The sun and warmth are back but more rain on the way
The week started off with another drop of cold air, again reaching deep into the teens. Our bentgrass greens have not been this dormant in a number of years. The hardening off this winter is a good thing as the plant can build up stress tolerance mechanisms that it will again call on in the heat of the summer. The profiles finally thawed out Wednesday so after the rain today we'll see if any brown tissue mows off them on Friday.
The frozen ground early in the week allowed us to get moving on some more tree removals. As in the past, all of our tree removals are focused on improving sun light and air movement for the turf along with making sure trees are healthy and not causing any safety hazards. Here on 13 Manakin we were able to get a little more sunlight on the landing area which should help more with keeping this area dryer and be able to wake up in the spring a little quicker.
With the ground thawing Wednesday the guys jumped out and finally got the irrigation wired up on 11 Manakin fairway. These heads will be buttoned down before more rain today and then we will head to 12 next week.
The brown is looking beautiful through both courses this winter! The past few years of drainage and tree work combined with some increasingly compounding nutrient and water management advances has the fairways relatively dry and looking pretty healthy for a dormant turf. Enjoy the warmer swing!