Summer is back but days are short

 

Both golf courses showed very well for some of the best Virginia state amateurs this past weekend for the Valentine Invitational. Even our own Ben Longest, Sabot Superintendent, put his skills to the test and came out in one piece. The feedback was excellent and the value received from some high level players appreciating the work we have done over the past few years was rewarding.

But as the clock struck August 22nd, it was time to pull the first cores out of the Pure Eclipse.

Small 1/4" cores were pulled on 1.5" (close) spacing across all 20 Sabot greens. 

The team worked hard as usual to get the greens blown off and cleaned up.

Even though the holes were small, we were still able to get about 30 tons of sand down on to the surfaces and brushed in. Last week the forecast didn't have much above 82 for this week, but here we are with a full week of 90 degree weather. The greens have done fine and we are already mowing them in the morning. It is easy to tell the difference in turf density between the front nine and back nine greens. The front nine is so dense the sand has no where to go besides in the hole. The back nine the sand brushes down into the canopy easily. Our new Pure Eclipse has 2-3 times more plants per square foot than the old L93 and that is a good thing for the next 30 years!

All 39 greens were edged with a rotary blade this past Monday as well. The latitude really does not try to encroach much on the bentgrass but the vamont on the Sabot moves in quickly. Edging helps keep the greens definition sharp.

Like we did on the Sabot greens last year, a selective herbicide was applied to bermuda encroaching onto the bentgrass. Even the new greens have some bermuda coming back up after last years applications and sodding, but much less than there was. You'll see this bermuda turn white next week.

The Sabot approaches were verticut in front of the greens aeration. We continue to groom this vamont and cut off any long runners. The vertical blades help encourage a tighter playing surface.

The approaches were topdressed and brushed in behind the vertical mowing. Just like on the greens, the sand helps firm the surface, encourage faster drying and protects the plant from cart and golfer wear.

The Sabot also got a few final patches of sod to clean up thin areas on 12, 14 and 16.

The vertiquake made an appearance on Manakin 13 and 17 fairways. Those fairways have been our softest over there, even more than usual this summer. The vertiquake slices a blade about 6 inches deep into the soil. This allows water to move down off the surface faster and dry up a little more quickly. We saw major improvements with 2 and 6 fairway on Sabot last year with this tool. There are definitely some visible scars along the lines this week but they'll green back up quickly.

Our first few deliveries of supplies for the back nine Sabot irrigation system renovation arrived this week. Despite supply chain issues and price increases this project will start going in the ground November 1st!