October Has Arrived and VT is 4-0!

 Monday started off the week with the Lunch Pail Monday outing, and it was great to see a lot of smiling faces really amped up about VT football for the first time in a long while.

There were people walking around here in VT gear looking like Conor McGregor walking into the ring — that kind of swagger walk. It’s refreshing to see a little swagger returning to Blacksburg...even coming from a Buckeye!

Before the outing, we were able to squeeze in a mow, topdress, drag and roll on the Manakin greens. They are still not 100% back from aeration, but they are getting pretty close. We were also able to complete some fall fertilizer tie-ins around the greens on Tuesday.

The cool, overcast weather we had during that nor’easter really stunted some growth over the last week. A little sunshine and warmer weather should get some color returning to the bermuda. It has been interesting to see the difference between the two grasses. The Latitude on Manakin really did not like the cool, overcast weather, while the Vamont on Sabot really wasn’t phased by it.

We also had plenty of cleanup to do after all those windy days. There is always something to clean up after a stretch of wind!

The range ryegrass is really starting to pop. We will be back on the grass tomorrow and Saturday for the Senior Club Championship. For the next couple of weeks, we will be rotating back and forth between the grass and the mats to try to avoid completely destroying that young ryegrass before it gets fully established. We gave the rye a shot of fertilizer this morning to really get it bumping.

Today we were also working on a few spray applications. One was in the native areas for broadleaf weeds and volunteer woody weeds — mostly those little pines that seem to show up everywhere. We also made a preventative application along the tree lines for fall armyworms. We don’t see them every year, but when we do, they can be very destructive very quickly. It’s one of those things where being proactive is much better than trying to catch up after they have already made a mess.

Mid-week this week we also got a lot of detail work completed — bunker edging, head edging, paver edging, etc. The details make all the difference! A lot of the work we do isn’t necessarily something you notice when it is done, but you definitely notice it when it isn’t.

Notice to all golfers!

Felipe is the man on Manakin who is in charge of broken tee pickup, buffalo blowing and bunkers. He will be leaving us shortly to head back to Honduras for the winter.

If you see Felipe on the course, do yourself a favor and stop and say hi. He is by far one of the happiest people at Hermitage - all the time. He always has a smile on his face and seems to be having a good day no matter what is going on around him.

We are getting to that time of year when we start losing some of our seasonal staff. It’s always a tough time of year because we still have thousands of things we want to get done, but staffing numbers start decreasing and things can get a little tight.

I always say that no matter how many people you have on staff, you are always two guys short. This time of year, that number grows to about six guys short!

But we make it work, and the crew does an excellent job even as our numbers start to decrease. There is always something that needs to be done, and somehow they keep finding a way to get it done.

I Caved

Admittedly...I have wilted to the pressure of the putting green flags.

We really do like the clean look of the putting green without them, and believe it or not, we have seen fewer traffic issues on the putting green without the flags. But sometimes the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.

So, we put four flags back out there.

That still leaves a couple of holes without sticks for those of you who prefer to putt without the putting green flags. Everybody wins!

Tomorrow’s weather looks spectacular. The weekend...not so much. We are currently looking at 1–2 inches of rain in the forecast for the weekend.

Next week looks like our first real push of cool — or maybe I should say cold — weather. The forecasted low for Wednesday morning is 40 degrees, and it looks like we could have four days with lows in the 40s next week.

October is here!

Have a great week!