More rain

Another 11mm of rain through the night which has made the course very wet and a lot of flooding on the front 9, we have a winter medal on tomorrow so we were out cutting greens, changing holes, moving tee markers, emptying bins, divotting tees, raked all bunkers, collected balls from driving range and finished off edging the bunkers at the 16th green

At last no frost

Today we were back on full greens at last, but it's a little soft under foot as we got 15mm of rain/sleet yesterday so jobs today were rake all bunkers, move all tee markers, then raise the irrigation boxes on holes 3, 6 & 14 and raise the tees sprinkler at 6th yellow tee

We are using an old bunker rake shaft to get the correct height for the box to fit in with surrounding area

the box was so low we have had to put bricks under it to raise up and support to the correct level

Setting cut and height of the greens mower

Today most of the snow was away but the ground was still hard with frost so we opened up on winter greens, jobs today were to move tee markers, finish off painting out of bound posts, clean the shed and start to raise irrigation boxes and surrounding areas which were low and uneven, also I attend a monthly head of departments meeting in the afternoon

We have closed the courses this morning due to the snow cover and we were on winter greens at the weekend because of the white frost, jobs today have been cancelled which was raking bunkers, moving tee markers, rolling greens then carrying on with coring the tees but we are painting out of bound posts and driving soil and cutting back gorse.

13th green Craighead course

14th fairway Craighead course

We have had some damage to the perimeter fence along the roadside at hole 3 which was caused by a car

We spotted sheep on the course this morning on green 7

Jobs today were to put pins on winter greens, move tee markers, clean up dumping ground for old turf and soil and turn over to help decompose then we started to core the ladies tees with a 16mm hollow tine to a depth of 3" and clean up

Today we had a touch of white frost first thing so plans had to be delayed, jobs this morning were to clean mess room etc, tidy out lockers, put course onto winter greens, move tee markers then once the frost lifted which was 10am we cut greens, rolled greens, changed holes, raked all bunkers, sweep winter tee mats, cleaned out the bay we have out at hole 8 for materials and a staff meeting to go over next weeks planned work on the course

The bunker on hole 10 has been completed

This is one of the greenside bunkers on hole 2 and we have tried laying thick slabs of turf which are pinned down instead of revetting the full face, this is a trail so will let you know if it works or not

We have made a start to edging all bunkers before the start of the season

This is an old part of a runway that crosses the par 3 hole 7 which we have edged and whin dusted to tidy up this area

Rear edge of one of the bunkers at hole 16 which we have repaired

This is another bunker that we have experimented with the thick slabs of turf on the worn area of the bunker short of green 12

Today we have started to rebuild the bunker short of the 10th green this bunker has been dug out to make it bigger which should make it a fairer shot out also we have been verti-draining the tees with a 5/8" solid tine to a depth of 5" once the tees are finished we will start the walk offs etc, the soak away at the 3rd has now been levelled and re-turfed.

That's the frost out the ground today but the ground is now soft plus we have had rain through the night, so jobs today were to put pins back on full greens, trim the holes, move tee markers, rake all bunkers, sweep the tee mats, blow any rabbit droppings off the greens as we did not do any cutting or rolling to the greens then carry on working at soak away at 3rd tee and also we had our annual health & safety inspection of the sheds, machinery, training records, spraying records and risk assessments etc.

Hard frost

Today we have had more frost come in over night so we are on winter greens again, we are carrying on with building our soak away at the 3rd tee, we have put in 6" of pea gravel then 12" of sand and 12" of sandy soil on top

Other jobs today was check the course and to cut out any dead or tall gorse and burn

We have started to dig a soak away along the length of the 3rd tee hoping this will stop the surface water running over the tee path and tee and to help this area dry quicker after heavy rain, this will be filled with pea gravel then sandy soil on top then re-turfed with the existing turf lifted from this area, the soil we are digging out is heavy clay.

Today the greens were put on winter greens as the frost is coming out of the ground leaving the surface very soft and wet and underneath still hard on the summer greens, today we checked the course, moved tee markers, we have put most of the men's tees forward onto the ladies tees to help spread wear on the tees and the fairway landing areas these will be put back for winter medal play, also we finished off the area along the wall at hole 16 which looks so much tidier now.

hard frost

The ground has been hard with frost since Saturday so we are on winter greens, work plans have been put on hold till the frost comes out of the ground so today we have started another project as it's not on the course and that is digging away the verge at the wall that crosses hole 16 which is 30 yards in front of the yellow tees, this area will be then filled and levelled with whin dust