Pullover and Rainpant Mornings!

 

Spectacular weather is upon us! For the last six weeks, we have said every week, “Once we get through this week, things will calm down.” And, if history is any indication, we will probably say the same thing for the next eight straight weeks as well.

But this week actually felt a little different. The cooler temperatures have arrived, the course is starting to quiet down, and we have finally started removing the rest of the fans. There is something about getting those big fans off the course that makes everything feel a little more peaceful. The course looks cleaner, feels quieter, and for the first time in a while, it actually feels like fall might be on the way.

Everyone’s least favorite week — ours included — arrived on Monday as the Manakin greens were aerified and topdressed.

It is never easy pulling a core out of greens that are absolutely perfect. After all the work that goes into getting them to this point, intentionally putting holes in them seems a little crazy. But aeration is one of those cultural practices that helps us survive the summer and, ultimately, allows us to get the greens to where they are today.

It is a necessary evil.

The Sabot greens also received a light dusting of sand this week to help finish the recovery from their aeration a couple of weeks ago. So far, so good. They are starting to play really well again, and the recovery has gone about as well as we could have hoped.

Now we just need to get Manakin there.

Range Overseeding

We also started preparing the range for overseeding. The range fairway was scalped down through the middle, and a herbicide application was made to help with weed control ahead of the overseed.

We will be overseeding both the range fairway and the tee on Monday. We will be completing this work after the outing on Monday, so the range will be closed all day Monday.

Once that work is complete, we will let Mother Nature and the calendar do their thing and get everything established heading into the cooler months.

A Tough Year for Pine Trees

Tuesday gave us an opportunity to take care of some tree work on Manakin. There were a couple of large, dead pine trees on #16 and #14 that needed to come down.

This has been a tough year for pine trees around the property. We have lost several, and there are still a handful on Sabot that will need to be removed. Between lightning strikes and pine borer beetles, we have lost some absolute monsters this year.

And then there is our continued thorn in the side… Thorguard.

At this point, I am getting ready to dispose of these horns in a very deep hole.

We have had quite a few components in the system that have needed to be replaced this year. The good news is that they have all been under warranty. The bad news is that none of them have been particularly effective.

We have done several rounds of testing this week, and everything is currently working. The manufacturer is still working through some bugs in the system that are causing the horns to randomly sound in the middle of the day.

Hopefully, we can get that issue resolved. If not, we may be looking at switching to a more “operational” system for next year — one with more useful features and more up-to-date technology.

We will see how that one plays out.

The Boss Slacking

And finally, Grant caught me waiting for him to get back to the shop.

Since I always post pictures of him that he doesn't like on the blog, I promised him I would include this one of the boss slacking.

Fair is fair.

Next week looks like it has the potential to be a little wet. While that isn't necessarily ideal for golf weather, hopefully the rain will give the newly aerified Manakin greens exactly what they need to help speed up the recovery.

Have a great weekend!