Fantastic both courses back open

 Great news both courses are back open to limited play now

 This week was to get all the main playing areas cut for the opening on Friday, we are still on reduced staffing for the courses, please bare with us through these times 

 Growth has slowed down due to the drought we are in, we have only had 12mm of rain since the end of March when lock down started

 We have been out hand watering high spots on our greens mostly on the Craighead course this week and next week we will start on the Balcomie course

We have applied a wetting agent, low rate of liquid fertiliser & seaweed to our greens & PG's over both the courses to help them in these very dry conditions

 After the applications were applied they were watered in to make them more available to the plant and less chance of scotching in these very dry & warm conditions

 Getting the greens ready for the opening, you can see the high spots starting to dry out

 2 weeks ago we sprayed a low rate of a selective herbicide to kill off a weed called Pearwort which is working well on the Balcomie course greens

More spraying of wetting agent, this product helps water penetrate into the soil profile much quicker, which in turns helps reduce water run off and much better use of our water

Sticking to the Government rules all tee furniture, ball washers, benches etc have been removed and we have roped off the entrances to the storm huts

 We have temporarily leveled off the 7th tee path on the Balcomie course to make safe for golfers to use, this project will now be completed in the Autumn when we get more staff back, but the newly turfed tees are in play

We have placed our newly built recycling bin in pride of place on the 7th tee path where the bench will get placed once lock down is over

When we get a chance we have been painting the Balcomie tee markers ready to go back out

 This week was the Craighead course greens turn to be solid tined to a depth of 150mm to relieve compaction, allow better air and water movement through the top of the soil profile 

 When cutting tees on the Craighead course we have removed our grass boxes from the mower to allow the clippings to return to the surfaces due to applying a slow release fertiliser 2 weeks ago

 Ongoing cutting of most of all the playing surfaces at a reduced frequency due to limited staff

 The newly turfed 7th tees on the Balcomie course getting their weekly cut ready for when the courses open to be played off

When we get a chance we are seeding and top-dressing any turfed areas from when the new Balcomie course irrigation system was installed

 Ongoing in-house upgrades of old/worn sprinklers, saddles and swing joints on the Craighead course

Our newly GPS'd completed irrigation maps for both our courses have pride of place in our new pump-house

 We have installed anti-slip pads on our new steps onto the newly built 7th tees on the Balcomie course, the path has still got a lot of work to be done before this project is finished but the tees will be in play when the courses reopen

 Cutting of our short game area green after it was heavily top-dressed 2 weeks ago, this whole area is just over 1.5 years old and is maturing really well and is a great asset to the club

 We are seeing great results from our rough management program of cutting and collecting the roughs over both our courses in the Autumn/winter months to help thin these areas out for the wildlife and playing of golf, this will be an ongoing maintenance each year

The Balcomie course greens were sprayed with liquid fertiliser and a reduce rate of a selective herbicide due to a weed called pearwort, so this should check the pearwort and any daises that are emerging

 Also we carried out aeration work to the Balcomie course greens, PG's & short game area green by solid tining them to a depth of 150mm to help open up the surfaces which will help aid water etc into the profile during this very dry spell, we have only had 5.5mm of rain in the last 2 months

very little disturbance to the playing surfaces, once the greens are cut & rolled you will hardly see the holes

 The weaker tees on the Craighead course have been fertilised with a slow release fertiliser to help thicken up the sward for the season but without giving us a spurt in growth

 with the very dry spell continuing we have been irrigation every day to give the playing surfaces a little water

 The new Balcomie irrigation system is working really well and the water coverage on the surfaces is now so much better even in light winds

Any new turfed areas like bunkers that were built in the winter we have been putting out a sprinkler to help keep the turf alive which will allow these areas to knit in better

 Any small irrigation issues on the Craighead course has been fixed and upgraded to help improve this irrigation system to work more effectively and efficiently 

Ongoing cutting of all the main playing surfaces is going well but at a reduced frequency than normal  due to the reduced staffing levels and no play yet

 At last we have manged to get our driving range cut, this was not cut for 5 weeks due to staffing levels, you can see the growth we are getting

The tees over both courses are only being cut once a week instead of twice a week and you can see the growth we are getting just now, but can see the growth slowing down slightly with this drought we are in. please all stay staff and the courses are ready for play when we are allowed

Essential maintenance is ongoing to all the main playing areas at a reduce cutting frequency over both our courses  

 We are still managing to box our grass clippings from our fairways to help reduce weed seeds back onto the surfaces, this may have to stop due to the excelled growth and the reduced staff levels during the lock-down

 Cutting semi-roughs on the Balcomie course hole 5

 With the courses closed, we are trying to carry out repair work to our weaker walkways by over seeding, heavy top-dressing and fertilising then watering theses areas. we are mixing our sand top-dressing with top-soil to make a nice heavy loam soil, which will help retain more moisture and be stronger against wear and tear

 The weather is still very dry with only 5.5mm of rain since before the lock-down in March which has been great for cutting but all our newly built bunkers and turfed areas are being constantly watered to keep them alive and to help knit in

 Ongoing in-house repairs to sprinklers on the Craighead course, with the new Balcomie course irrigation system working so well it's highlighting small problems on the Craighead system that we can fix in-house by replacing worn old sprinkler heads on problem areas

 When we get a chance we are continuing to seed & top-dress any turfed areas due to the installation of the new irrigation system on the Balcomie course

We are still recycling any glass which we are using as a top-dressing on certain tees to help reduce worm-casts, so any Club member please bring your used/old glass bottles/jars out to the Club so we can crush and recycle them