A Long Week...But an Important One
Well...I think we're all happy to be done with this week.
Bermudagrass aeration, verticutting, and topdressing is always a major undertaking, but it's an even bigger ordeal on Manakin. Compared to most courses in our area, Manakin has roughly twice the amount of short-cut bermudagrass. While that makes for a lot of fun and great playing conditions, it also means a tremendous amount of labor goes into maintaining those surfaces—especially this time of year when we're focused on the cultural practices that keep them healthy and performing at a high level.
Monday started with some dead tree removal on both courses. Ben handled the tree crew, and honestly, I don't think I've ever seen one person get so giddy over a new chainsaw. This new fuel-injected Stihl 500i is literally his new baby. It will be a great addition to our fleet and help replace some of our aging saws that have seen more than their fair share of tree work over the years. Nearly all of our tree removal is done in-house, so having the right equipment not only makes the job more efficient but also continues to save the club a significant amount of money.
The primary focus of the week, though, was Manakin's bermudagrass cultural practices. Verticutting is essential for keeping Latitude bermudagrass from becoming puffy, scalpy, and overly thatchy. These practices remove organic matter while helping the turf drain better, stay firm and dense, and even improve disease management by reducing conditions favorable for issues like Spring Dead Spot.
This week we verticut all of the fairways, core aerified the collars, and aerified several additional high-wear areas that tend to develop compaction. Once that was complete, everything received a healthy topdressing. In total, approximately 250 tons of sand were applied across Manakin.
Thunderstorms rolled in Tuesday afternoon, and by the time they moved out we had picked up nearly 4 inches of rain.
Normally we'd celebrate four inches of July rain after some bermuda aeration, but the timing couldn't have been much worse. We simply didn't have enough time to finish cleaning up all the sprigs and get the rough mowed before everything got soaked. Once those sprigs got wet, Wednesday became...interesting.
Trying to remove soaked bermuda sprigs that are basically glued to the ground with water isn't exactly anyone's idea of fun. The crew pushed through it, and in many areas we had to remove material by hand because it was either too wet for the vacs to work effectively or, in true July fashion, the vacs decided they had other plans. Our shop crew deserves a huge shoutout for keeping the old girls pieced together. There were more than a few trips back and forth to the repair shop this week, but they kept us moving.
That said...it's finished.
Tomorrow we'll skip mowing the Manakin fairways to give them just a little more time to recover before putting reels back on them. Instead, our attention will turn to mowing rough. Yes...we know it's getting a little penal out there.
The vacs we use to collect the sprigs tend to stand the rough up, making it difficult to mow cleanly. Add in mid-July temperatures, four inches of rain, and Richmond humidity, and bermudagrass absolutely goes wild. It's a good problem to have, but it definitely keeps us busy.
The good news is that recovery should be quick. Sabot is already back to where we'd expect after going through the exact same process two weeks ago, and Manakin shouldn't be far behind.
Perhaps the best news of the week?
We have a couple nights with temperatures in the 60s coming up.
That is an absolute green light for us.
During stretches when overnight lows stay in the upper 70s and low 80s with high humidity—as they've been the last couple of weeks—we have to be extremely careful with our bentgrass greens. Now that Mother Nature is finally giving us a break, we're able to start stepping on the gas again.
Manakin greens received a light topdressing on Tuesday, followed by a double cut and roll today. Sabot received a mow and roll today as well, and both courses will get another mow and roll tomorrow.
The greens are still carrying a little extra moisture from all the rain, so they're a touch softer than we'd like, but they're already rolling much better. Hopefully the next few days of cooler nights and drier weather will continue to firm everything up.
Now our focus shifts toward getting every detail dialed in over the next couple of weeks as we prepare for The Valentine.
We can't wait.
As always, thank you to our maintenance team for another incredible effort this week. It certainly wasn't easy, but their willingness to adapt, work long hours, and keep pushing through difficult conditions is what allows both golf courses to continue performing at such a high level.
Now...let's keep these cool nights coming!