This week seen the start of the alternative mid week winter course closures which is great to allow the courses to get a rest and allow the green staff to start our winter projects

 First bunker to get rebuilt was the green side bunker at hole 10 on the Craighead course

 Work continues at the old wall at hole 11 on the Craighead course

 the 2nd bunker to be rebuilt was the 13th green side bunker on the Craighead course

with the course closed is was a great opportunity to top-dress the greens and surrounds. Other jobs were to carry out daily course set up on the Balcomie course before play and any cutting that was required to keep the courses tidy

 With all the slit tining completed we then set up the flail mower again to cut and collect more deep rough on the Craighead course

 This is an old boundary wall between holes 11 and 12 on the Craighead course which we have been strimming and cleaning up as we will be having half of it rebuilt from the tee upwards to the fairway and the other half will be removed this will give us extra stone for the rebuilding of the walls on the course in future years plus safer for golfers looking for balls

at this time of year plus with us having heavy wet dew's in the mornings mean we are in the Car parks cleaning and blowing the grass to try and keep these areas tidy more than usual

 I was lucky enough to get a trip to the Cleveland potash mine where the raw materials are from for our fertilisers products etc

 the mine is over a mile down from the surface which then we were taken 7 miles out under the sea to the rock face where they were excavating the rock face

 the conveyor belt system which runs all the materials to the surface for processing etc

 With the colder nights we are getting heavy dew's in the mornings, so we have been dewy brushing the greens first thing

 The guys catching up with a full divot on the Balcomie course fairways and hopefully next week do the same on the Craighead course

 Slit tining of fairways and tees on both courses has started and will be carried out monthly through out the winter months to help relieve compaction from the season

 the drainage lines on the 3rd fairway of the Craighead course received another heavy top-dress and rub in to help smooth off the surfaces

 Haar starting to roll in on Wednesday afternoon

 the grass is coming through the matting that was laid at the rear of the 6th tees on the Balcomie course last week

 We are starting to hand cut the Craighead course greens more now to help relieve any stress and wheel marks on the surrounds from the triple mowers turning and round the perimeter of the greens

 Cutting has slowed down now with only the harder growing fairways etc getting cut weekly over both the courses, this will be done more in the afternoons for a drier cut

We have been back to the drainage lines in front of tees 9 & 18 on the Craighead course to top-up the lines with seed and divot mix before giving this area a heavy top-dress going into the winter months

 I'm over the moon with the germination that we are getting on the Craighead course greens after the aeration work that was completed 3 weeks ago

 I have applied a fungicide to the Craighead greens as a preventative as this is the usual time we get disease on these greens

While waiting for the greens cutter to finish so I can spray the greens I took the chance to do some hand weeding. Other tasks this week have been to take the dampness off the greens each day either by cutting, rolling or dewy brushing, repair the worn area between the 2nd green and bunker on the Balcomie course and just general cutting and tidying up on the courses. Our cutting program is starting to be reduced with the slowing down of the growth which will give us time to start our aeration programs on tees & fairways in the coming weeks

 Monday morning was flat calm so perfect for us to apply our Autumn/winter feed to the Craighead course greens which should see them through till spring

 Our aeration work to the Balcomie course greens is to deep verti-drain, mini-hollow core, double verti-cut, cut, over seed then top-dress. the weather this week as been perfect for carrying out this work and hopefully its stays mild for the next few weeks to allow the seed to germinate

 Greens 3, 6 & both Putting greens had extra aeration work carried out of 16mm hollow coring

 after the top-dressing and rubbing in we watered the sand in, then once dry we vibrate rolled the surfaces then applied their Autumn/winter feed just like the Craighead course

Other tasks have been to keep on top of the cutting over both course, daily course set up on the Craighead course and lay rubber matting at rear of tee 6 on the Balcomie course, this should make walking up or down the bank much safer  in the winter months