Men's Member Guest week

 

Our new flagsticks and cups finally arrived about 10 days ago. The sticks are the thinner half inch models that should allow 1% or so more putts to drop if you are still putting with the pin in. The bottom black stripe has been custom made to measure 24" from the bottom of the stick. The previous 31" was a little generous for giving putts!

The new greens on the Sabot continue to smooth out and roll nicely. The rooting is a strong as it can be so they are more than ready for the summer. Next week we will start bringing the fans back out onto the course and plowing the new wire in for the new fans on 10, 14 and 16 Manakin. Next Tuesday we'll also look to sod out some of the worst areas on 12 and 13 fairway Sabot while the old vamont continues to push through the dead Poa annua. In 11 days we begin the process of verticutting and topdressing the Manakin fairways, as well as performing some kind of venting to the greens. Golf Course Maintenance never stops!

The Manakin team continues to grind away in their bunkers. We use the machine once a week to smooth things out so that the hand rakes don't get the sand too wavy. We'll be excited to continue rebuilding these Manakin bunkers this fall.

With the big tournament occupying both courses for 3 days our focus is on an early morning and brisk setup of mowing and grooming as much as possible. Once 9:30 rolls around our whole team is available to work on things around the clubhouse grounds. There is basically a never ending amount of pulling weeds and weedeating to get done.

In true Member Guest fashion we are trying to make as much noise as possible around the shop during the tournament. Our last new building is going up this week and it is the largest of the 3. This building will house our Progators, greens rollers and a variety of tractor implements, all of which were out in the rain in the past. Once this building is complete we will be very close to having everything under a roof and at the very least everything will have its own spot. That fact is very important in keeping things organized and efficient around our shop area.

Our own Melvin Cox hit the 40 year mark at Hermitage Country Club recently. Melvin can obviously do it all on the course and has helped in the Mechanics shop as well. He has seen many changes over the years and we are happy to still have him as we continue to progress!