2.5 inches of rain and thoroughly soaking both courses. We started Thursday morning with carts re...

  We kicked off maintenance this Monday by removing the fans from both golf courses. With overnight temperatures beginning to drop, we felt it was the right time to get the fans off the course, especially ahead of this weekend’s Member-Member tournament. More importantly, this timing lines up perfectly with our upcoming pre-emergent application around the greens. Having the fans out of the way ensures we get complete and even coverage, helping to prevent any weed breakthrough.  It’s great to have this job checked off the list and the timing couldn’t be better. The team is focusing on fine-detail work across both courses to ensure everything is in top condition for this weekends Men's Member Member. This includes edging all fairway and greens irrigation heads for a cleaner, more defined appearance, as well as edging along sidewalks and drains to enhance the overall presentation of the property.  To stay ahead of the curve, we made a  preventive insecticide applicatio...

This week, we completed our first application for spring dead spot. The second application is scheduled in a couple of weeks. These treatments are done in the fall when soil temperatures begin to cool, as this is when the fungus becomes most active. Targeting it during this period helps maximize the effectiveness of the control measures. Despite the recent lack of rain and low humidity, the new irrigation system on Sabot and the fully operational 2-wire system on the Manakin course have been instrumental in maintaining excellent course conditions. These upgrades have also made watering in our spring dead spot application much more efficient and effective. One week after aerifying the Sabot greens with the 3/8" quarter tines, they’re healing up well thanks to this stretch of great August weather. With the Men's Member/Member coming up next week, they should be rolling nicely. With the recent drop in nighttime temperatures, the Bermudagrass has noticeably slowed its growth. As ...

  The humidity hung around a bit for the Valentine but otherwise the weather shaped up nicely for last weekend and has been gorgeous this week. The drier air helped us get the rough chopped back down to 2.25" and cleaned up for the fall. The best part about the Valentine is that we can squeeze in the fall greens aeration on Sabot immediately after. 3/8" cores were pulled out on Monday and Tuesday mornings this week. We have kept the growth rate low on the Pure Eclipse which has limited thatch buildup but pulling cores in the fall and topdressing will always help stay ahead of the bent getting too soft in season. The smaller cores are easy to blow off and there is no abrasion to the greens surface. Calcium, potassium, humic acid and some other micro nutrients are applied to the soil while we have holes open. Close to 40 tons of kiln dried sand was spread on the Sabot greens. We also took the Monday closure opportunity to solid tine aerate the greens on Manakin that do not have...

  The Valentine is here and we are just about ready. The humidity is set to drop this weekend so when the sun comes out this whole property will be shining. Thankfully Erin is pushing out to sea as forecasted. The humidity will drop from 75% to 50% overnight and fall will be here. The greens rollers are dusted off, the more aggressive fixed head mowers are back on the Sabot and we even have grooved rollers on the Manakin greens mowers. The rough is high and the greens are quick, this Valentine should be another great test for some of the areas best players.  Enjoy some pictures from the past few days and make sure to follow @thevalentineinvitational, @activeseasongolf and of course the Hermitage Instagram accounts for plenty of coverage of the event.

  The humidity is back but at least the high temperature has only gone above 90 once this month, on Tuesday this week. Our normal high for August starts at 88 and drops to 84 by the end of the month. Our warm season turf continues to love life and the greens are getting their footing back for the Valentine. All 39 greens were topdressed again on Monday with kiln dried sand. We have done this 3 times now in August and it has helped tremendously in firming the surface back up. The less aggressive triplex verticutter made its way around the Manakin approaches on Monday as well. This will most likely be the last time we verticut the latitude this year as the sun angle continues to drop. Around 40 tons of sand went down after the verticut on the approaches and on some select sod areas from this past spring. The belt topdresser is used to get close to the greens and in tight areas. All of this sand dried quickly Monday afternoon and was brushed in and any left over debris blown off. The ...