We have been out spraying all the greens,surrounds, fairways, tees & immediate semi-roughs with iron on the Balcomie course
Continuing to sand inject greens when the weather allows, this allows us to help improve our profile, dilute thatch and improve surface drainage
We have started work on the foundation for our new Starters hut for the Balcomie course
Concreting the base, this will be left for 2 weeks before we erect the building to allow the base to set, hopefully the new building will be up mid/late April, the building will look like the Craighead course Starters hut and will be painted in green to match
Tees & surrounds over both courses have been fertilised with a slow release fertilise to aid recovery from the winter
Lewis one of our Greenkeepers has been over helping with course maintenance at TPC Sawgrass, this has allowed Lewis to learn and gain experience about very high standard set up of a course for a tournament
Congratulations to Mike in the Greenkeeping department celebrating 25 years service with us, great the Society recognising these milestones in the staff
Slow progress is getting made at our new driving range tee due to the adverse weather we have been having this winter
Astro-turf frame has been installed and now the base of hardcore being added and compacted in ready for the whindust layer before laying the matting
We have been busy digging out and replacing the sand in the newly built bunkers over both courses
We have cut and collected our Corn Bunting area on the driving range ready to re-seed etc for this season and winter
The area was then rotovated, raked, seeded, double raked to help cover the seed then rolled. this area will give these declining birds a good food source in our area
We have been busy cutting and cleaning up our bunkers over both courses
We have started to edged/weed our tee paths on the Craighead course
A Spring application of fertiliser has been applied to our Craighead course greens & PG's
The old dyke right of hole 8 on the Craighead course has been strimmed and cut back ready for this dyke to get rebuilt
This winter has been a very wet winter with us now well over 550mm of rain fall since mid October
The first few days in April we have had 88mm of rain
The forecast is starting to look much better which will allow us to get both courses fully back open and let us catch up on planned course work that we are behind with
Thursday 11 April 2024
Saturday 9 March 2024
Spring is round the corner
We have applied our spring granular fertiliser earlier this year due to how bad our winter has been due to the very high rainfall we have had
We have now completed work to the tees that we have re-leveled and extended etc over both courses
In the middle of February we were hit with another storm which has caused coastal damage and brought a lot of debris up on the course at holes 2, 4,5,14 & 15 of the Balcomie course
4th hole
15th hole
We have been carrying on cutting and collecting deep rough areas on the Craighead course when weather has allowed to help us thin these areas out and hopefully make them more playable
The rainfall we have had from November to Middle of February
We will carry on painting and tidying up our tee bins and Railway sleeper areas once the weather improves over both courses going into the new season
We have carried out minor aeration work to the Balcomie greens and putting greens to help reduce our thatch levels and this will also let them dry out better after the winter
Mini-cores being cleared and lifted
The amount of debris out of each green
Then the greens were lightly verti-cut, cut and cleaned up before spiking/overseeding the greens to help improve our grass sward
Then an application of 1.5 tons of sand to each green to help fill the holes and cover the seed
Then all the greens were slowly brushed to work the sand into the surface and profile
The hand railing on hole 13 of the Balcomie course has had repairs done and new matting and turf laid
At last we have managed to start work on our new driving range tee
We have installed new irrigation pipework and sprinklers to help water the turf area, which will aid in recovery from play on the new driving range tee
We are now applying 75mm of rootzone to the playing surfaces of the driving range tee to have a good growing medium for the grass areas
We have now taken delivery of our own sand injection machine which going forward should help us improve our firmness on our Craighead course greens with reducing big hollow coring which takes a few weeks to recover, with the sand machine the surfaces are very playable within a couple of days, this week we have completed greens 1,8,9,11,14 & 16 and have managed to inject in between 1.5 to 2 tons of sand to each green depending on its size
very little disturbance to the surfaces once they have been cleaned up, brushed and a slow roll, going forward this should help reduce healing time after aeration works
We have now completed work to the tees that we have re-leveled and extended etc over both courses
In the middle of February we were hit with another storm which has caused coastal damage and brought a lot of debris up on the course at holes 2, 4,5,14 & 15 of the Balcomie course
4th hole
15th hole
We have been carrying on cutting and collecting deep rough areas on the Craighead course when weather has allowed to help us thin these areas out and hopefully make them more playable
The rainfall we have had from November to Middle of February
We will carry on painting and tidying up our tee bins and Railway sleeper areas once the weather improves over both courses going into the new season
We have carried out minor aeration work to the Balcomie greens and putting greens to help reduce our thatch levels and this will also let them dry out better after the winter
Mini-cores being cleared and lifted
The amount of debris out of each green
Then the greens were lightly verti-cut, cut and cleaned up before spiking/overseeding the greens to help improve our grass sward
Then an application of 1.5 tons of sand to each green to help fill the holes and cover the seed
Then all the greens were slowly brushed to work the sand into the surface and profile
The hand railing on hole 13 of the Balcomie course has had repairs done and new matting and turf laid
At last we have managed to start work on our new driving range tee
We have installed new irrigation pipework and sprinklers to help water the turf area, which will aid in recovery from play on the new driving range tee
We are now applying 75mm of rootzone to the playing surfaces of the driving range tee to have a good growing medium for the grass areas
We have now taken delivery of our own sand injection machine which going forward should help us improve our firmness on our Craighead course greens with reducing big hollow coring which takes a few weeks to recover, with the sand machine the surfaces are very playable within a couple of days, this week we have completed greens 1,8,9,11,14 & 16 and have managed to inject in between 1.5 to 2 tons of sand to each green depending on its size
very little disturbance to the surfaces once they have been cleaned up, brushed and a slow roll, going forward this should help reduce healing time after aeration works
Wednesday 7 February 2024
Winter work update
This winter has been very challenging with it being so wet. we have rebuilt the 3rd front greenside bunker on the Craighead course which had to be redone after it was just rebuilt due to the flooding damage
Rebuilt the 8th fairway bunker on the Balcomie course
Staff setting up the course for play
The top tee on hole 6 of the Balcomie course has been re-leveled ready to be turfed
We have solid tined the Craighead greens to a depth of 150mm to aid in drainage as it's been so wet
The 4th yellow tee on the Craighead course has been re leveled and is ready to be turfed
Adverse weather jobs has been cutting back gorse & broom on certain areas of the Craighead course
Painting tee benches & the driving range bay dividers
We have also been out replacing old worn sprinklers on the Craighead course to give us better water coverage in the Summer months
The 5th yellow tee on the Craighead course has been extended and re leveled ready to be turfed
We have managed to get more deep rough areas cut & collected on the Craighead course to help thin these areas out
Another adverse weather job was to build another 2 bug hotels for the Craighead course
At last we have manged to spray the Craighead course greens with some iron to help them recover from the prolonged wet spell, when the temperatures rise we will apply a granular fertiliser to help also
Rebuilt the 8th fairway bunker on the Balcomie course
Staff setting up the course for play
The top tee on hole 6 of the Balcomie course has been re-leveled ready to be turfed
We have solid tined the Craighead greens to a depth of 150mm to aid in drainage as it's been so wet
The 4th yellow tee on the Craighead course has been re leveled and is ready to be turfed
Adverse weather jobs has been cutting back gorse & broom on certain areas of the Craighead course
Painting tee benches & the driving range bay dividers
We have also been out replacing old worn sprinklers on the Craighead course to give us better water coverage in the Summer months
The 5th yellow tee on the Craighead course has been extended and re leveled ready to be turfed
We have managed to get more deep rough areas cut & collected on the Craighead course to help thin these areas out
Another adverse weather job was to build another 2 bug hotels for the Craighead course
At last we have manged to spray the Craighead course greens with some iron to help them recover from the prolonged wet spell, when the temperatures rise we will apply a granular fertiliser to help also
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