Giving the greens some air

On Tuesday we punched small 1/4" holes in the greens. This will reduce our thatch and organic matter levels, relieve soil compaction, increase oxygen levels, and stimulate root growth going into the winter. The holes are so small that after three rollings and a mowing this morning, the surface is very smooth and fast. You can still see the holes, but it has not affected putting quality. No sand was applied yet, but if the weather is as good as forecasted next week, we will do a light topdressing to even further smooth the surface. You can see in the pictures below how small the holes are and how they looked right after we finished on Tuesday. They look even better today.

Fall pictures

The first picture was taken at #2 tee box with frost on Saturday morning. The second picture is from #4 approach in the evening with the trees in full fall color.

Ryegrass pictures

The ryegrass has come in nicely this year and has matured well going into this cold stretch we started yesterday. With temperatures around freezing tonight and later this week there is the potential for some frost. I do not expect any tonight or tomorrow because of the high winds, but our first frost delay is in the near future.

Pansies

We have added our fall color around the clubhouse in the annual beds. The past two years we have just mulched these areas because of our deer population. This year we decided to put flowers back in. I have talked with other superintendents and horticulturalists and have developed a plan to hopefully have beautiful flowers instead of deer food. Lets hope this continues.

Ready to be cut

With the rain the past two days the ryegrass has taken off. If we dry out enough between now and Thursday afternoon we will cut all 40+ acres then. As you can see in the pictures below it has come in good and is ready to cut.

5 inches of rain

Bear's Best Atlanta received 5 inches of rain since Sunday night. It is very wet out there. I have only seen the bunkers washed worse one other time in the past two and a half years.

Aerification and overseeding completed

After 1.6" of rain on Monday and Tuesday and finishing up overseeding during play the past two days we are done. We aerated all the greens Monday and overseeded 4 holes. Monday around 5pm the rain shut down the overseeding and did so again all day Tuesday. We did all but 2 fairways yesterday and finished up this afternoon. Below us a picture of the guys overseeding 16 approach and around the green late Wednesday night.

Practice Green

We always get a lot of traffic on the practice greens. One problem we get is people practicing in one spot around one cup and not moving around. Usually it just leaves foot prints for a couple days (which is not good) but this week someone camped out and killed the grass. If you see someone planted in one area please remind them to move around.

Aerification and Overseeding

We will be aerating and overseeding on September 17th and 18th. The golf course and range will be closed both days. The greens have recovered nicely from the summer stress and will be in great shape coming out of aerification. Here is a picture of #9 from late last week and it was one of the worst greens. You can see how it has recovered nicely.

Piebald Deer

Tim Foster, Director of Instruction here at Bear's Best took some pictures of a piebald deer fawn last week here at the club. He also did some research and here is what he found out about the piebald deer.

A genetic variation produces the piebald condition in white-tailed deer, not parasites or diseases. Piebald deer are colored white and brown, similar to a pinto pony. Sometimes they appear almost entirely white. This genetic condition is rare, with typically less that one percent of the population being affected. Often fawns born with this condition do not survive at birth, or if they do are easy prey because they lack the normal camouflage coloration.