Rain is greening us up but frost is here
Some temperatures in the low 30's have brought some frost into the rough this week. That 52 degree soil temperature is still at about 8am so that keeps the greens, tees and fairways warm enough to not have frost form yet. The cold air wraps around the taller canopy of the rough so those poor leaf blades are frosted easily. The temperatures should come back up for the end of the month and we'll even have some more tropical moisture this weekend. The courses are greener now (thanks to the rain) than they have been in two months!
All of our pipe, sprinklers and the last of the fittings arrived on Wednesday which you can see in the lower parking lot. All of our supplies were ordered this past August so that they would be here in time. The irrigation company is now looking at a mid-November start as the rains have slowed down two other projects where our crew is currently working.
Our greens resurfacing is still set to begin October 31st however, as all that sod work will be done in house. We'll have a few pieces of sod brought down from the farm next week so that we can set the depth of the sod cutters and then on Monday the 31st we'll start rolling up the old to make way for the new on the back nine of the Sabot. The front nine greens will receive one more aeration, most likely on this coming Monday. It will take us two solid seasons to really work out the tiny imperfections from the sod project. We'll pull even smaller 1/8" cores this time and roll the green smooth again.
Our pre and post emerge herbicides are working nicely on the back nine of the Sabot. The growth of the poa has stopped and it will quietly melt away over the next few weeks. The vamont looks excellent on the Sabot right now!
Another project set to being in November is the back patio renovation. Today we removed our Japanese maples that were at the back door to the Tavern and replanted them by the bathroom on 14 Manakin.
October is always a great month to get off property and see some other facilities. We had a beautiful day to go around Baltimore's East course on Tuesday. The old Tillinghast architecture combined with the views and top notch agronomy made the bogies feel better.
Joe and Grant participated in a superintendent's meeting at the Homestead on Wednesday. The Cascades course offered up some awesome fall colors and tricky putting!
Each morning this week two of our managers have traveled to CCV to volunteer for the Dominion Energy Charity Classic. It is always great to get out and see how other courses are providing for their members, whether it be on a daily basis or for a high level of competition. It helps us appreciate what we have at Hermitage and these visits always produce a few fresh ideas that help make our product better!