Autumn update

The darker mornings are coming in quick now, so the staff are starting work when it starts to get light to help keep in front of play each morning 

Greens and PG's on the Balcomie course being sprayed with liquid iron to help harden the plant going into the colder months 

Our mid-week winter course closures have started with the Craighead course being closed first, this allows the courses to get a rest from all the play and helps recovery/rest of the walkways etc plus allows the staff the get on with the planned winter and aeration plans more efficiently and safer with no play

We have carried out extra aeration work to green 6 of the Craighead course as a trial to see what the recovery rate will be at this time of year as it's out of the main playing season, we hollow cored the green down to 75mm with a 10mm hollow tine as this helps take out thatch and allows the green better air & water movement 

All the Craighead course greens and Clubhouse PG have been sand injected to help dilute thatch and we injected 1.5tons of sand into each green 

The surface has minimal disturbance carrying out this operation once the surface has been switched and rolled 

sand injection down to 150mm 

The greens were also micro-cored to take out thatch to 20mm then cleaned up and verti-cut before we carried out the sand injecting 

debris out of 1 green 

minimal disturbance from the micro-coring

The Craighead fairways have been slit tined to a depth of just over 100mm in 2 directions to break up compaction and allow better water and air movement

With the courses getting wetting we are seeing a lot more casting worms at this time of year which is very difficult to keep on top of as we have no chemical control but we are trying to brush fairways etc to help disperse the casts when possible

Winter work has started with both greenside bunkers on hole 12 of the Balcomie course being rebuilt 

bunker ready to be turfed round

The bottom back tee on hole 4 of the Balcomie course has been extended to give us double the teeing ground to help with wear and tear as we took away the top tee last winter for H&S reasons

The 7th back tee on the Craighead course has been re-levelled to improve the teeing surface. the old turf that has been striped from these tees has been re-used for building bunker faces at holes 6 & 9 

The Balcomie course greens have had an application of granular fertiliser to help aid recovery from the aeration work that was carried out late September 

The 6th greenside bunker on the Craighead course has been rebuilt 

The 9th greenside bunker on the Craighead course has been rebuilt 

The Craighead course tees have been solid tined to a depth of 150mm to aid in better air and water movement and relieve compaction from a busy season 

The Contractors have started on site to carry out essential erosion protection work at rear of tees 15 & green 17 of the Balcomie course, there main working compound is at the left of hole 10 of the Craighead course, this work will be ongoing through the winter months 

 

 

Greens being turf ironed after cutting to help keep good surface pace 

Greens receiving an application of fert/wetting agent etc to help them before the planned aeration works 

Calm before the storm 

darker mornings are with us now 

The Craighead course greens have had an application of granular fertiliser 

Work is continuing on cutting then cutting a second time and collecting our deep roughs over both courses to help thin these areas out 

Blowing Seagull feathers off our greens before cutting and applying water to help dilute their droppings 

Spiking/seeding and top-dressing weak areas on our fairways from the Summer drought 

The Craighead course tees have been deep scarified to help rip out thatch from the profile 

The tees were then blown to clean up the surfaces and surfaces cut ready for play

We have been demoing a robotic mower to cut our 13th, 14th & 15th holes on the Craighead course which included the fairways and semi-roughs 

Mower cutting away then it would head back to it's docking station to recharge then back out 

We have just completed our planned essential aeration work to the Balcomie course greens, which consisted of mini-hollow coring, clearing up cores, verti-cutting, sand injecting, clearing up, spiking/seeding, then top-dressing, drag matting sand into surface then watering surfaces to wash in the sand & seed. this work is essential to remove thatch and improve the grass sward 

the verti-cutting helps cut out lateral growth & cleans the surface up after the mini-coring

Verti-cut units that rip into the surface

Debris taken out of each green 

Then the greens were sand injected to dilute the thatch level 

Sand injection into the profile up to 150mm depth 

Greens then spiked and seeded to help improve the grass sward 

Spiker creating holes for the seed 

Greens were then top-dressed to help cover the seed and fill in all the holes. a total of 2.5 tons applied to each green between the sand injecting and top-dressing 

Greens watered to help wash the sand & seed into the surfaces then a very slow turf iron to help smooth off the surfaces before paly 

We have started our planned winter work projects, with starting with rebuilding the 12th greenside bunker on the Balcomie course 

Road repairs have been completed to a section of the Coastguard road that crosses holes 16 & 17 of the Balcomie course 

 

All go on our courses

Spraying a liquid fertiliser on our Balcomie course greens 

The last few weeks we have been concentrating on keeping moisture levels up on our greens & tees over both courses and trying to hand water walkways etc as its been so dry this Summer 

Our rain train has been out on our drier/weaker fairways on the Balcomie course to keep grass coverage 

Course very dry 

Greens & PG's over both courses have had their monthly spike to help open up the surface to allow better water and air movement, then an application of wetting agent and Seaweed, which the spiking helps to allow theses products into the profile 

We are now starting to cut & collect our deep rough areas on the Craighead course to help starve theses areas to make them cleaner and more playable 

applying a slow release granular fertiliser to the Balcomie course tees and walkways to help aid in recovery from such a dry spell and very busy season 

Great to have volunteers to help divot our fairways, great way to meet the green staff and find out what's happening on our courses 

Setting up our courses before play 

Courses starting to green up slightly after the rain this week 

We have started to look at any weak areas from the Summer drought, these areas will be spiked, seeded and sanded to aid recovery