Hermitage CC Golf Course Management

Here is the closest we got to a frost picture this week. Two mornings in the mid 30's froze up most of the leaf blades in the rough. Bermuda season is officially over. Thanks to Emily for the picture! If you look closely there is a candid shot of a bald eagle in the fairway enjoying the view.  The greens verticutter got dusted off and put into action early on Monday. This process of thinning out any laid over bentgrass takes the entire day Monday. The single triplex verticutter has to travel to all 39 greens and the sand topdresser follows behind. Once the sand is dry it can be brushed into the canopy. The sand brushes in nicely and the grass clippings disappear. We ran irrigation quickly in the morning on Tuesday and the greens mowed out beautifully and have been rolling great all week. The excavator made its way out to 5 green Sabot to renovate the green side of the bridge which has been long overdue. Eligio and his team removed the old asphalt and laid in new brick pavers. Just ...

  One place that is not worried about the first frost of the season is Riverbend Golf and Country Club in Great Falls Virginia. We took a foursome up to compete in the 23rd Stewards of the Chesapeake event this past Monday and enjoyed perfect conditions on a fair but very challenging set up. It is always great to get out and see other properties, especially ones as beautiful as Riverbend. Back home the bermuda is still pretty green and even the bentgrass has slowed down due to the short day lengths. The greens are rolling smoothly and more than ready for todays Senior Member Member. Bunker rakes can now be placed OUTSIDE the sand for the off season. We will toss them back in when the grass starts growing again so that they are out of the way for the mowers. The Sabot crew spruced up a few bunkers this week with some bunker sand that was left over at the shop for the season. The top inch or so of these older bunkers gets contaminated with the 40 inches of rain we get each year so it...

  We have had nothing short of a perfect week of weather. Lows in the 40's and highs in the 70's with the absence of rain has been perfect to let the greens lean out and speed up a little. Our pre-emergent herbicide spray for Poa annua in the rough is now complete. Every inch of both courses in the rough has been covered and is watered in at night. You can see some Poa starting to pop up here and there so hopefully this application is perfectly timed and will provide protection into the end of January. One last fly mow and weedeater on the bunker faces and edges was performed this week. The bunkers are looking sharp as we start the countdown to further renovations on half of the remaining Manakin bunkers. We hope to get moving in November and are aiming for 4, 6, 7, 12, 15 and 16 this winter.  

  A truck full of Northbridge bermudagrass showed up Monday afternoon for 7 Sabot blue tee. The guys got it laid quickly and watered. The new tee surface will provide plenty more flat area for golf play once opened. A growth blanket was laid over to encourage some rooting over the next few weeks which will determine if we can open this tee for the winter or not. Eligio got the turnaround for 7 tees dialed in a little better with some paver curbing as well. Manakin stole some of the extra sod to patch up a few areas along the edges here and there. Our winter bermuda preparations continued this week. Two weeks ago we made an initial fungicide and pre-emergent application and this week we were able to get out some potassium on all the short grass. The potassium helps strengthen the plant by increasing rooting and helping utilize water more efficiently, both important attributes as we head into winter. Potassium is also found in the compost that was spread throughout the rough this wee...