Audubon International

Over the past year here at Bear's Best Atlanta we have been working towards the goal of becoming Certified in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses.  So far, we are certified in Environmental Planning, Water Conservation, Wildlife and Habitat Management and have done an extensive Environmental Case Study on our property.  We are currently waiting to hear from Audubon on becoming certified in Outreach and Education, Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, and Water Quality Management.  Once these three catergries are certified, we will be certified in the complete progam. According to http://www.auduboninternational.org/ we would be only one of 12 properties and 19thh course so far in the state of Georgia to become certified.  If you have any questions or want to know more about the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses please let me know.

Please goto their website to learn more http://www.auduboninternational.org/.

Small Tine Aeration

We aerated all the greens ahead of play today. We used between a 1/4" to 3/8" tines depending on inside vs outside diameter. It went great and the greens were actually faster than yesterday after they were double rolled. With the play behind us we cleaned the plugs off the greens, blew clean and then double rolled. After play went through the remaining sand from the plugs was drug in and the leaf blades stood up. We will mow, lightly topdress and spray our wetting agent tomorrow. This aeration is mostly visual and the ball still rolls great.  I will post more pictures this week.



View from #9 green after it was drug this afternoon



New bunker sand

The new green side bunkers on holes 2-9 and 11 have performed great in the first month since they were built. One issue is the fluffy sand has not packed in completely yet. We are continuously packing the sand down to make them more playable and to avoid fried egg lies. We have rebuilt one of our old sand pros to pack the sand with the tires yet only lightly rake the top to avoid getting into the liner.

Packed down edges with lip

Pulling excess sand off faces and packing edges

Rebuilt sand pro with rakes that will not pull up liner

A surprising morning

When Dave Merritt, assistant golf course superintendent, got to the shop this morning he noticed the pumps were pumping 900 gallons per minute. This is not good. A thrust block at #1 green had busted at 8:56pm last night causing the 900 gallons per minute to run for about 10 hours. We started right at 7am with the crew and had #1 playable by the first tee time at 9am. The following pictures are a timeline of the cleanup.  The crew did such an awesome job, no one would have known what we went through before play today.


#1 Green at 7:20am this morning



Dave looking at the damage at 7:20am

After the water drained, mud was left.  Jesus cleaning off the green about 4 times with hose

What caused this damage

#1 Green at 8:40am.  20 minutes before the first tee time.  No one knew what it looked like 1 hr and 20 minutes earlier

#1 Green this afternoon.  The maintenance crew did a tremendous job getting this green playable today.

Round-Up and Cart Path Only

We have been spraying our Round-Up and pre-emergent on our Bermudagrass roughs this week. That is why we have been Cart Path Only so we do not track the products onto the ryegrass fairways. You will notice the slight blue dye that we use to see where we have been. Thanks for understanding and we will be back to 90 degrees on Saturday, weather permitting.


Slight blue dye look in the roughs



Tree Removal #15

We have finished removing the pine trees from around #15 green to create a better growing environment. The maintenance crew then chipped all the trees up and is currently disposing of the mulch. What a difference this had made.

#15 Before Tree Removal

#15 After Tree Removal

Rain and Bunkers

We have received 1.7" rain since last Saturday night. The course is very wet so it will be Cart Path Only for the next few days. The new bunkers have had a good test and performed very well. There was no water in the new bunkers and the washing out was minimal especially compared to the old ones.



Old bunker on #10 versus new bunkers on #2 (Small washout and no water!!!)




#6 after the rain on 1/12/12



Fixing washouts this summer on #6

Ball washers

With the low temperatures in the upper teens earlier this week, we brought in all the ball washers to be cleaned, refurbished and then painted. They will be placed back on the course after each one is finished.



Before painting and refurbishing



Finished product



Bunker Renovation update

Through two and a half days, the bunker project is going very well.

Cleaned out bunker on #2



Softening edges to minimize washouts and playability



Packing down added clay soil

Adding liner to help with washouts and contamination

Bunker Renovation

Starting yesterday, Fore-Front Construction has started rebuilding green side bunkers on holes 1-13. This includes removing all the old sand, drain rock, drain lines and starting from scratch inside the bunkers.  The bunkers here at Bear's Best Atlanta do not drain well, the sand is contaminated, the drain lines clogged and with severe slopes inside the bunkers, they wash out after a rain. The first step after cleaning them out is to soften the slopes inside the bunkers so that there is not a steep drop off right at the lip.  This will help with fried egg lies around the edges and washing after a rain.  They will then get the new drain lines and rock, be covered completely with a liner and filled with compacted sand.  More pictures to follow.

bunker before pumping and washed out along edges



#6 back bunker after pumping and crew shoveling sand back along edges