From frost to the 90's

 

It was great to have a group of about 20 members out last night for our Maintenance Facility tour. It took us just over an hour to walk a circle around our storage and operations areas. I am not sure anyone expected to find over 180 different pieces of equipment and talk about thousands of an inch for mowing heights as well as millions of gallons of water that goes through our irrigation system. It was an informative evening for sure. Thanks to David Norman for the pictures.

We finished the tour just after 6pm and Dunstano and Carlos, our two equipment mechanics were ready to feed the group with their tacos. There weren't many people that did not come back for seconds! These two are all stars and they proved it again last night!

We continue to move forward with our spring sodding projects. Last year we were slated to strip and re-sod the collars on the Sabot but due to covid we pushed the project off. This week we got the project started. The existing collars were a mix of ryegrass, bermuda and poa annua. The rye had crowded a number of areas and did not have any bermuda underneath. Managing cool season (bentgrass) right next to warm season (bermuda) is always a challenge. Simply cutting out the collars and replacing them with pure Latitude36 bermudagrass was the best path to a clean and consistent collar.

We measured out the width of 3 pieces of sod (about 48") and went to work with the sod cutter.

There were a few areas where the green had crept outside of the sand based cavities over the years. On 8 green we removed 18" of bentgrass from the golfers right side of this green. Bringing the bermuda back up on to a flat surface and gaining more rough between the collar and the lake, should help keep balls above water. Holes 1-12 have been stripped and re-sodded, we will be finished up early next week.

Balls rolling in to the lake off 8 green has gotten more and more discussion as the greens have firmed up. We'll evaluate how this collar helps out and go from there. For now I'll leave you with a quote from my Dad: "If you hit a good shot and the ball went into the water......it wasn't a good shot!"

This past Monday were we able to take out 3 holly trees by the banquet entrance. Now instead of 0 hours of sun we will get around 3 hours, a major improvement that will allow us to finally dress this area up. With the frost in the rear view, our perennial and annual plants will start rolling in next week. 

Our second application of herbicide (it's called Xonerate if that makes you feel better) for the Poa annua on Sabot was applied this week. The frost last week really put a halt on the bermuda but there is no way but up now.

We even got some sand on the newer tees on the Manakin this week. These tees are starting to loosen up as the bermuda wakes up and begins to move roots deeper into the soil. Building some sand up on the top will also help provide some more give for your tee.

On this coming Monday we will be running the solid tine aerators over the Sabot fairways. No cores will be pulled, we are just poking a hole for increased root growth and to give some space for our spring compost application. Our compost has worked wonders on the Manakin so we are incorporating it into our spring fertility program for both courses. The compost helps increase microbial activity which in turn burns up thatch material. This means a firmer surface, better water usage, and an increased amount of nutrients available for the plant to use. The compost is a recycled, organic material that is clean and safe for us to apply and play golf on. Sabot will be closed on Tuesday while we finish up the process.