Hermitage CC Golf Course Management

 This week gave us a little taste of summer. Just seven days removed from a frost, both courses are already off and running in the race toward prime golf season. It’s always encouraging to see that kind of turnaround, and the recent stretch of warm weather has really helped jumpstart our progress. Last weekend’s Jr. Valentine event was a huge success, and a great showcase for the club. The Manakin Course was prepared and presented at a high level, with firm, consistent playing conditions that held up well throughout the tournament. The team takes a lot of pride in delivering that kind of environment for competitive play, and it was rewarding to see everything come together for such a well-run event. Looking ahead, next week brings a bit of a curveball with cooler temperatures—potentially flirting with freezing on Tuesday morning. We’re hopeful we can dodge another frost and keep the momentum going with our green-up, which has been steady and encouraging across both courses. Throug...

  Our major spring aeration on the greens is officially in the books, with Sabot wrapping up this week. Everything went just about as planned, and the weather couldn’t have cooperated any better. The team knocked out a full program—deep tine, solid tine, and hollow tine aeration, along with topdressing and fertilization. It was a busy stretch, but the crew did a great job staying on track and getting everything done. Over on Manakin, we’ve been focused on cleaning up some of the winter-damaged areas and getting things ready for the Jr. Valentine this weekend. The greens there are finally starting to settle back in and feel more like normal after their aeration a couple of weeks ago. Last week gave us a really good look at where we stand with the bermuda. The warmer temps helped kickstart some solid growth and green-up, which was great to see. This week, though, we took a couple steps back with frost the last two mornings—this morning being the toughest. That said, it wouldn...

 It has been an absolutely beautiful week here at Hermitage. The stretch of warmer days and, just as importantly, warmer nights was exactly what the doctor ordered for our Bermudagrass. To top it off, we received about a half inch of rain last night—perfect timing with those warm overnight temperatures. There’s a certain level of excitement this time of year that only true turf nerds understand. Waiting for the sun to come up after a warm rain, just to see how much more green has popped overnight—it never gets old. That said, we’ve made great strides this week identifying what we have and what still needs attention, and we’re in much better shape than we initially expected. MONDAY # 10 MANAKIN     THURSDAY #10 MANAKIN We started the week by bringing in a tractor load of sod to address the areas we knew needed it. Most of these spots are in high-traffic collars around practice greens, pinch points between greens and approaches on Manakin, and some bunker edges that took...