Cool and dry, bermuda is not doing much!

 

We are in our normal holding pattern for spring now. The fairways have greened up nicely but there will be no exciting amount bermuda growth for a bit, even with 90 in the forecast next week. The soil temperatures rise slowly, just as the water temperature does. Above 80 degrees makes it close to comfortable to jump in the pool and that is when the bermuda will start moving. We are hovering in the mid 60's right now. In the meantime enjoy the bouncy golf course and lack of rough!

We were able to knock out our final bunker renovation of the season on Manakin this week. Joe and Sloan scrambled the guys on Monday and excavated the 20 year old sand and drainage out of 15 fairway bunker. At 2,800 square feet this is no small bunker.

Two trucks with 18 yards of concrete total were laid out perfectly on Wednesday on top of the new drainage pipe and gravel. The guys are filling it up with new sand now. Between excavation and installing the new drainage, concrete and sand, over 100 trips are made to each bunker during the process.

Our new maintenance bunker rakes have arrived and have been employed in our currently very dry bunkers. The rakes have teeth in the front to smooth out footprints and bumps and then a rotating basket behind to leave an almost smooth surface. You can see the difference between the end result on the left of Johnathan vs the old rakes on the right. We are positive this new finish will result in way lower scores and much less mental angst during your round.

We are tossing a little quick release fertilizer in the rough on the Sabot just in case it does decide to really wake up in the next two weeks.

The greens are slowly healing up from aeration. Root growth is happening here, especially in our deep tine holes as well as the 1/4" holes from the core aerator. None us like dealing with aerated greens but come summer time when the greens are healthy and thriving it will be worth it. Keeping that top organic layer diluted with sand is paramount to providing a healthy putting surface.

We continue to patch up the worst spots of our cartpaths. This sink hole on 6 was filled in and covered over along with spots on 8 and 18 Sabot.

The snapdragons have finally come into their own around the grounds. It is hard to believe it is almost Mother's Day and time to start installing annual flowers.

The paint for the pickleball courts is on property and the fence poles are up! The courts have to be washed down and then four different coats of paint will finish up this project. Once the paint starts hitting the asphalt we'll go ahead and commit to an opening date!