It's Still Early.....It's Still Early.....It's Still Early!!!!
It’s still early… but there’s a lot to be excited about.
As winter begins to loosen its grip on the Mid-Atlantic, we’re seeing more and more signs of life across the property. The recent stretch of favorable weather has really helped move things in the right direction, and each day is giving us a clearer picture of how the golf courses are coming out of the winter of 2025–2026.
Overall, bermudagrass recovery is off to a very encouraging start.
Sabot has greened up really well across most areas. That’s likely due to a combination of increased moisture, more consistent snow cover, reduced cart traffic, and a more open canopy (a lot of the reasons that we see less play on Sabot throughout the winter). Those conditions provided a great environment for the turf to come through winter strong, and it’s showing early as we transition into spring.
As always, winter impact varies depending on a number of factors—moisture levels, traffic patterns, compaction, shade, and exposure. The more exposed areas, particularly those that stayed drier and saw limited snow cover, are slower to respond. Manakin #1 and #2 are good examples and remain on our “watch list,” but even in those areas we are starting to see gradual improvement as temperatures trend upward.
The encouraging part is that bermudagrass is incredibly resilient. With the longer days, warming soil temperatures, and some well-timed fertility, we fully expect these areas to continue progressing in a positive direction. A large fertilizer application is going out across both courses starting tomorrow and wrapping up Monday, which should help accelerate green-up and overall recovery.
We will also begin addressing a few areas with sod next week—primarily on collars around the putting greens that have a lot of traffic, and a few tees. From what we are seeing right now, the majority of the turf is responding well and should continue to improve naturally with consistent spring weather, but time will tell. It's still early!
On the greens side, Manakin continues to recover from aeration. Despite aerifing in a Tornado Warning and a few cold mornings slowing things down, progress has been steady. Another nutrient application went out today, and with warmer temperatures in the forecast, we expect recovery to really pick up over the next several days.
Sabot greens, on the other hand, have been outstanding. The cool, dry weather has allowed us to really showcase them, and they’ve been providing firm, fast, tournament-like conditions on a daily basis. When conditions line up like this, it’s a great reminder of just how good they can be. Keep it below the hole!
We’re excited about where things are heading as we roll into spring. Winter projects are wrapping up, with stump grinding scheduled for next week to put the finishing touches on that work. From there, it’s full speed ahead—mulch going down, turf continuing to green up, and the golf courses transitioning into peak season form. We are still working on the little projects that continue our upward trend. We are lucky to have a staff of absloute rockstars!
The Masters is right around the corner, and that always feels like the true start of the season.
Let’s go!