Quite a week at the Hermitage
Friday July 18th at 1:30 pm it was 95 degrees with full beaming sun. Ben turned his hose off on 18 green and some sort of water hammer loosens up a pipe elbow under the Putsy tree at the Sabot putter. This is a small 2" pipe feeding two negligible irrigation zones behind the clubhouse. That 2" line however is fed right off the mainline from the pumphouse and water was blasting 20 feet into the tree and flooding the putting green. As the elbow leak was before the shutoff valve, the only way to stop the leak was to turn the entire system off and drain the pipes.
This now meant we had no water pressure across the whole property. The guys quickly scrambled the water trucks that we use for flowers and sod to keep the greens cool for a few hours.
The system took an hour to drain and stop leaking. Look how happy Ben is on a hot Friday afternoon.
We capped the line for the time being and added some solid thrust blocks. John Gibson said some prayers for 30 minutes and then we cranked the water back on. This was probably the most stressful afternoon any of us had experienced before. The guys stayed calm and made it happen while we fixed the pipe. As thunderstorms rolled by that evening we laid down another fungicide application on the Manakin which got them ready for their 3 day closure starting on Monday.
The storms on Friday missed and the first round of the Men's Club Championship finished up Saturday. A wicked storm came through Saturday evening with 50+ mph hour winds and dropped an inch of rain. This pine along with 4 other trees around the course were laid to rest.
Debris and sticks were everywhere but luckily the Sabot was a little cleaner than the Manakin for the final round of the Club Championship. Once again the guys stepped up and got the entire facility ready for play Sunday morning.
Right of 1 an uprooted oak took out a smaller oak.
Trees in the form of wood chips are much easier to manage!
Back to the regularly scheduled program on Monday as the verticutters set out for our annual thatch reduction on the Manakin. Being able to run these blades through the Manakin in late July results in firm, consistent conditions for the rest of the season. Here is a quick video of some of the action.
The fairways are actually scalped down in front of the verticutters in order to get a jump start on the material reduction. The bermuda grows back quickly and more evenly for the rest of the year.
The debris is blown off into the rough to make way for the topdressers.
Debris is swept up and hauled away. We tossed a few sprigs in some out of the way bare spots to see if they would take and fill in.
The topdressers came right behind and worked 3 days straight to lay out almost 500 tons of sand across the 60 acres of short grass. The sand fills up the verticutter lines and helps keep the surface firm through the season. It also helps divots recover faster and defends against cart traffic by giving the crown of the plant some protection. The sand dries quickly and brushes right in. Everything will be mowed out and recovering nicely for the weekend.
During the closure we also worked to spray a good portion of both courses with weed pre-emergent and grub control. The hot temperatures and frequent rains break down weed control faster so going out a little early with a "fall" application should keep us ahead of any break through.
The verticutting process went smoothly and the Manakin was opened back up for play today. The A1/A4 bentgrass certainly enjoyed its 3 days off and we will be looking to add more fans on to greens like 6, 9 and 18 for next year. The putting green is going to move to these cupless sticks for the last few weeks of summer. These sticks allow us to spread the wear more and reduce any older stressed out cup plugs. A rainy July has produced a lot of days with high dew points (super humid) and high heat indexes. The bermuda is thriving and the bentgrass is surviving. It looks like we have another hot stretch ahead and then some relief. Enjoy summer in Richmond!