March Greenkeeping update

With the weather turning much drier, we have started to sand inject greens over both courses before the season starts to help dilute our thatch levels, we injected 1.5tons into each green 

Sand injecting green 17 on the Balcomie course 

once the greens were left to dry, we switched the surfaces then a very light verti-cut, cut then watered in sand on the surface

very little disturbance to the surfaces after the greens were slowly rolled before play, this operation will help firm our surfaces up 

We continue to install mini gabion baskets along our 15th tee path to give us slightly more protection from the high tides and this will act as a barrier when using the path 

We have now primed up the irrigation systems over both courses, this will help with watering our new turf areas with the weather being so dry the last couple of weeks 

Our greens, surrounds, tees & fairways on the Balcomie course have been sprayed with a low rate of liquid fertiliser & iron to help the plant go into the season and add colour 

We are working on painting all our tee bins and Railway sleeper works round our tees etc going into the season to protect the wood and freshen up these areas 

We have taken delivery of our new machinery for this season, this is a great investment from the club to support the Greens team to carry out the required work 

Our last bunker rebuild this winter which was the greenside bunker left on hole 7 of the Craighead course, going forward we will be screening sand and topping up sand levels in our bunkers and all newly rebuilt bunkers should be in play by mid -April weather pending and how well the turf knits in

Work is going well with repairing the tee path and track along hole 18 of the Balcomie course, this was the route that was used to bring in all the rock armour and baskets for the erosion repairs at rear of 15th tee & 17th green areas 

The compound that was used for the erosion repair works which is left of hole 10 of the Craighead course is now being worked on with adding soil and seeding out with fescue grass mix and added Coastal wildflower mix also to help add colour once established 

Last week seen our volunteers help the Green staff divot our Balcomie course fairways ready for the season, this is a great way to meet our members and green staff to see all the work that's been going on over both your golf courses this winter 

Work is progressing well on our new Performance hub on the driving range 

with the foundation feet set with rebar and concrete they have now erected all the main steelworks 

Great to see the building taking shape and all re-routing of the mains water and irrigation pipes has been completed and tested 

 

February courses update

Greens on the Balcomie course being sprayed with a liquid winter hardener to help the plant, the last 6 weeks has been a real struggle with the very wet weather, we have now had over 201mm of rainfall for the first 7 weeks of this year, which in turn has resulted in course closures on certain days, but glad to report we are back fully open  

We have placed over 40tons of rock along our coastline at hole 14 of the Balcomie course to help against coastal erosion, this rock was excavated out from where we are building our new driving range performance hub, great to be able to use this rock   

14th coastline

With the hard rock engineering works completed at the rear of 15th tees & 17th green on the Balcomie course and with the contractors off site, its time to repair the track that was used to drive in the 2000tons of rock and baskets etc

The track and tee path has been resurfaced, edges re-turfed and all raked out etc, this work will be ongoing and we are hoping to complete this work for going into the new season 

Path works and turfing completed round the 18th tee area

Path at rear of the 18th tee coming from 17th green works completed

2 weeks ago David Snodgrass (Head Golf Professional) and myself (Bob Meikle - Golf Course Manager) held a presentations day at the club to our members talking about what is happening in our departments and what's been happing on the courses with the erosion works and our rebuilding of bunkers & tees program, it's great to communicate all this information and get feedback, so please look out for the next presentation as well worth popping along 

We have rebuilt the large greenside bunker in front of green 9 of the Balcomie course 

shaping and base layers going in 

new face built and surrounds starting to be re-turfed after re-shaping was completed 

The bunker will get sand added before being opened for play when the season starts, this will also allow all the new turf to be established and knit in

We have been adding more small gabion baskets along our 15th tee path on the Balcomie course, this is to help add a little more coastal protection and act as a little barrier for buggies etc 

The Railway sleeper work and tee bin at hole 18 of the Balcomie course has all been repainted 

We have rebuilt the 13th greenside bunker on the Balcomie course 

Jake & Owen putting the final turfs on the face before shaping and turfing round 

ongoing sprinkler replacement on green & surround at hole 12 of the Craighead course 

rebuilding of the 1st greenside bunker right of the green on the Balcomie course 

All the newly built bunkers will be out of play until they knit in and have sand added 

Work is progressing well on our new performance hub project at the driving range, the pad foundations being built ready to be concreted, this is despite the very wet weather 

All the steel rebar being built up for the foundations etc, there is a lot of extra work going into the foundations as we are such a windy site 

The re-routing of the irrigation and mains water pipes progressing well with the pipework being fusion welded 

 

Catching up on cutting when conditions allow 

5 of us have been getting refresher 3 day training on safe use of pesticides and boom spraying 

14th tee path on the Craighead course has been extended closer to the yellow/white tee as this area is a bottle neck and suffers with wear and tear 

18th bunker on the Balcomie course being rebuilt 

Newly built bunkers on the Balcomie course being topped up with fresh sand, this allows the fresh sand to settle before going into play at the start of the new season 

Craighead course greens being solid tined down to a depth of 175mm to help with drainage and air movement through the profile 

First week in January saw very hard frost then rain on top, with the ground being solid the rain had nowhere to go, very unusual for us to have frost nearly 150mm in the ground 

Adverse weather jobs were rubbing down and painting tee markers and benches etc 

Work has progressed well on our erosion project at rear of 15th tees & 17th green on the Balcomie course, the green staff have been adding soil and turfing above the new gabion baskets that were installed, this will give a much nature finish once grown in 

turf going down

Contractors have done a great job carrying out this repair work

The contractors have now completed the erosion repair works and now the green staff will come in behind them to clean up the track that was used to bring in the 2000tons of rock, this work should be completed for the new season (weather pending) 

We have been back filling the new chestnut paling fencing to help secure it into the dune system along hole 2 of the Balcomie course 

We have now started our next project of getting the area on the driving range ready for Contractors to come onsite to start the new Performance hub, we have dug away the old putting green and lifted the turf which was reused on the erosion project and turfing the 18th carry at the gorse on the Balcomie course 

Contractors came onsite 5th January and work is going very well despite the weather  

foundations being dug out for the new building