This week we have been busy re building the face on the 2nd greenside bunker, re-turfing the worn area on the 12th greenside bunker and edging out the other 12th bunker by 2 foot to make it easier to rake and play out of, hand weeding the Balcomie greens and slit tining the drier fairways as its been to wet to carryout drainage which we are hoping to start again tomorrow

 Another 15mm of rain yesterday which tested out our drainage project at hole 18 on the Balcomie course with good results thank god

 We carried out gravel banding above an old drain on the 6th surround on the Balcomie course which should help keep this area drier

 2nd greenside bunker completed

With more rain yesterday we carried on with more insulation work in the shed. other jobs were to cut and turf iron greens, change holes and move/divot tee markers and rake bunkers on both courses ready for the weekend

 With over 25mm of rain on Monday we had to close both courses first thing then we managed to get the Balcomie course open at 10.30am so we were making a start to replacing and adding extra insulation under the flooring above the office, drying room and mess room this will hopefully help reduce heating costs

 We had to chase sheep off the course as they never paid there green fees

 Today we managed to get back to our drainage project at the 18th on the Balcomie course as it was dry enough

 Back filling with pea gravel then finally with sand on top, these drainage lines will be seeded and top-dressed in the spring

 The Balcomie fairways being sprayed with soluble iron

 11th right hand greenside bunker on the Balcomie course being rebuilt

 2nd left hand greenside bunker being rebuilt

 We have had a local contractor in cutting down an area of gorse at the 18th hole on the Balcomie course as this area will be used as a dumping area for up to 300 tons of stones for our erosion project at the coastline rear of the 17th green plus a road way to and from the road to the 17th area so not to cause to much damage to the golf course and an added bonus of gorse maintenance to this area as the gorse was getting very tall and leggy so was needing cut back

 18th drainage project completed, view from the Clubhouse

View from the Clubhouse of gorse area that was cut back. Other jobs have been touching up bunkers and moving tee markers daily, slit tininig the Balcomie fairways before spraying and putting out the winter pins and flags

 Today we were still working away at the drainage project at hole 18 on the Balcomie course, the mini hopper has been a godsend for back filling the trenches with the pea gravel it's at least 50% quicker and less labour to back fill than by hand, hopefully by the middle of next week this job will be completed weather permitting

Balcomie course- all bunkers raked, tee markers moved and divoted, greens cut and turf ironed, balls collected off driving range, more edging/cleaning  up of path from 18th to car park and made a start again to slit tining fairways after break

Craighead course- greens rolled, tee markers moved and divoted, bunkers raked, 11th fairway divoted and starter hut area edged and tidied up

 Today it was a very heavy dew so we were out dewy brushing and rolling greens to help disperse the dew

 The greenside bunker at hole 1 on the Balcomie course getting rebuilt, other jobs have been to carrying on with drainage work, divoting fairways and slit tining tees

 A touch of frost first thing, Today was the start of the Balcomie course being closed for winter work & drainage so we started the drainage work at hole 18, rebuilding the 1st greenside bunker, started divoting fairways and spraying greens and surrounds with iron. The Craighead course we brushed greens to disperse the dew once the frost had lifted and raked bunkers and moved tee markers

The gravel banding is across and above a drain that we put in 6 years ago which should help drain water off the surface quicker and into the existing drain

 I was down at Bingley for a seminar at the (STRI) sports turf research institute on disease control on turf and then we were shown their test plots on which they have different grass cultivars and how they react differently to disease pressures and wear tolerances

 This week the Craighead course is closed for winter work again so we have been rebuilding the 17th right greenside bunker

 Aeration work has been slit tining greens and verti-draining tees this will really help to relieve compaction and allow air and water movement into and through the soil profiles

Other jobs have been brushing sand into the drainage lines, trimming tee sprinklers and fairway yardage discs, spraying greens and surrounds with liquid iron and edging grass areas at the entrance to Clubhouse and Car park areas. On the Balcomie course we have just been rolling greens and raking bunker and moving tee markers daily

 Today we were catching up with cutting and tidying up both courses as we have been concentrating on our drainage work this week, the Balcomie greens we turf ironed and rolled to help smooth off the surface as still a bit bumpy from the aeration work

 The drainage job at hole 1 is completed after we had to repair the irrigation pipe as we hit it with the trencher lol

 Another small drainage and repair job in front of our 1st green on the Craighead course which we drained into the greenside bunker and the low area was raised to make it easier to cut etc

 Drainage at the 4th fairway continues with back filling the trenches with pea gravel to 1" from the top then sand on the surface

 Winter par 3 tee mats completed and in play now

The 9th greenside bunker rebuilt the first of many this winter