Astro turf bunker faces

 This week we had 38mm of rain over Monday to Wednesday then frost Friday which stopped most of our plans this week, but we did carry out other jobs like re-shaping the ground at the front of our new material bays

 This week we had our training of building astro turf revetted bunker faces which is how we are building our 3 new bunkers on the new short game area, this will hopefully stop the need to rebuild these bunkers every couple of years from wear and tear of use.We are recycling the astro turf as it has came from an old hockey pitch. It was great to meet and the guys to be trained by Llewellyn Matthews.

 each bit of astro turf needs to be cut depending on the shape and area of the bunker face it is used at

 We have placed black permeable sheeting under the face, then we will add more at the base of the bunkers to stop the sand being contaminated by soil or stones in years to come

 The building of the bunkers are very similar how we build our turf faces on the courses

 We have added in a hose pipe with small holes in it to water the turf round each bunker top to help them from drying out, this will be attached to our existing irrigation system but through a pressure reducer valve

 the first of the 3 bunker faces completed

 the building of the other 2 has been started and will be completed next week weather pending

 With the Balcomie course on it's 2nd mid week closure we were out spraying iron on greens, surrounds, tees and fairways to help harden the plant up/add a little colour going into the winter months, before the fairway were sprayed we slit tined and cut

 We have rebuild the 1st green side bunker which sits in the bank in front of the green

 All our bunker faces over 0.5m high are at 35 degrees of an angle to keep with our course policy document

 Great job done by the team, we have roped off this area to aid recovery and allow the area a good rest from all the summer play

 We have built a new bank next to our new material bays to keep them hidden from the courses

Other tasks have been course set up each day for the Craighead course and we are still working away at cutting and collecting deep rough areas

 This week saw the start of the mid week course closure for the Balcomie course, so we have made a start to rebuilding worn bunker faces

 12th green side bunker

 8th fairway bunker

 4th green side bunker

 weather still great for this time of year

 we have applied more top-dressing sand to the greens, surrounds and tees on the Balcomie course

 All the fairways on the Balcomie course have been slit tined to relieve compaction

 We have been hand cutting the Craighead course greens to help smooth the surface after the deep aeration work to them 2 weeks ago

 All bunker faces over both courses have been cut/blown etc to keep them neat and tidy through the winter months

 Irrigation trenches have been dug round our new short game area on the driving range ready for the installation of the new pipework and sprinklers

Cutting and collecting of deep roughs is still ongoing when weather permits

 We have sprayed the Craighead course tees with iron to help harden the plant up going into the winter months

 The Craighead fairways have been slit tined again at a slight different direction to allow more air/water into the soil profile

 From the 1st of November the par tees will be from mats apart from any medal/comps which they will be back off turf, this is done to help aid the recovery of the tees through the winter months plus we have very little growth so any damage will take much longer to repair for having decent tees going into next golfing season

 The 7th Greenside bunker on the Craighead course has been rebuilt and will be G.U.R until start of the new golfing season

Our new material bays are now completed, we just need to reshape the banking to the left of them to keep them hidden from the course, this will be done once the concrete has cured