Massive Tree Removal on #15

#15 green has really struggled the past few summers during the extreme heat.  All of the pine trees behind #15 green have grown up since the course was built ten years ago.  None of those trees were planted there.  We have removed 90% of the trees so far and will finish up sometime next week.  We will clean up the trees once the they have lost some more needles to give a better ground cover.  Robert O'Campo(one of the assistant golf course superintendents) has headed up this project and done a great job. The trees being removed will create better air flow and with the addition of a fan next spring, the bentgrass will have a better environment to thrive than in the previous years.

Before the trees behind the green were removed

Robert O'Campo starting the process of removing trees

From the hill behind #15 green, below #16 tee box

On #15 green

Almost finished on the right side

Overall look at what has been removed so far

Pictures and Frost

Here are some pictures from the weekend of November 12th. While other courses are dormant and can allow golf as soon as their greens clear, here at Bear's Best we have to wait for the ryegrass to clear as damage would occur to the tees and fairways as well.  We open the practice area much sooner than the golf course as the frost holds on much longer on holes 1,2,3 and 5.  Further posts on frosts will follow.

Frost at #11 ladies tee and drop area

Frost in the shade on #7 fairway and rough

View from right of #4 green with black bunkers

#9 green

behind #9 green looking back the fairway

USGA video

Over the next few months, I will post some videos from the USGA, other turf sources and golf course superintendents around the country on some of the things golf course maintenance staffs do to prepare the golf course for play. The first one looks at how the Stimpmeter works.

2 weeks later......

Two weeks ago on Wednesday and Thursday we put out our perennial ryegrass for winter overseeding.  As you can see from the pictures below, what a difference two weeks makes.



Kent Cain overseeding #9 fairway 



Pancho and Piedad overseeding #10 approach

Lots of water over the past two weeks



View from #1 green after fairway was mowed for the 1st time



#4 fairway from the green

#5 fairway

View from #1 green

Summer weather Review

This was posted by meteorologist Kirk Mellish on his blog at http://www.wsbradio.com/.

Summer review:

• June temperatures (highs AND lows averaged together) were +4.0F... with 24 90 or above days and three 95 or above days. Rainfall was only 56% of normal.

• July temperatures as above were +2.2F... with 27 days of 90 or above and six days of 95 or above. Rainfall was only 51% of normal.

• August temperatures as above were +3.6F... with 29 days of 90 or above and 12 days of 95 or above. Rainfall was just 39% of normal.

• There were no triple digit high temperatures this summer, but August 26th was 99. So the 3-month summer season averaged 3.2 degrees F above normal.

• For Atlanta, with 133 years of data, 2011 was the third-warmest summer on record with 2010; only the summers of 1980 and 1993 were warmer. According to the Georgia state climatologist office: "summer 2011 ranked third with a temp of 82.26 and summer 2010 ranked fourth with a temp of 82.17".
  
  1980 was 82.67 and 1993 was 82.28..

Temperatures in Atlanta didn't break ANY daily high temp records this summer; we just rarely got a break from the heat. Many past summers have had more record highs than this summer, more upper 90s, longer 95+ streaks, and more 100s than this summer, most recently 2007.
Based on the average  high temperature, it was also the third-warmest summer on record with an average high temperature of 92.5 F (4.5 F above average).
Based on average mean temperatures our summer was like Tampa Bay, FL. (temp not humidity or rainfall).

• The summer rainfall for Atlanta was 6.38 inches (6.04 inches below average), making it the 9th driest summer on record.

• Atlanta rainfall the past 90 days is -6 inches, and for the last 365 days rainfall is 8 inches below normal
• Total summer rainfall averaged just 48.6% of normal or 51.4% below-normal rain.

The longest streak of 90 or above was 16 days in August, putting this summer in 2^nd place in history IF you include September behind 21 days in 1993. For spring AND summer 2011 is in first place for days of 90 or above at 89, ahead of 79 in 1980 and 72 in 2010, 1993, 1986, 1954, and 1943.
A typical summer in Atlanta  (June-July-August) will give us 37 days with a high of 90 or above, and nine days with a high of 95 or above. This summer gave us a whopping 80 days of 90 degrees or above and 21 days of 95F or above.

This summer ranks in the top 3 hottest in history in Atlanta, just barely behind 1980 and 1993 based on daily high temperatures and average (mean) temperature.  Both 90 and 95-degree days were way above normal, with 6-month 90 days setting a new record, and probably 1^st place for summer as well.
There have been many years when the summer failed to register a high temperature of 95 or more, most recently 2005. The fewest number of 90 degree days was just two in the summer of 1967!

Long, Hot Summer, but there is still ryegrass out there!

With aeration and overseeding one week from today and tommorrow, there is still some ryegrass hanging on from last year.  Even with the excessive, lengthy heat we had this summer, there are some places that the ryegrass is alive and some places that is now thriving.  With the cooler temperatures, there are places that are recovering and producing a good stand of ryegrass.  It won't be too long until the tees, fairways, and approaches will look like the collar from #5 green seen below.  This picture is just one more reason why fans are so important for cool-season turfgrass survival in the hot, humid south.  This collar is right in front of the fan.  Not only did the green do great this summer, the ryegrass held on as well.



#5 Green on September 7th with ryegrass going strong



Atlanta Athletic Club blog

One thing that is really cool about our industry is seeing how things are done at other places.  Here is the Golf Course Maintenance blog from the Atlanta Athletic Club.  They will be posting lots of cool updates over the next week and during the tournament.  Check it out.  aaccgm.blogspot.com

PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club

Here is a video with Ken Mangum, CGCS, The Director of Golf Course Maintenance at Atlanta Athletic Club.  He details the course conditions and the varieties of grasses that are used at AAC.  The greens are Champion Bermuda, which are loving this heat while ours at Bears Best are G-2 bentgrass and are not real happy at this point in the summer.

http://www.turfnet.com/tv/latest.php

New Divot Bottle Holder

We have installed a "swap out" divot bottle holder at the intersection of #8 Tee, #9 Green and #10 Tee.  We will install another one at the water cooler on #13 later this week or next.

Celebration Bermudagrass and New Fairway Mower

Tuesday we sodded #2 blue tee with Celebration Bermudagrass.  Celebration is more shade tolerant than 419 and is very aggressive.

Friday our new Toro fairway mower was delivered.  We are very happy to have this new reliable piece of equipment.

Celebration Bermudagrass on #2 Blue Tee Box

New Toro 5510 Fairway Mower outside the clubhouse