Goodbye July
July did not disappoint the bermudagrass. As the weather heated up the bermuda took charge and started loving life. Even with only an inch and a half of rain this month, the bermuda has excelled. We had 26 days with a high above 90 and only 3 days where the low dropped below 70 (68 and 2 69 degree nights). This is sweltering.
The newly installed fans (and the old ones) have been performing beautifully in the heat. Bentgrass does not enjoy 90 degree soil temperatures so the fans are there keeping the temperatures down. It is easy to see a difference in quality of turf on greens with a fan versus greens that do not have a fan. Even here on #2, the front of the green is just over 100 feet away from the fan and it is not doing as well as the rest of the green. This is why the fans are positioned so close to the greens, for maximum cooling impact. Luckily in August we drop a degree per week for average temperature, but we still have a long way to go!
Member Guest in the dead of summer means some sweaty days of work. We went around to most of the bunkers again in order to clean up the faces, removing weeds and algae.
The bunkers were all mowed around, edged and raked. We spend way too much time trying to make these hazards pretty!
Our staff of 40 gets moving at 5:30 am in order to get both courses ready for 9:30 am shotguns.
We attempt to get all the details dialed in and even try to spend some extra time to do a few special things for the week. Member Guest week is always fun but we are always glad to see it in the rear view, especially at the end of July!
Here is what is in store for the Latitude on the Manakin next week. The greens will be resting while we turn the verticutters loose on the green surrounds, fairways and tees. This is a process that had been postponed earlier in the year but we are excited to get it done starting Monday. The verticutting and topdressing will help tighten up the playing surface and kick us into the fall. Manakin will be closed on Monday and Tuesday and until 3:00 on Wednesday. We appreciate your patience will we continue to improve!