We had between 4 to 5 inches of snow on Sunday which has not yet thawed, so jobs have been clearing snow off the road and car park each morning and gritting, most staff have been taking the last of their holidays before the end of the year, we had our Christmas lunch yesterday which we all enjoyed, next week its a skeleton staff out for checking the courses etc or clearing snow and gritting which it looks more chance off being. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

At last course open on main greens

Today we put course back on main greens as they were thawed out, so we gave them a cut to clean up the surface as there were rabbit droppings and debris on them, first cut in 3 weeks

At last we have been able to make a start on our drainage project at hole 5 which should of been started 2 weeks ago, not sure how far we will get looking at the forecast for the end of the week

All drainage plans for this week have been put on hold because of the weather and we have been lucky here compared to other areas of the country, so we have been doing odd jobs like replacing a leaking hose point, starting to paint ball washers and tee benches and cutting back gorse between fairways 14 and 15 and at 16th tees

Our new toy arrives

The trencher we are buying to undertake all the drainage issues we have

trial trench at the wet area in front of tees 14

Today we had frost so we put pins on winter greens all day, inside job today was to make up the dance floor in the Clubhouse for presentation of prizes tomorrow evening then once the frost started to thaw we raked all bunkers & move tee markers then we had a demo of the new trencher etc

Replacing leaking hose point valves

Edged & reshaped bunker short right of 1st green.

Monday - this week we are 2 men down, jobs were to rake all bunkers, move tee markers, cut greens with no perimeter cut divot tees, re-turf worn area at front of 8th medal tee

Tuesday - spray greens with liquid iron & Fungicide as a preventative, check course & move tee markers, work at bunker on 1st & divot fairways 9 to 12

Wednesday - set course up for winter stableford which was roll greens, change holes & put all markers back on main tees, rake bunkers, edge all irrigation boxes etc & clean out drains in car park

14th coastline

Fairway after being sprayed

Slit tine marks to a depth of 4"

Monday - we had our first frost so we put pins on winter greens till 10am, Jobs were to back fill holes at 2 irrigation leaks we had, move & divot tees, rake bunkers & reshape after heavy rain on Sunday, start spraying fairways with soluble iron and start slit tining fairways till tractor broke down

Tuesday - Nearly another frost but greens were ok just a little white in semi-rough areas, jobs were to rake all bunkers and move tee markers, carry on spraying fairways and cutting any semi-rough etc after frost had lifted

Wednesday No frost but cold and very windy thank god we got the spraying completed yesterday jobs were to cut greens & vibrate roll, cut aprons, move tee markers & touch up bunkers, cut fairways on the back 9 then close the driving range so we could collect balls and cut and we cut areas at roundabout & 1st tee that's tractor fixed so spiker back on ready for tomorrow

Thursday - Windy again no spraying for us as it was planned to spray tees behind cutter so we cut tees, divoted tees, trimmed holes & switched greens, slit tined fairways, finished off cutting fairways, drained down irrigation system for winter and cleaned shed & mess room areas

Today I was along helping out Anstruther Golf Club by verti-draining their greens, At Crail Rab & Andy are on duty this weekend checking courses, switching greens, moving tee markers and raking any bunkers that need done

9th bunker completed

yesterday we finished off rebuilding the 9th bunker then started to rebuild the bunker down at 6th other jobs were to cut greens and cut aprons. Today we sprayed greens & aprons with liquid iron, finished rebuilding bunker down at 6th, collected balls from driving range and fill ball dispenser, rake bunkers, move tee markers & trim holes and carried on verti-draining walkways

At last nice weather but cold first thing, today we carried on with building the bunker at green 9, started digging out old face and sand from bunker at green 6, raking bunkers and moving tee markers, verti-draining fairways 1 & 4 and digging out areas to fix 2 small irrigation leaks that we have

Today weather very windy and heavy showers blowing through so we made a start to rebuilding the 9th greenside bunker first job was to dig out the sand which will be screened and put back in when finished then dig out old face also we verti-drained the 2nd fairway

Andy verti-draining the 14th Ladies tee

We are using a 5/8" solid tine to a depth of 5"

Today we postponed our morning jobs as we had heavy rain through the night so we brought in the pins and cut off old worn bottoms and replaced with new ones and washed the flags this should stop the pins blowing out as much in the high winds and we re turfed a worn area on the 12th surround we also rolled and top-dressed the newly turfed 15th tee then after break we cut and rolled greens and started the verti-draining on the tees jobs we never got done was to top-dress greens and rub in

Today we finished off the work on the 15th tee, slit tined greens and set up verti-drainer

The guys heeling the soil to firm up the surface, today was a check of the course, empty bins then all staff work on 15th tee which was screening soil/sand, levelling out soil and raking etc then start turfing, we used a 5.2.8 as a base fertiliser at half rate then once all the turf is down we will then apply another half rate to the turf surface

Still short staffed today, we set up course for the mid week stableford comp which was cutting greens no perimeter cut, change holes and move tee markers and rake bunkers then we made a start to mixing soil and sand then screening it before taking it out to the 15th tee for levelling the surface it makes a big difference screening the soil/sand mix for raking out on the surface

Short staffed today with 2 guys on hol and another off ill, jobs were to switch greens, move tee markers and check bunkers then we made a start to cutting and lifting turf off the 15th tee all the turf was put to the side as we will re use it once the tee is reshaped and levelled, we had 9mm of rain through the night so golf buggies were not allowed on today

The start of our winter program

levelling off area rear of 10th medal tee so we can cut right up to the wall with semi-rough mower which will reduce strimming work, today we vibrated rolled greens, raked bunkers, moved tee markers and worked at rear of 10th medal tee, we had a slight frost first thing so we delayed jobs for an hour till it lifted

Craighead course back open, the winds yesterday helped to dry the surface but still soft under foot, jobs today were to switch greens, move tee markers, rake any damaged bunkers and blow leaves off 3rd green area then away home for some breakfast, from 1st of October to 31st of March weekend work is for time back this helps reduce the overtime bill for the year

More rain

24mm of rain so we have had to close the Craighead course this morning and the Balcomie course is open but no golf buggies allowed

Getting to that time for to have the winter greens ready for play, we use 6" cups

2nd bunkers after being cut and raked

2nd green

We had 13mm of rain through the night which has made the course very wet and soft, today's jobs were clean mess room, toilets and office then we had a break in the weather so we cut the greens, raked bunkers and moved tee markers then the rain came back on so 3 guys took half days other jobs were to drive in top-dressing into bay inside shed before it gets wet which was delivered and trim and clean out winter hole cups

This week the temperature has drop so we have been rolling the greens every second day instead of cutting to keep them true and smooth other jobs have been cutting all bunker faces, strimming work, divotting tees, Autumn feed on the weaker tees and carrying on with cutting down areas of deep rough

Today we completed our slit tining to all the fairways, cut greens with boxes off as they were fertilised on Monday, moved tee markers, finished cutting all fairways which were started yesterday, top-dressed winter greens and rubbed in and cut all the semi-rough

We have completed all works to tees this morning but had to leave the rubbing in of the top-dressing until after break as the surfaces were damp, other jobs were to switch greens and check course, cut areas at clubhouse roundabout and 1st tee etc, cutting and collecting deep rough between holes 9 & 11, start slit tining fairways as we have preferred lies on now, start trimming and cleaning tees sprinkler heads behind the guys rubbing in the top-dressing and I had a finance meeting

A dry and calm day today which was perfect for us to fertilise the greens with an autumn feed of 4.0.10+10fe at 35gm2 also we cut greens in front of fertilising, watered behind fertilising, raked bunkers and moved tee markers then after break we made a start to cutting, over seeding, top-dressing and rubbing in tees 7 sets completed hopefully we will finish the rest tomorrow

13th tees

6th green

Grass starting to come through after just 2 weeks on the turf nursery

This week our tasks are to double scarify tees, double verti- cut then cut, we had to shut the front 9 today because of flooding, so all plans were postponed until it brightened up after break