Hermitage CC Golf Course Management

  Things are starting to dry out… just a little at the Herm! And just in time for another round of rain. Both courses were extremely wet this past weekend and through the start of this final week of February. Despite the conditions, the maintenance team accomplished quite a bit. Wire has now been pulled on #18, #9, and #15 on the Manakin for the new fans. We’re nearing the stage of testing voltages to ensure everything is dialed in and ready for summer. It’s encouraging to see this project moving closer to the finish line. Last week’s collar spray is already showing great results on the poa in the collars. We also took advantage of a slightly drier window to get all the short grass on Manakin sprayed for pre-emergent. The goal is to have all pre-emergent applications completed at least three weeks prior to green-up. While green-up in 3–4 weeks may be optimistic, we don’t want to get squeezed trying to apply products during unpredictable weather patterns like we’ve been see...

  Wednesday marked a milestone for 2026 as the golf course finally thawed and reopened after 26 consecutive days of closure. While the course remains saturated from snow melt and 1.6” of rain this week (and growing), both courses are holding up reasonably well. The Sabot tends to stay wetter and is more prone to tracking from cart traffic, largely due to the Vamont Bermuda. It is an older, thinner variety—especially during winter dormancy—which makes it more susceptible to damage this time of year. Latitude on Manakin handles excess moisture better because of its much denser turf canopy.   That being said, both courses are extremely wet right now. One thing we are careful to avoid this time of year is opening bentgrass greens while they are partially frozen. After an extended freeze, the top inch can thaw while the middle of the greens cavity remains frozen. This creates soft, mushy conditions until the entire rootzone thaws and water can properly drain through the profile...

 Hard to believe that we haven’t seen any golf played across the Hermitage campus in 20-plus days. The snow and ice storm that hit us at the end of January is still making its presence known, even today, with signs of the lingering ice around both courses. We’ve finally had a couple of “nice” days well above freezing, allowing the ice to begin melting and slowly working its way down into our catch basins. Anything that continues to receive direct sunlight has done a great job of thawing out, allowing us to finally check on some of our dormant bermudagrass turf  like here on #9 Manakin. You can see that there is almost no ice remaining at the beginning of the fairway, while the forward section still remains frozen solid. We still have a long way to go, but we’re hopeful this warming trend continues and helps clear out the remaining effects of the Arctic storm so we can put it behind us for the rest of the winter. All three of these pictures were taken on the same day over on th...

A few of us traveled down to Florida for the week to attend the annual Golf Course Industry Show. The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, or (GCSAA), hosts a national conference every year in February, filled with educational seminars, a golf tournament, a trade show, and networking events throughout the week. It’s a great opportunity to stay current with industry trends and standards. We had hoped to escape some of the cold weather we’ve been dealing with back home, but even in Florida we ran into frost delays on both courses we played on Monday and Tuesday. Winter certainly hasn’t been kind to anyone this year. While we did see some frost in Florida, it really didn’t compare to the temperatures here. Below freezing temperatures as the daily high have seemed almost normal here in recent weeks. Unfortunately, until the ice/snow melts, both courses will remain closed. Looking ahead, next week brings some temperatures above 50 degrees, but may be followed up with more win...

  It has been a slow week on the Hermitage campus. The storm that moved through over the weekend brought just about every type of winter precipitation you could imagine. Overall, the forecast held true, and while some of the amounts varied, it was still no fun watching it all play out. In total, we received 3–4 inches of snow, topped off with a "wonderful" 2–3 inches sleet, and freezing rain to top it all off. Looking back, it’s clear that closing club operations on Sunday and into Monday was the right call. The crew got busy Monday morning clearing the snow and ice mixture from paved areas across the property, which proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. The real stars of the show were, obviously, our staff, but also our Takeuchi track loaders. Without them, we would likely still have a thin layer of ice covering the asphalt surfaces around campus. Opting to keep them indoors before the storm was also another great benefit. Not having to clean the ice layer off b...

  Sun is still out, but maybe not for long. All weather forecasts are pointing toward the same thing, heavy snow. Not a couple inches like the storms we saw in December, or the dusting we had this past Sunday, but a true winter storm. One meteorologist said that 6–12 inches is a good preliminary number to plan for. The last time Richmond saw over 10 inches of snow was in December of 2018. Nothing is for sure as the forecast is continually changing.  The incoming snow or ice is hardly the worst of it. Temperatures are expected to drop after the storm, and over the next 10 days we may only see a couple of days above freezing following the snowfall. Most nighttime low temperatures will fall into the teens, with a few nights even dipping into the single digits. The Manakin team was able to get all of the tee markers in to give them a fresh coat of paint. We still have some in our paint booth, so you may not see the green or yellow tees back on the course until tomorrow or early ne...

                                  Winter temperatures are officially back in full effect. It's hard to believe we almost hit 70 degrees last Thursday after looking at some of these incoming temperatures. Brace yourselves for what feels like the annual January freeze, as the upcoming cold snap is expected to bring some of the coldest temperatures of winter.  Monday morning we were greeted with a late Christmas present outside of our pump house. One of the couplers on our 14-inch intake line feeding the irrigation pumps had loosened, causing a leak on the pipe. Luckily, the irrigation system was still turned off, so the line was not pressurized.  The team was eager to begin excavating the surrounding soil to determine just how serious the issue was! Water was seeping around the 20 year old coupler that connects the two sections of pipe. Unfortunately, problems like this can occur with age. After...