Jobs this week so far have been to slit tine the fairways, rake bunkers, move and divot tees, cut surrounds, finish off raising greens sprinklers 55 in total done, change holes, top-dress any new turf laid this winter, service and sharpen the Toro hand mowers and core the area left of the 8th green which is surround at the moment but will be green once we start cutting and top-dressing this area

More rain

We had 19mm of rain through the night which meant loads of flooding, so we closed the front 9 so jobs today were rake all bunkers, move tee markers, brush winter mats, re-turf the worn area at the 16th greenside bunker, clean out winter hole cups, carry on raising sprinkler heads on greens 15 & 17 and we cored the 7th tee walkway and gave it a heavy top-dressing of sand, jobs that we had planned to do before the rain stop them were roll greens & cut aprons.

All tees were cut & divoted for the first time in 6 weeks

We raised all 5 sprinkler heads on green 14 and replaced the heavy soil with sandy soil

The wall in front of the 12th tees is now finished and looks at lot tidier

We cored the 3rd tee walkway, I'm hoping this will help to keep the surface drier, we will repeat this through out the summer

As you can see the soil has large amounts of clay in it

The area was given a heavy top-dress with sand then left to dry then was brushed in, I'm hoping to try and introduce sand to the heavy clay profile over time

White frost

6th green Craighead course Tuesday morning

2nd green Craighead course

Wednesday - Medal on so we raked bunkers, moved tee markers, changed holes & rolled greens

We have started work at the wall in front of the 12th tees, we are digging away old verge then levelling and putting down whin dust to tidy up this area

That's the 3rd path complete and hopefully the walkway will stay dry now

Today we are short staffed with staff heading down to Harrogate, first jobs were to check greens, move tee markers and rake greenside bunkers then Scottie and I started work on the 3rd tee path and Rab put out the rest of the painted ball washers

We have dug out the start of the path and replaced the heavy clay with sandy soil to see if this helps drainage and keeps the walkway drier and cleaner for golfers

The path edges and round the winter mat have been edged and cleaned up ready for whin dust

At last course open

All the frost came out the ground yesterday but we left the greens for another day before hand cutting them to tidy them up and clean up any debris off the surface, that has been over 4 weeks since they were last cut

Other problems that the thaw has gave us is water damage in most of the bunkers, which has taken us twice as long to shape and rake them

We have more water lying as we got 11mm of rain last night

Rab & Andy finished rebuilding the bunker at the 2nd green

This was our main project this week the path at tees 8, 9 & 18 to edge, clean up, level, top up with whin dust and re-turf any damaged edges etc

Today Rab & Andy carried on with building the bunker face at the 2nd green

Tony and I dug out the worn area at the 14th ramp and re-turfed and then whin dusted the complete area, then we put out half the newly painted ball washers as i know we will get moaned at if none are out especially at this time of year. the frost has came out the ground a lot today hopefully it will be all thawed out tomorrow

At last a thaw

All the snow has melted but we still have a hard frost in the ground the top 1" is soft but underneath is solid, but we are out working Rab & Andy have made a start to rebuilding the 2nd greenside bunker & the rest of us are working at the 9th tee path & building a new path from the 8th green to join on the 9th path

This area was all worn out and uneven so we cut it all away with the turf cutter and shaped it into the 9th path

We have added 3" of whin dust then compacted it to 2" then raked it smooth & level ready for the golfers

My only concern is if in heavy rain we might get some wash off as the paths on a slope, we will just have to wait and see, but see job has really tidied up this area and made it a better walkway for the golfers

Courses still closed

18th Fairway Craighead course

18th Fairway Craighead course

14th & 15th Fairways Craighead course

Weather is still cold here with a 2" snow cover, so jobs have been putting salt down at entrance to Clubhouse etc, painting ball washers, cleaning up sheds & updating risk assessments etc