Monday's aerification

We decided to aerate Monday instead of Tuesday to best the rain. We used 3/8" coring tines on 2" spacing. We put a little more than a light top dressing down and roll the greens twice. 1.4" of rain washed the sand in nicely. A lot of the holes are still open and we will topdress again next week. Greens should heal up rather quickly and still roll very well.

Finishing up #18 Green right before dark

Blowing sand into the holes on Wednesday

Up close after sand was blown around

Golf course pictures from this week

With all the rain it was nice to to have a few days to get out and cut the ryegrass while it was dry.

Chipping area

#17 Fairway

#18 Fairway

Practice facility

Raking of #6 bunkers

The faces of the bunkers on number 6 seem to plug worse than others because of the steep slopes and the angles of the balls that are hit into them. We have started to rake them like they did at the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in 2011. We have already received a few comments that this is helping with playability out of those bunkers. Below are a few pictures.

Royal Melbourne with smooth raking technique

#6 with same technique.  We are experimenting with what works best and may smooth out even farther down the face.

2.2" Rain this week

We have received 2.2" of rain this week.  The course is in good shape, but it very wet.  Hopefully, we can get off the paths sometime soon. Bunkers have been repaired and will be in good shape for the weekend.  With lows of 31 on Saturday morning and 25 on Sunday morning, we are anticipating a frost delay each day.  Please call the pro shop to see how your tee time is adjusted.

Surviving the Storms

We got hit pretty good with the storm system that rolled through here on Wednesday afternoon. Luckily, there was no tornados just heavy rain and wind. We got 2.1" and most of it fell in about 30 minutes. Cart paths were covered in debris, bunkers washed, and small limbs down. Most everything has been cleaned up for the weekend and the bunkers have been pumped and repaired.

Cart paths were impassable Thursday morning in spots 

All the old bunkers looked like this if not worse

Even the new bunkers washed and some of the drains backed up

Fresh paint and new floor

During rain and frost delays the past few weeks we have given the mechanics bay of the shop a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint. This included cleaning and prepping the concrete floor surface for a fresh coat of paint. It turned out great. Our mechanic David Babcock does a great job of keeping the shop organized and clean.

Pictures after the rain

The course is slowly drying out and the sun was a welcome sight today. Here are some pictures from around the course. Greens were mowed today. Hopefully it will be dry enough to mow all the ryegrass on Monday. The warm wet weather has given the ryegrass good color.

Getting work done even with the rain

The past two days we have had a slow, steady rain that has produced almost 2" of rain. With two more days forecasted of rain the golf course is going to be very wet. The past two days we have got a lot of work done that was greatly needed. We have painted the entire mechanics bay of the shop. We also have painted and cleaned ball washers, return carts to path stakes, and tee markers. We have the other 72 tee markers to finish when we put the fresh ones out so there will be only one marker per tee box for a few days.



Tee Markers before they were washed and painted.  Notice all the algae that has built up.



Finished product. Tee markers after they were painted and washed

Ball washers taken apart, cleaned and repainted

Paul, Pancho and Bianca painting the inside of the mechanics shop

Cleaning, sanding and repainting the return carts to path poles

Frost delays

Frost delays are always a concern at golf courses, but it is magnified at Bears Best. Without returning nines, we have only one direction to send off straight tee times. Shotguns also work, but since we have so many shaded greens, they all have to be clear to do a shotgun. Holes 1, 3, and 5 are the slowest to melt during a delay and those are the ones that need to be open for play first. As always, the maintenance staff does everything to tee off as early as possible. Here are two pictures from #1 this past Saturday.

Frost on #1 around 8:00AM

Frost on #1 at 10:30AM.  Front quarter is clear where the sun shines through, but entire back is still covered.

Clearing of natural areas

We are currently doing our yearly trimming of all the brush/natural areas at #2,4,5,8,9,and 13. We will work on these areas throughout the winter during frost delays and other slow times. Here is a picture from last week on #2.