Winter Weather is Winning!
So far, winter weather has remained undefeated. We’ve now had 18 straight days where daytime highs failed to reach 50 degrees, and overnight lows have dipped below freezing on 17 of those days. Last Friday’s quick snowstorm cleared out just in time for mother nature to drop another five inches across the club, keeping the courses closed for most of the week.
We’ve been waiting on the arrival of our ground poles for the new fans that will be installed around most of the remaining Manakin greens. The plan was to begin setting poles early this week, but the weather had other ideas. We’ll head out next week and get as many poles in the ground as conditions allow, with plans to continue the work after Christmas and into the new year. Installing the ground poles is the first step prior to adding each new TurfBreeze fan. Once the concrete cures, we’ll run power to all the newly set ground poles. Once again we will be adding fans on holes 6, 7, 9, 11, 15, and 18 Manakin for this upcoming growing season.
With snow on the ground keeping us indoors, we took the opportunity to bring all the par 3 benches for a fresh coat of paint for the upcoming season. We repaint our benches every winter, though we don’t usually dive into this kind of winter work quite this early. These will stay in the shop until spring, or at least until rounds and weather begin to pick back up.
While the benches were getting a fresh coat of paint, we went ahead and brought our stakes up to the paint booth as well. We pulled in most of the stakes from both courses for a facelift and even made a few additional ones to add to our inventory. The stakes that were in use on the courses will head back out early next week. Taking advantage of the course closures, we also brought the flagsticks in for a thorough cleanup.
Dunstano and his team continue grinding away, at not just our mower reels, but also on scheduled maintenance such as oil changes, filters, and hydraulic oil. We have more than 50 reels for them to grind, not only during the winter months but throughout the entire year. Course conditions wouldn’t be the same without the hard work and skill of our two equipment managers.
We are excited to announce that Brent Graham will become the next Director of Grounds here at Hermitage Country Club. Brent joins us from Two Rivers in Williamsburg, and although he won’t officially have his boots on the ground until February 9th, he has already visited the property several times to meet with our staff. Brent is an Ohio State graduate and has served on the Virginia Golf Course Superintendents Association board for the past year as Vice President. He is also a Certified Golf Course Superintendent. We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome him to the Hermitage team!
While the campus has recently turned into a winter wonderland, we still have one more storm to evade this weekend. After Sunday, the long-range forecast finally starts to look more promising, even showing a couple of days above 50 degrees. Hard to believe it’s not officially winter yet, so we’re staying optimistic for a mild winter ahead. Have a great weekend!