Sabot greens aeration complete, thankful for another dry week
The guys got started early on Monday with all three of our greens aerators. 1/4" cores were pulled out of the top two inches of our greens profile on all 20 greens before the end of the day.
The absence of the dryject combined with smaller holes at a tighter spacing seems to put these greens through less of a shock in the spring. The performance of the surface through the season has improved with this aeration practice and recovery is much quicker than using the dryject and larger holes.
We are still able to get about 30 tons of kiln dried sand into the holes on the greens. This periodic replacement of organic matter with sand helps keep the surfaces firm through the season and allows for consistent water penetration while also providing avenues for root growth.
The sand is brushed in along with a number of amendments.
Everything is watered in and ready for play. Another large shot of rain is on the way Saturday so we should be back on a normal mowing schedule next week as the temperatures come back up a little.
While Sabot was closed early in the week we went ahead and took down the large oak before the tees on 2. This tree was struck by lightning about a year ago and while it survived last season it was not looking good for another season. You can see how the entire trunk split open when it hit the ground.
Our stump grinder contractor was on the ground Monday as well, knocking out the last bit of stumps around both courses for the winter season. Behind 11 Manakin here we also had our lumber contractor run his forestry machine through our new 4 acres of land to clean up some of the smaller sucker trees. This gives us a bit of a cleaner look from 1 Manakin over to 10 and will help with our access when it comes time to start taking some of these trees down for the driving range renovation.
The Manakin guys came over during the closure for aeration and knocked out a drain in 13 Sabot fairway. The new irrigation system must of hit a spring here in the middle of the fairway during installation.
A french drain is now run from the middle of the fairway all the way over to the woods.
The asphalt company is on site for the pickleball courts!
They are paving the courts in two lifts which will help ensure the surface is as smooth as possible. Paving will be completed today and then the 30 day clock starts for curing. During that time the fence and lights will go up. After 30 days the paint will go down and we'll be ready for play shortly there after.
Framing has started for the Facilities Maintenance building. It is crazy how fast the wood goes up.
The foundation for our breakroom is filled up and ready for concrete on Friday. The framers will work their way over here once the other building is finished.
The weather should get a little milder for next week so the bermuda will continue to green up. After that we are already in to April! Enjoy another rainstorm Saturday!