We are starting to see the rewards of the extra work that has been carried out in the areas of deep rough over both the courses to make them more cleaner/weed free and playable for the golfers

 The usual Friday afternoon job of cutting and cleaning the burn that crosses fairways 10, 11, 12 & 1 on the Balcomie course

We have set up our verti-cut units ready for next week to cut out any lateral growth on the greens over both courses

We have been out hand weeding the greens this week to pull out any daisies, other jobs have been just trying to keep up with the cutting of all areas and spraying if weather permits to apply our wetting agents etc

 It's all go with cutting now over both the courses and if it's calm spraying selective herbicide to control weeds

 We try to cut/clean/weed/blow the bunkers on alternate weeks over both the courses

We have been trying out a demo light brush that fits to the front of your triple mower,so this has been tried on greens & surrounds with great results it's really helping to lift the grass before the cut

 On Friday we had a contractor in to spray selective herbicide on fairways over both courses to help reduce daisies

 Certain areas of deep have been cut & collected again to help starve these areas

 Since cutting and collecting the deep rough areas we have notice more weeds appearing so these will be sprayed with a selective herbicide in the coming weeks to help keep these areas cleaner and to stop the weeds seeding and spreading

 Our turf nursery has been grubbed up, rotovated then de-stoned ready to be seeded out again and hopefully in use for the winter of 2016

 The deep hollow coring to the Putting green has been carried out again to help drainage and to improve the soil profile

 We have been out with our new sprayer this week as we have has some calm weather at last

 The Balcomie course greens were sprayed with growth regulator/fert/iron

 Throughout the winter months when weather/ground conditioned allowed we cut and collected big areas of deep rough over both courses and now we are out spraying to help kill off the rougher grasses to help thin these areas out which in turn should make them more playable, this task will be ongoing each year on certain problem areas

 The gorse that was cut back in the winter months is starting the get re-growth already

 We are trying 4 of the new Toro infinity sprinkler heads on green 11 on the Craighead course

 These sprinklers have a small nozzle at the back of the head as well to allow you to water the surrounding area like bunker faces etc

All the wood at the front of the Clubhouse is now replaced and the chips topped up etc

 The courses starting to take shape for the season

 The new back medal tee on hole 2 of the Balcomie course now in play

 The staff busy keeping on top of all the cutting

 We try to cross cut our fairways now and again to help reduce napping on the surface

 Machine maintenance ongoing with regrinding cutting units and bottom blades

Repairs to the wooden frame at the front of the Clubhouse

 Last week was a very busy week for the staff as on top of all the cutting and routine tasks we carried out essential aeration work to the Craighead course greens to help reduce thatch levels, firstly was to mini-core

 Scarify at 6mm depth in 2 directions

 Verti-cut and blow to clean surfaces of any debris

 Over seed, top-dress then rub in dressing

A few days and the surfaces should be back to normal