Gorse in full bloom

 With the really dry spell, only 0.25mm so far for April, we have been using our new irrigation system everyday for the last 4/5 weeks, which is allowing us to see how it is performing and if we need to do any adjustments on the new sprinkler heads, Something we have noticed is the better pressure on the Craighead course due to the upgraded pumps which supply both our courses

 David Roy our Managing Secretary was out a couple of weeks ago helping cut fairways on the Craighead course due to the Green staff being on furlough

 We are continuing to improve the sprinkler heads on the Craighead course with replacing any worn or damaged heads, something that is showing up now due to the new system on the Balcomie course being so good

 1st hole on the Craighead course being set up for the Scottish amateur last year

10th hole on the Craighead course being set up for the Scottish amateur last year, hopefully won't be long and we will all be back out playing and enjoying our courses here at Crail 

 All going well on the courses. for the last 4 weeks it has just been myself and Colin working over both the courses but now with a lot more growth we have un furloughed another 3 staff to give us a total of 5 going forward to look after both courses still sticking to the Governments guidelines

 With the very dry weather the new irrigation system has been on most days for various reasons, watering greens, washing in wetting agent & fertilisers and watering any new turf areas

 This is me setting up an irrigation program to run automatically, with the courses being closed it has gave me a good chance to watch and check the sprinklers run times, arcs and performance, especially in windy conditions 

 After carrying out light aeration to the Craighead course greens we have applied a low rate fertiliser to aid recovery, we will repeat the light aeration work to these greens again next week to help reduce thatch levels even more

 This week we are carrying out light aeration work to the Balcomie course greens which will allow us to be ahead of our aeration plans for this year which means we will not need to close in the Autumn to carry this work out, when we are hoping to be back fully open and busy

 The amount of material ripped out from just 2 greens from the light scarifying

 Our first cut with grass boxes on the Balcomie fairways after spraying these areas with a selective herbicide to reduce daises, with collecting the grass etc it will reduce weed seeds back onto these areas

 We are not far away from full growth on most areas over both courses

 Cutting of the Balcomie fairways

Brushing and cutting tees, brushing before cutting is helping disperse the worm casts and allowing us to get a better cut

On the 8th green of the Balcomie course where we had an oil leak 4 weeks ago is recovering really well and the new seed is germinating well, hopefully this will be fully recovered in another 4 weeks

 It's first cut since coring, seeding and top-dressing on the damaged area

 The 11th green on the Craighead course is recovering really well from the additional aeration work and the motorbike vandalism 7 weeks ago

 We have been out spiking, over seeding, top-dressing and fertilising weak tees over both courses

Brushing in the top-dressing on the tees before fertilising and watering

 With bringing in all the course furniture it has made it slightly easier and quicker to carry out cutting of tees & semi-roughs. Tees on both courses have been brushed, cut then a selective herbicide sprayed to reduce weeds

 We have now completed all the aeration work on green 11 on the Craighead course to help aid recovery from the motorbike vandalism, this consisted of more over seeding and top-dressing and brushing in

 Brushing in before and after seeding to help fill in the core holes

 We have continued with double scarifying the Craighead course greens to reduce thatch levels, this will continue into next week due to minimum staff levels

 After the scarifying of the greens they were then blown/cleaned up before a hand cut to help firm the surfaces back up from this work

 14th green on the Craighead course after being scarified & cut

 Then the greens were watered to help reduce stress from this aeration work

 We concentrated on the Craighead course last week to get most of the main playing areas cut due to this course being a harder growing than the Balcomie course

 10th green on the Craighead course after being scarified & cut

We carried out seeding and top-dressing to our short game area to help improve the surfaces from the winter play