Fall Color, Cookouts and Project Time

 Monday started off with a cookout for the crew, and the boys definitely didn't disappoint. We had a ton of steak and chicken on tortillas, along with some salsa that was really good… although it may not have been quite fit for the gringos. There was a little fire to it! A big thanks to the Hermitage Ladies 9-Holers for raising the money to make the cookout happen. We appreciate it! 

After lunch, we gave the crew the afternoon off (paid, of course), while the managers stayed behind to knock out a little work. We sprayed 100 acres of short grass with an annual pigment, iron and molasses application. This is probably my favorite spray of the year, and it should help us hold onto a little more color as we head further into fall.

We've definitely hit a dry spell lately. We haven't seen much, if any, moisture in the rain gauges in some time. That's perfectly fine with us! It's a whole lot easier to get things done around campus when it's dry. We've been running some light irrigation cycles on the bermudagrass to make sure it's properly hydrated heading into dormancy. Warm-season turf entering dormancy under drought stress is much more susceptible to winter injury, so keeping it hydrated now is important. We did put a cut on the bermuda this week to clean things up, just in case we get a little rain today or tomorrow. At this point, we want the grass conserving its stored energy reserves and preparing for dormancy rather than trying to recover from drought stress.

We are officially in the throws of leaf season. It seems like we can get everything cleaned up by 10 a.m., only to look around at 2 p.m. and wonder if we actually did anything at all! The dry weather seems to be accelerating leaf season, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's certainly looking quite colorful out there, and the fall golf weather has been spectacular.

Wednesday, we put a light topdressing on the greens in an effort to firm them up and smooth things out. Hopefully, we get a little rain tonight to help wash it in. The greens are definitely fun to play this time of year. And if you wouldn't necessarily call it fun… we'll go with challenging!

This season, we made it a goal to really focus on "maintenance" and elevate playing conditions across both golf courses. I feel like we were able to accomplish that, maintaining tournament-level conditions throughout most of the season while keeping turf health a top priority. Projects are great, but I think there is a proper time and place for them. Making sure we stay focused on the things that matter most to daily playing conditions is important. That being said, we're officially getting into project season.

First up is the Sabot dam. We had a construction meeting Wednesday with the county, our engineers and the contractor to make sure everyone is on the same page. Although it's not ideal having to shut down the front nine at Sabot, the project looks to be fairly straightforward. Hopefully, the weather continues to cooperate, and we can get everything completed as planned.

We also removed all the sod from the tee boxes and repurposed it around the courses. Much of it made its way to the range to help clean up some of the dirt areas that have been hanging around. The crew pulled quite a bit of sod off those tees and managed to get it all removed in about a day and a half. Not a bad little project!

You may have noticed a little campfire smell around campus the last couple of days. We got our burn permit and have the burn pit rolling again as we continue our goal of keeping the dump clean and organized. Grant has been a kid in a candy store up there burning logs. I'm pretty sure we've got ourselves a pyro!

Finally, a little match play update. Graham and Yancey fell to Wilson and Kinnon after Kinnon rolled in a putt on 18 at Kinloch Sunday to seal the deal. Really, just a terrible stretch of golf on my end. I'm blaming the new job! On to next year, and hopefully a little handicap reduction is in order.

The next opportunity for redemption will be at the Carolinas Turf Conference, where Graham and Beasley are determined to make the Carolina boys hand over the 4-ball trophy over to some Virginia folks. We've got a group of managers heading down for the conference, and I'm sure we might even have a Harriman sighting!

Have a great weekend, and enjoy this spectacular golf weather. We'll keep the leaves moving, the bentgrass happy and the projects rolling!