Friday 30 October 2020

With reducing cutting going into the winter, we will look at brushing our fairways to help disperse worm casts which are a real problem at this time of year for us 
With cutting reducing it will allow us to get back to the work at the 7th tee path on the Balcomie course which we could not complete in April due to Covid 
hopefully this project will be completed by end of November as we are still on reduced staffing levels 


Last week we managed to apply a ton of top-dressing sand to each green on the Craighead course then gentle rub in to help dilute thatch levels, we are hoping to apply another ton to each green next month plus solid tine the surfaces to help merge the sand into the profile 
Once the sand was washed in we then applied our winter fertiliser to the greens 
Our newly turfed 1st winter tee on the Balcomie course is coming on really well and has been rolled then had it's first cut 
We have replaced another old bin with our in-house recycling bins made from Railway sleepers at tee 8 on the Balcomie course, once we get a dry/calm day the steps etc will be painted to freshen this area up 
When we get a chance we will check the new irrigation lines on the Balcomie course if they need seeded and top-dressed to smooth them out, we were hoping to have this done earlier this year but struggled for time with the reduced staffing levels 
 

Saturday 17 October 2020

Still cutting all the main playing areas over both our courses but starting to reduce the frequency due to the growth slowing down 
We have deep solid tined the surround/fairway areas at the 18th hole on the Balcomie course to help drainage going into the winter 

This week we are catching up with applying top-dressing sand to our greens on the Balcomie course, this year we are behind on our sand targets due to Covid and reduced staffing, but are aiming to catch up in the next couple of months weather pending 
Top-dressing sand helps to dilute the thatch levels, improve the surfaces and helps improve drainage through the profile 
The sand was left to dry then we slowly brushed sand into the profile 
Then we applied a liquid fertiliser, wetting agent & seaweed to help the grass plant 
In adverse weather days we have been building Railway sleeper recycling tee bins for the Balcomie course 
We are recycling our old blades from our mowers to screw the sleepers together 

This bin was put out at tee 5, the ball washer will be added when Covid restrictions are lifted 
Another adverse weather day task was to bring in our roundabout sign and re-paint it 
We have had an oil leak from our greens mower which has damaged the rear of green 5 on the Balcomie course, this area has now been mini-cored, spiked, seeded, top-dressed and fertilised to aid in the recover, fingers crossed we get some good recovery before the winter