Welcome to July

 

After an absolute scorcher of a week last week we finally saw some clouds form up Sunday night and the thunderstorms starting taking a few direct hits on property. The .17" that fell Sunday night was burned up quickly on Monday and then a monsoon took shape Tuesday night bringing plenty of wind and close to 2" of rain through Wednesday at lunch time. 

The rain on Sunday was the first in 10 days with multiple 100 degree days in between. The bermuda, cared for by our rock solid irrigation systems, could not be happier, rain or no rain.

This past Monday the Manakin team took advantage of our normal closure and went ahead and lightly verticut the approaches and topdressed them.

About 40 tons of sand were quickly brushed in around the greens keeping those surfaces tight and firm. The battle begins now for quality of cut and keeping the bermuda mowed out in between thunderstorms.

Over on the Sabot Monday we finally made the call to remove the large oak to the left of 3 black tee. The oak was out of play, busting up the cartpath and blocked the sun from hitting this tee until after 1pm. The zoysia should respond now to a much longer growing day with the oak relocated.

With some moisture back in the ground we were able to get the greens edged on Manakin Friday. Growth rates at the moment could not be any more different between the bermuda moving sideways and the bentgrass in summer survival mode. The solid rollers are on the greens mowers now and we will look to try and time a light topdressing in front of another thunderstorm in the next two weeks in order to keep up with the ballmarks.

The Vamont and Pure Eclipse are both in their summer forms on the Sabot and ready for a great holiday weekend, enjoy!