Tomorrow we have the senior open on the Craighead course so we were out cutting tees, divoting tees, fertilising tees, cutting semi-roughs, cutting 3.5" roughs, cutting fairways and trimming sprinkler heads but we left the greens as we were forecasted high winds again they will be cut tomorrow with the surrounds. Other jobs were to rake bunkers on both courses, cut Balcomie greens and divot Balcomie tees

 The seed in the drainage lines is starting to come through but we will top-dress and seed again next week

 We have re-turfed and placed rubber matting on the weak area coming onto the medal tee at hole 2 on the Balcomie course

A new rubber matting path at hole 13 on the Balcomie course, this will make this area more safer to walk on if in wet weather

 Congratulations to Graeme Robertson from Glenbervie for winning the Battle trophy with 81-69-72-69 total 291 3 over par over a windy weekend, so Monday was to clean up tees and driving range and bring in signs etc as we are needing to set up for the 72 hole University challenge which starts Tuesday all go for the Greenkeeping team this week

 The last 2 afternoons has gave us the chance to carry out a deep scarify, verti-cut and top-dressing on our greens turf nursery and seed, divot and top-dress all winter tees plus repair irrigation burst on the Balcomie course which keeps the staff off the Craighead course with university challenge being on

 Today was to get  the Craighead course set up for the university championship by cutting greens only as with the high winds can make the greens unplayable so no rolling etc, surrounds, tees and fairways plus hole changing and raking bunkers all completed

This is the start of the old irrigation system on the Balcomie course giving us problems with bursts

 That's us getting the last of the G.U.R bunkers filled and back into play

 This weekend we are holding the Battle Trophy a 72-hole open amateur strokeplay championship on the Craighead course

 The last couple of days have been concentrated on the Craighead course making sure everything has been cut again and cleaning up sand which has blown out the bunkers from Tuesday's and Thursday's high winds

We have placed matting down to stop practising from the backs of the tees which we will use for the weekend

 High winds today has broke 2 pins and blew sand out of all the larger bunkers so big clean up and shaping of bunkers tomorrow, on a positive note the 9mm of rain late yesterday has really helped the courses green up plus helped any new turf.

 At last we have applied our fertiliser to the tees after they were cut & divoted as temperatures are rising slightly plus rain meant to be coming in

Other jobs were to hand water all new turf and bunkers to stop the new turf drying out, finish off divoting the Craighead fairways and finishing off the road to our shed. Next week will concentrate on getting all areas cut over both courses to keep them neat and tidy and get all the new bunkers back in play for the season they should of been back in play for the 1st of April but we delayed it with the cold weather as growth was very slow

 drainage works at hole 8 on the Craighead course is now completed

 We have started our monthly  applications of  wetting agent and seaweed to greens on both courses and a little water in too to help wash in

Our last winter/spring work job is to install chestnut paling along the sand dunes at hole 2 on the Balcomie course to help stabilise the sand dunes, this will be on going in the afternoons when course tasks are completed, other tasks have been to rake bunkers daily etc and to complete repairing work on road to greenkeeping shed

 The drainage work to the left of 8th fairway completed on the Craighead course to help reduce turfing we only turfed the fairway area and the rest will be seeded when temperatures rise

 Starting drainage on the right hand side of the 8th fairway this has only been possible with the dry weather

Other jobs are carrying on with edging tee paths on both courses, raking bunkers daily and rolling greens every couple of days to keep the the surfaces smooth