The rain has cometh

 

Grant Lowery's reign as Manakin Superintendent has officially begun. We ushered Joe out with a banana boat from Mister Softee this week and he is already over at Dominion Club making a positive impact. Mid summer transitions are rarely preferred but in this case everyone has been more than ready to make things happen.

We have finally broken the drought pattern and caught a few nice rains. The bermuda is glowing and the greens are enjoying some relief. The lower pH of the rain helps wash through some salts that generally accumulate over periods of drought, a large benefit for all of our turf.

With the early season of Monday outings finished we finally were able to get some sand topdressing down on the greens. The sand was followed up with a soil nutrient and fungicide spray and then watered in. This sand, along with a change in soil wetting agents should help alleviate some of the ballmark impacts.

We were also able to get another topdressing down on the Sabot approaches. Remember, starting July 15 we will not have 18 holes open on Mondays until 3pm. This allows the courses to rest a little more while giving us time to get some serious Monday work done like topdressing, grooming and flat out mowing some grass.

The walk bridge over the stream by 5 Sabot green was rebuilt this week. 

Eligio and his squad have this process dialed in. With this green now more accessible to walk carts we have also rigged the irrigation system to pop on if you run your cart over the collar here on 5. Give us some room around the green with your cart and you'll stay dry.

The big oak behind 10 Manakin green was cleaned up and sodded over early this week. The removal of this tree will bring much needed sunlight to this green surround as well as the tees on 11. The dead oak on 14 Sabot was also removed along with a dead pine on 2 Manakin.

Enjoy the heat, rain and the holiday weekend! Here's a quick video from this morning.