July Greenkeeping update

Greens over both courses being spiked monthly to reduce compaction, opening up the surface to allow irrigation water into the profile 

Greens being cut then turf ironed and surrounds cut in front of play 

With the very dry weather we are now starting to reduce our cutting of fairways, semi-roughs & 3.5" roughs as growth has reduced in these areas 

Our drier/weaker fairways on the Balcomie course are now being watered once a week with our rain train to help save losing grass in the very dry and hot weather this month 

Certain tees & high spots on greens are now being hand watered over both courses 

Callum from Applied irrigation was in to carry out some sprinkler training for the staff 

With cutting being reduced, that has allowed staff to carry out much needed seeding and divoting to our fairways over both our courses 

All the landscaping and seeding works are coming on well round the new performance hub building on the driving range which is now open for play 

We have made our own in-house rubber tee holders for each hitting bay 

All the new signage is now in place for the new building 

Surrounding areas ready to be landscaped and seeded out 

Another great asset for the club going forward 

We have had a hydraulic hose burst on one of our fairways mowers, theses areas are being hand watered and fert/wetting agent added to aid in recovery 

We have now completed adding gabion baskets along the 15th tee path on the Balcomie course to add more protection 

Our Corn bunting area on the driving range is coming on well, this will give the birds more food source in the winter months to come

Skylark eggs in our deep rough areas, this proves cutting and collecting our deep roughs each year is helping thin the areas out and allowing nesting 

The recovery of the sand dunes along our 2nd coastline on the Balcomie courses are recovering very well and merging into the new fencing and helping stabilising the dunes 

Deer playing in our roughs 

Greens being turf ironed after cutting to help with smooth/trueness and increasing surface pace 

Staff setting up the course for play - holes being changed/pin sheets, greens and surrounds being cut 

Courses really drying out quick in the dry and very warm conditions 

Greens being sprayed with wetting agent/Seaweed and low rate of fert to help the greens in the dry weather 

 

 

All go on the courses, both courses are the greenest they have been at this time of year for a few years now, this has allowed us to rest our irrigation systems so far this year compared to past years 

Greens being cut & rolled to help keep good surface speed on a daily basis with the higher growth rates that we are experiencing just now due to the weather 

Monthly spiking of the greens surfaces over both courses 

This allows better air and water movement into the profile and reduces compaction 

Checking moisture levels in greens 

Watering when required to keep moisture levels up if we do go into a dry spell 

Watering in wetting agent, Seaweeds and liquid fert after spraying 

Driving range being cut weekly 

We are trialling smaller holes on certain tee bin lids to help reduce the crows pecking and lifting out the rubbish 

We have been out on the Craighead course cutting back certain areas of deep roughs, these deep rough areas are much thicker and higher than previous years due to the wet/warm spell we have had, hopefully this helps with play 

trimming/cleaning out of our sprinkler heads 

We have sprayed a low rate of selective herbicide on our greens to help eradicate a weed called Pearlwort which has been a problem in our greens the last 3 years or so 

Great regeneration of the Marram grasses along our 2nd coastline of the Balcomie course where we installed chestnut fencing to help support the dune system 

Fairways on the Balcomie course have been very lightly scarified to help cut out long ends and reduce napping of the surfaces 

The new Performance hub on the driving range is going very well 

Entrance hall 

Brick work completed and ball ditch concreted 

Landscaping of the surrounding areas is ongoing by the Greenstaff to fit the building into the existing surrounds 

building work nearly completed 

curbing and slabbing of the outside areas 

All the ball equipment being installed 

 

 

Great definition on the courses 

Greens being cut/rolled and holes changed in front of play, we are now at 4mm cutting height for the Summer with the temperatures rising 

The Balcomie course greens being fertilised 

We are now at our full cutting program for the season 

We had our annual R&A agronomy courses walk to look at our surfaces and plan what work we will do going forward 

Checking the greens profile for rooting and thatch levels etc 

Our newly re-turfed tees from our winter work program are now back in play with some extra TLC work being carried out of seeding and sanding 

Any weaker tees have had extra work carried out also of spiking/seeding and sanding to improve/recover the surfaces 

The drier fairways on the Balcomie course have had an application of wetting agent and fertiliser to help the grass sward going into the Summer 

Straight after holding the Battle Trophy we started our planned major aeration works to the Craighead course greens 

This was to hollow core the greens to take out as much thatch and dead material as possible, this will allow the greens to breathe and drain much better and in turn the greens should be firmer 

Cores taken out of the surface 

Staff clearing and lifting the old cores, the old cores will be used for other jobs so they can be re-used 

Then the greens were lightly verti-cut and cut to rip out more thatch and clean the surfaces up 

Then over 100tons of sand was applied over all the greens to help back fill the core holes, this will really help with drainage in the winter months 

We also spiked and over seeded the greens twice at different depths depending on the seed 

Making as many holes as possible for the new seed 

Greens being slowly brushed in to work the sand down the core holes 

It was great that the staff worked late on the first 2 days of the aeration work to help complete the works on time, takeaway food from the Clubhouse really helped to keep the staff fed on those 2 long days 

Greens were then very slowly rolled and watered

Greens are recovering very well with the good weather, and you should see the long term benefits of carry this work out 

The new performance hub on the driving range is coming on great and looking the part

Bay dividers now in place 

All the steel work painted 

                                               The larch wood being installed 

            Brick work, and all the plumbing, electrical & joinery first fixings completed