Hopefully the last of the 20 degree nights?

 

There was no shortage of freezing temperatures this week. The sun keeps creeping higher and higher but 25 degrees made sure the bermuda could stay dormant. Manakin irrigation moved on to 13 this week.

A week without rain meant we could dig up every head on 13 almost in one day. The wire pulling and connection process continues to move along well. The only heads left on this side of the gas line are on 6 fairway now. This coming Monday we will knock out 5 and 13 greens and then work on 6 fairway. If all goes well we may be finished in two weeks time. There are only 100 heads left to dig and wire up!

In normal golf maintenance news we were finally able to get a light topdressing down on the greens on Tuesday. The sand was lightly brushed in and should help alleviate the ballmark impact for a bit. Sabot greens aeration with 1/4" tines is scheduled for March 18th.

The freeze thaw continues to be a hinderance up at the pickleball area. The moist clay on the fill side of the courts just can't firm up enough to get big 70,000 dump trucks on it to pour asphalt. After a test with a smaller dump truck on Wednesday we determined some of the fill area (basically what you can see in this picture) will need to be hauled out and just replaced with gravel. The goal for next week remains to get this whole area covered in fabric and then gravel and be ready for the paver in mid-March. 

The platform tennis guys have been putting the finishing touches on their product all week. They are in the process of painting the courts now. Our team is working around the outside to get the area accessible for the March 2nd opening matches. The end is near!