Today we were out fertilising the Craighead greens and surrounds which took longer than expected as we had to stop 3 times because of the showers but no need to water in tonight

Roots in an old verti-drain hole on the Balcomie greens

 We are still having to double cut fairways to help keep on top of the grass growth and disperse clippings

 Verti-draining the putting green to a depth of 9" to help get air and water movement after all the rain we have had this summer and then fertilised to help strengthen up the weak areas as its heavily played on

 After the torrential rain we have been trying to get both courses back in play by pumping water off areas, reshaping bunkers and fixing tee paths etc

 We have decided to put in a couple of gully pot drains on the Craighead course to help drain areas much quicker, fingers crossed this helps

Getting the courses set up for daily play

 Big change in the weather from yesterday

 Nick changing holes for the girls Scottish championship today on the Craighead course which will continue till Saturday and means most of the staff will be on course set up then over onto the Balcomie course to catch up and keep away from the competition

 Greens cut and turf ironed if required then stimped to help keep them all consistent speed of 9' 6"

 Tiger moaning about rough at the Open he needs to come and see ours

 Greens ready for play, other jobs were raking all bunkers and cutting tees etc yesterday we cut surrounds, fairways, semi-roughs and setting up driving range ready for today

We have stopped using our semi-rough mower on certain banks/areas to help reduce wheel marks

 Catching up with cutting fairways

 Spraying greens on the Craighead course with fungicide

 watering in fertiliser on the putting green

 Over looking the Balcomie course with the guys cutting tees, cutting and vibrate rolling greens

 Nick setting/picking the 5 hole positions for next weeks Scottish girls championship, fingers crossed we get dry weather but can't see it

Another irrigation burst
Balcomie course - This week has just been trying to keep up with cutting again has the grass just keeps growing and it's wet cuts which we need to cut again once dry and try to keep in front of the golfers also we sprayed greens with a worm irritant and iron as having problems with castings on the surfaces with this wet weather

Craighead course - The front 9 has had to be closed due to flooding this week which has caused us problems with getting machines out to cut areas, greens have had to be sprayed with a fungicide as we are seeing signs of disease, all bunkers were cut/cleaned/blowen and all strimming work completed

 Even the ducks are not out today, today is the start of our club championship matchplay qualifying which has had to be cancelled as greens are starting to flood and the forecast is looking like heavy rain all day so fingers crossed for tomorrow that weather gets better to get round 2 played

 When is summer coming, with this wet damp weather we are struggling to get dry cuts on areas and disperse grass clippings in semi-rough areas etc

 Turf nursery coming on well

 Both courses we have been either rolling or turfing ironing behind cutters each day to help gain surface speed

 Spraying this week has been growth regulator on greens and selective herbicide on the Balcomie course greens as we are seeing signs of Pearlwort and clover in the roughs on the Craighead course

We have a French student with us for 2 weeks helping us and hopefully he will learn what we do on our courses