We earned this week!
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 the brunt of this past winter. As expected, the slowest areas coming out of dormancy are those high-traffic, high-and-dry locations, along with spots that experienced early snow melt.
The last 24 hours alone have done wonders for our optimism. With these conditions, we’re encouraged by how quickly things can come around. We’ll continue to sod smaller areas over the next couple of weeks, but we’re trying to avoid doing more than necessary. Patience is hard this time of year, but it’s critical.
Nutritionally, this week we made a strong push to get the Bermudagrass moving. We applied a combination of nitrogen, potassium, and calcium to build a solid foundation, followed by foliar applications on the collars. You’ll see us continue to be a bit more aggressive with collar applications over the next couple of weeks to help those high-wear areas catch up.
Looking ahead, Monday and Tuesday bring one of everyone’s (including ours) least favorite but most important practices—greens aeration. As much as we all appreciate great playing conditions, aerification is essential for maintaining healthy, tournament-quality surfaces throughout the year. It’s a short-term disruption for a long-term gain.
During aeration, you may also notice increased activity on the range tee. We plan to be aggressive—heavy aeration, compost, and fertilizer—with the goal of getting that tee growing as quickly as possible. Simply put, we want off the mats as soon as agronomically feasible. If that means mowing it every morning because it’s growing that fast, we’ll take it. It’s a popular spot, and we know everyone is eager to get back on grass.
Next week looks like it may bring a slight return to cooler weather, but hopefully we can avoid any frost and keep progress moving in the right direction across both courses.
Lastly, I’ve received a few questions about the “green spots” on #15 Sabot. Those are caused by the blue herons that spend the winter with us. Their waste is high in nitrogen and salts—at lower concentrations, it acts like fertilizer, creating dark green, fast-growing turf. At higher concentrations, it can actually burn the turf. The good news is it appears they’ve moved on (we appreciate them choosing anywhere other than #16 green next time). With aeration and warmer weather, those spots should gradually grow out.
We’re off to a strong start this spring, and with a little cooperation from the weather, we’re excited about where things are headed. The men and women on this staff are a great group who take great pride and enthusiasm in what they do. Give them a thanks when you see them!
