Dry weather, longer days and warmer temps!

Here is your million dollar picture for the week. The Latitude on the Manakin is starting to show some green color. If you brush away some of the old plant material from dormancy the Latitude will show it self. The longer days and rising soil temperatures will continue to push new growth for the spring. Right now our plan is to allow the Latitude to wake up and then allow carts to scatter on the new turf by April 14th.

Here is our major cultural practice schedule for the year. This of course is dependent on the weather but this outline is set up both to reduce impact on golf play as well as allow us to make headway on diluting the organic matter on property with more sand. This schedule is posted on the main page of the blog as well so it can be accessed any time. As we mentioned last week and has been posted around the club, the Sabot greens will be aerated a week from Monday on the 16th and 17th.

Bunker work continues on the back nine of the Sabot. The bunker team will be close to having #16 cored out by the weekend.

2 concrete trucks full of capillary concrete were laid in the bunkers on 10, 11 and 12 on Wednesday. There is one more truck coming for Friday that will take us through 13. We welcomed Luke Ransom from the golf shop over to our team on Monday and he has jumped right in! Speaking of jumping in, if you see a tarped bunker that has concrete and no sand, please stay out of the bunker as it is curing. We only need one day before sand can be put in. If your ball ends up in a concreted bunker, just ask Craig for a new sleeve of balls and I am sure he will oblige and be happy to put it on my account!

We are into 3 teams on the bunker project now. Excavation, drainage and sand filling. We have bunkers filled with new sand now on 10 and 11. Next week will be another fast moving week as we work towards 18.

Over on the Manakin the guys are getting the new paths tied in nicely so that the latitude can easily be mowed right up to the edge.

It is easy to notice a lot of yellow weeds around on both courses. Most of this is Poa annua that has been sprayed with herbicide. On the Sabot we were able to use a non selective herbicide to ding up the poa. Even after a pre-emerge application in the fall on the Sabot, the weed pressure over there is immense. Notice the gap between the green and the rough that was not sprayed here on 10 Sabot. All of the collars (about 36" off the green) will be sodded out to straight bermudagrass in about 3 weeks. On the Manakin we had to tread lightly on the still new latitude bermuda. A pre-emerge was applied that stung the poa and a non selective herbicide was used to help melt it down over the next few weeks.

The bluegrass on the Sabot has greened up nicely. We are using a selective herbicide to help control the poa in the fairways and tees. The poa will also melt away in the summer and in the fall we will be able to use some pre emerge herbicides to limit any more poa for next season. If you said we were anxious to get the mowers out and start mowing some turf it would be an understatement!