Closing out April cool and dry
April is always a frustrating month for bermudagrass. It greens up and then just sits there thanks to cooler temperatures and this time around, dry weather. This year is actually the first year in a long time that the back nine of the Sabot has come into spring without some sort of overseeding. The bermuda on these shaded holes is inherently weak thanks to that over seeding history and then combine cleaning out the Poa in March and here we are. The temps will come and by the time the kids are ready to jump in the pool at the end of May we'll be off and running.
The newer variety of bermudagrass on the collar on 7 Sabot decided it didn't want to survive the winter. This area was sodded last spring after the greens renovation. Just the small difference between height of cut on the collar vs rough was enough to make a difference in resilience and getting through the winter.
We stole some sod from left of the tees on 17 Manakin to get this area back into play quickly. Sod from the sod farm will make an appearance next week on Tuesday to start swapping out other areas on both courses that decided they did not want to participate in 2023.
Next week we are also scheduled for our annual solid tine fairway aeration and composting on the Sabot. The fairway aeration will happen but not enough compost was available for this first time around. We will end up composting the entire property when we solid tine the Manakin on May 22nd and 23rd. The Sabot will be closed this Tuesday the 2nd to finish up the aeration process. This aeration should help stir up some root growth in our clay soil and help relieve some compacted areas after a long winter.
Last year John Deere started a new video initiative called My Approach. The video series highlights golf course superintendents, their staff and their facility. Last fall we were lucky enough to have Dom and the video crew come out and play a few holes on the Manakin. This is a great showcase for the club and was a lot of fun to put together. Please enjoy and check out the other My Approach videos as well!