Hermitage CC Golf Course Management

 It’s still early… but there’s a lot to be excited about. As winter begins to loosen its grip on the Mid-Atlantic, we’re seeing more and more signs of life across the property. The recent stretch of favorable weather has really helped move things in the right direction, and each day is giving us a clearer picture of how the golf courses are coming out of the winter of 2025–2026. Overall, bermudagrass recovery is off to a very encouraging start. Sabot has greened up really well across most areas. That’s likely due to a combination of increased moisture, more consistent snow cover, reduced cart traffic, and a more open canopy (a lot of the reasons that we see less play on Sabot throughout the winter). Those conditions provided a great environment for the turf to come through winter strong, and it’s showing early as we transition into spring. As always, winter impact varies depending on a number of factors—moisture levels, traffic patterns, compaction, shade, and exposure. The mor...

 I feel like this blog has turned into a weekly recap of the wild weather swings here in Richmond… and, well, this week is no different. This was aeration week for the Manakin greens, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. In true spring fashion, the weather had other plans. We worked around off-and-on rain Monday (more on than off) and kept a close eye on the tornado warning that evening. Thankfully, we avoided any touchdowns on property, with just a few trees down to clean up. To stay ahead of the storms, the team got a jump start Saturday night by completing deep tining and a roll. That decision paid off, allowing us to wrap up most of the remaining aeration work on Tuesday while also tackling storm cleanup. The Manakin greens received deep tines, ½" solid tines, and .3" cores, followed by topdressing and a nutrient package. All things considered, the process went as smoothly as it could given the wet conditions. With several cold mornings this week, recovery has been a bit ...

 

 The weather lately has been about as Virginia as it gets. We went from conditions frozen solid like a rock, to a week of temperatures in the 80s with a high pushing near 90, and now we’re looking at snow falling on Friday. It certainly keeps us on our toes this time of year. We successfully completed all of our summer pre-emergent applications and sprays targeting poa in the bermudagrass. Interestingly, we’ve seen quite a bit of green bermuda popping this week. While it’s encouraging to see some life of spring, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the upcoming cold snap doesn’t turn that green grass purple for a bit. Bunker detailing continues on both courses. Recently, the team began brushing some of the compacted sand in the lower areas of bunker surrounds. This work will continue as we move through the spring. Tree work is also nearing completion for the season. We only have a few more removals scheduled before we call it finished for the year. One of the projects complet...

 This week started a little cold and a lot wet. Things are finally starting to turn, and we’ve now had two straight afternoons where short sleeves were the uniform of choice. The heavy fog this morning didn’t help with drying things out, but we’re hopeful to soon have both golf courses completely out of CPO for the first time in quite a while. Grant has been working hard on his creek project on #14 at Manakin. After quite a bit of digging, a Facebook rock purchase, and about a pallet of concrete, things are starting to come together. He has a bit of dredging left to do and a few minor adjustments, and it should be just about wrapped up. We understand that periods of CPO can sometimes lead to more unfilled divots in the fairways, so we sent out a little help this week. Please remember to fill your divots, especially now that carts are back on most of the fairways. We also finalized bunker adjustments on Sabot this week. We still have the back nine to work through on Manakin, but w...

  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...