What has been happening on the courses🦽

To help smooth the Balcomie course greens off after the verti-draining, we have been slowly rolling the surfaces then we applied a little liquid fertiliser and iron to help the plant and deter moss 

The right hand side greenside bunker on hole 2 of the Balcomie course has been rebuilt

The green tee on hole 9 on the Craighead course has been re-levelled and extended to give us more playing area 

The greenside bunker short right of hole 3 on the Balcomie course being rebuilt 

The 8th fairway bunker on the Balcomie course has been rebuilt 

We have been back out with our new sand injection machine on the Craighead course greens to help dilute the thatch levels and in the background the fairways have been cut then sprayed with iron to help add colour and deter moss 

Profile with the sand injected down to 150mm

We have started to edge/weed the bunkers on the Craighead course ready for the start of the season 

With having the irrigation system drained for frost protection, it's the ideal time to replace the worn old sprinklers on the Craighead course 

This shows the profile after the green was verti-drained, this allows better air and water movement, allows roots to develop and reduces compaction on these areas 

We have dug out all the old gorse, Broom and stones at the left hand side of fairway 12 of the Craighead course and now we are shaping up the ground and this area will be turfed then topped at 3.5" height of cut going forward to keep this area much tidier, In March the dyke will be getting repaired and certain areas rebuilt 

 

into the new year

The Balcomie course greens have been deep solid tined to a depth of 175mm to relieve compaction and aid in drainage and air movement

Then the greens were slowly turf ironed to help smooth the surfaces off 

Cutting and collecting deep roughs has been on going through the winter months over both courses to help thin these areas out 

Once the deep rough areas have been cut & collected we have carried on topping these areas to keep them under control going into the new season 

Both greenside bunkers right of green 3 on the Craighead course have been rebuilt 

Completed bunkers 

We have dug a trench and laid ducting down to a depth of 500mm to allow us to put electric into the Balcomie course starters hut 

9th green tee on the Craighead course has been extended and re-levelled to allow more teeing ground 

With the hard frost we just had, this was a great opportunity to get out and cut back gorse areas especially on the Craighead course 

Other adverse weather jobs were to paint the Balcomie course tee markers & start to paint the tee posts 

We also painted our hallway in the Greenkeeping shed, edged/trimmed round all our irrigation boxes over both courses and painted OB & irrigation posts 

 

 

The winter work program

The winter work program is going well. the 12th bunker just short of the green on the Craighead course being rebuilt 

Replacing the old worn out tee sprinkler at the 2nd green tee on the Craighead course, this tee should be re-turfed before Xmas, we have extended the playing area to help cope with play and re-levelled the surface  

Cutting the greens to tidy up the surfaces, the cutting heights for our greens are now at 5.5mm to help reduce stress on the plant going through the winter months  

The walkway onto our 14th tee on the Balcomie course has been re-turfed and matting laid to help wear and tear on this area 

We have extended the matted path going onto our 1st fairway on the Balcomie course to help wear and tear 

The fairway bunker on our 1st hole of the Balcomie course has been rebuilt 

The left hand side bunker at green 2 of the Balcomie course has been rebuilt 

When possible we have been out brushing fairways to help disperse the worm casts 

Adverse weather tasks have been to start to wash, rub down and repaint our tee benches over both courses 

Both our irrigation systems have been drained down for the winter to stop any pipe, joint or sprinkler damage from frosts 

The large greenside bunker on hole 17 of the Craighead course has now been fully rebuilt 

The 2nd fairway bunker on the Balcomie course has been rebuilt 

The surrounds of the bunker have been reshaped and turfed to fit in 

Tees over both courses have been solid tined to a depth of 125mm with a 19mm tine to relieve compaction and aid in drainage and air movement 

Fairways over both courses have been slit tined to relieve compaction to a depth of 125mm, we have been taking advantage of the good weather to catch up on this type of aeration work due to we struggled last winter with it being so wet to get machinery out on the courses 

 

Winter maintenance has started over both our courses

We are still cutting down our deep roughs over both courses, then we will cut these areas again and lift the grass to help starve these areas to help create slightly thinner roughs 
 

Spraying greens over both courses & PG's with liquid iron & Seaweed to help the plant 

Our 2nd green tee on the Craighead course has been extended, re-levelled and ready to be turfed 

The Craighead course greens have been sand injected again to help firm the surfaces up and help dilute thatch 

Cross profile of the hole taken from our putting green, you can see all the sand injected channels going down nearly 150mm, this will also help drainage and air movement 

Sand injected profile 

We have started work on the left hand side of the 12th fairway on the Craighead course, during the winter, we will dig out the old roots and stones and shape area to be cut at 3.5" which will help show off the dyke and make this area more playable 

Our first bunker rebuild was at hole 12 on the Craighead course 

The face has been built in the same manner as a revetted face but we have used recycled astro-turf , this will reduce the amount of time the bunker faces needs to be rebuilt 

We have also started to rebuild the large greenside bunker at hole 17 on the Craighead course 

This will take a few weeks due to the size/course closures and this face is being built with astro-turf for the same reason 

This bunker should be completed by the of start of December weather permitting 

We have had contractors onsite to regrade and tar the greenkeeping shed yard and access road to the shed 

Drains have been added along the building to stop flooding into the shed in heavy rain

All the surfaces had to be graded to shed the water and and firm the base ready for the tar to be laid 

The ramps across the road were also laid with tar 

Having the new road surface will help reduce damage to our machinery and staff cars, also reduce the time in fixing water damage on the ramps and road after any rain 

All the surrounding areas will be re-graded in-house then shaped to fit in with the course then re-turfed 

the area between the road and the dykes will be gravelled to aid in drainage and tidy these areas up 

Also round the ramps too will be gravelled, hopefully all this work will be completed in a couple of weeks