6 green on a gorgeous day

We have had some beautiful weather since my last post. In November and so far in December, the weather has been drier than normal on the Oregon Coast. This has made for some fantastic golfing days. As usual, when the sun is out this time of year, there have been some frost and frozen conditions that have led to some frost delays. We even had some closures during coldest days, which are quite rare at Sandpines. I was lucky enough to get out and play a round at Sandpines in late November and the weather was perfect. I was able to comfortably play in a short sleeved polo shirt. I had a great time despite my rusty golf game.

Hole 9 during a frost delay

After one of our frost delays, I stumbled onto the scene in the picture below. At first, I thought someone dug the cup out of the green with their bare hands.

Cup and sod lying in a pile on 3 green

Upon closer inspection, I found some strange markings in a nearby bunker (pictured below).

Solid line and foot prints in a bunker next to 3 green

Just past the bunker, the flagstick was lying on the cart path as pictured below.

Flagstick lying on the cart path near 3 green

If you haven't guessed by now, the culprit was a bear. The "foot prints" in the bunker were bear tracks. My guess is that the bear was walking across the green and ran into the flagstick and decided to "play" with it. In the process, the cup was ripped out of the ground. After the bear marched through the bunker with the stick and the fun was over, the flagstick was dropped on the cart path.

I made quick work of the jig-saw puzzle that the bear left for me. The turf repair is healing up nicely, but can still be seen in the middle of the blue pin zone on 3 green. Check it out if you are in the area. I sent a picture via text to few friends and colleagues to see if they could guess what had caused the damage. Sean Watts from Crop Production Services guessed correctly. I also received a few other entertaining guesses as well.

I ran across a few other things on the greens that were man made that I did not care for since my last post. Below is a new series that I call The Wall of Shame.

Divot taken on 11/24/13 on 2 green next to the cup

The lowly putter divot. We see a few of these every year. I can assure you that this will not help you putt better. Please do not take divots on the green.

Pull cart tracks on the green, picture taken on 11/24/13

You will have to look closely at the picture above, but there are pull cart tracks going right across the green. The day I took this picture, there were pull cart tracks on nearly every green on the golf course. Please do not take your pull carts across the greens.