Hermitage CC Golf Course Management

  We have had some great sunrises this week as a few different weather systems have moved through. None of which have brought any kind of significant rain, leaving November with just .27" of rain so far. The irrigation guys are loving the weather, as are we for as far as projects go. The bluegrass on the Sabot is yearning for a little precipitation but that is just the way it goes. The dry weather has meant that the dormant vamont on the front of the Sabot is still looking great. This is no contest against any kind of overseed at the moment. We will keep monitoring over here as the winter rolls on, as inevitably we are going to some rain. The mainline piping has now reached the bridge on 8. Since we are keeping our old system on for a few more weeks, the new pipe will stop at the bridge and then start again on the other side. We are able to reuse the pipe attached the bridge since it was already an HDPE pipe. The size of the irrigation crew will continue to grow in size after the ...

  The new greens have absolutely loved this pleasant fall weather. No frost on the bentgrass, no rain and sunny days have kept the roots digging into our profile. All the greens were hand rolled this week in preparation for their first mowing. Dunstano got the inaugural cut on the putting green at a height of .200". All the greens mowed out nicely and may be ready for the big roller next week. We may drop the height slightly over the next few weeks but the turf will stay relatively high through the winter. The beginning of March should give us some more weather to start dialing things down to putting height. 30,000 more square feet of sod was delivered this week so that we could button up our projects on 7, 8 and 9. The newly raised up pond bank in front of 7 green was sodded with "Innovation" zoysia grass. The new collar on 8 was sodded to bermuda and then zoysia on the bank. The new slope combined with some velcro like zoysia should stop "good" shots from rol...

  Our Pure Eclipse bentgrass sod has worked out perfectly this week. 6 trucks of 10,200 square feet a piece fit onto our front nine and two practice greens with only a few pieces left over. Our team worked seamlessly with Landscapes Unlimited, laying down 1 truck a day over 6 days in picture perfect weather. It is on us now to grow the greens in, smooth them out and get them dialed in for golf play come spring time.  Roots are just barely starting to shoot down into the profile. Not bad for one weeks time on the first few greens. Our architect Andrew Green was on site this week to look at a number of our front nine modifications. He helped us tweak the 7th green slightly, flattening out the top right of the green, allowing for more places to put a pin.  The front collar on 7 was also raised up and tied into the lake with a smoother transition. The golfers right side of 8 green was also addressed. We raised up the collar and stream bank, in some places almost 2 feet. The g...

 First thing Monday our regular Dryject team showed up and injected about 15 tons of sand through our profile on the practice greens and front nine. This was the first of many events this week! The drill and fill machines came right behind the Dryjects, drilling a 1 inch diameter hole down 8 inches deep. Dry sand filled the hole up to the top. The drill and fill makes a mess but having that massive column of sand will make sure these greens are draining nicely for a long time.  The greens were brushed and rolled and then the sod cutters went to work. We chose 8 green to preserve some sod and transfer it to the back nine where we sprayed out the encroaching bermuda on the edges. Just one pass around the back nine greens took out most of the older bermuda. Doing this now should give us a nice head start in keeping these back nine greens clean and ready for the pure eclipse sod next year. About 3/4 of 8 green now borders the back nine greens. This sod should root in over the next...