Post Member Guest, Verticutting and a hurricane
Our hottest July on record was capped off with a pretty successful Men's Member Guest. While we did not push the greens to gather speed as we would normally have, they still rolled true. The greens without fans on them have certainly showed some stress over the last few weeks but we turn into a bit of recovery mode this week. The mowing heights have been raised slightly and before the heavy rains on Tuesday we applied some topdressing and a variety of nutrients to help the greens perk up. We will keep the rollers in the shed this week as more rain continues to be in the forecast. As with most of nature, too much of a good thing is not great!
This was our week to make our own mess on the Manakin. Vertical mowing this bermudagrass was long over due. The verticutter pulls up and slices through plenty of thatch that the bermuda has produced over the past year. 
The clean up for this process is a mighty effort which is why we had the Manakin closed for 3 days this week. Unfortunately the hurricane put a stop to our work after Monday. We will attempt to finish verticutting the remaining holes on the back nine this coming Monday.
Sand topdressing is being applied after the verticut debris is cleaned up. The sand helps fill up the remaining thatch/matt layer which results in a firmer more consistent surface. In light of throttling costs for this year, we went with the least expensive sand available. This means quality control of the sand isn't great and we got some clay clods from the bottom of the stock pile. Overall the sand is brushing in fine and the result is worth the work.
One load of fine cut compost was also spread out over our new tees and select other tees that try to dry out faster than they should. The compost greatly improves soil health and we are hoping to continue building a healthy layer on top of the new tees so you can stick your tee in the ground.
On Monday night through Tuesday morning hurricane Isaias came through and dropped 4.65" of rain. We did not see much wind at all since we were on the west side of the storm. Courses to our east got hit hard with wind and are still cleaning up tree debris so we consider ourselves lucky. Wednesday comprised mostly of repairing bunkers and then trying to start getting the turf knocked back down with the mowers.
Some water on the Sabot was moving so fast it uprooted turf on the edge of the path!
The bunkers on the back nine of the Sabot held up perfectly from the storm. We are looking forward to the winter again when we are able to start rebuilding these bunkers on the front of the Sabot. The labor relief and general moral boost the new bunkers provide is immeasurable, compared to facing a mess like this bunker pictured on 7 Sabot!