All go over both courses keeping up with the basic cutting as still short staffed due to staff being on a furlough rota

The Craighead greens & the newly seeded greens on the Balcomie course being sprayed with a liquid fertiliser and trace elements 

We are continuing with over seeding of the Balcomie course greens with Fescue seed as this is the perfect time with the temperatures still high plus the rain that is forecast and the time for the seed to germinate and establish well before the winter months

This seeder spikes the green to make small holes/pots for the seed to drop and then brushed into 

We then have heavily top-dressed with sand to fill the holes above the seed creating an ideal seed bed plus help dilute thatch and smooth the surface after the spiking 

Then the sand is slowly brushed in and surfaces watered 

Another type of seeding we have been carrying out this week is using a disc seeder to put the seed into the surface 

Then we cut & rolled to help smooth the surfaces back up for play and next week these greens will be sprayed with a liquid fertiliser, wetting agent and seaweed to help the seed germinate and surfaces recover

We have used this type of seeding on our tees also to help improve the grasses and surfaces. A big thank you to Kingsbarns Golf Links for allowing us a shot of their disc seeder to carry this work out 

With a day of heavy rain we took the chance to catch up with some painting of the driving range yardage posts which were due to be painted at the start of the season 

We carried out repair work and repainting of the 9th tee steps on the Balcomie course 

 

The reduced Green staff are doing a great job trying to keep up with the maintenance over both courses & driving range etc, when possible we are trying to turf iron greens behind cutting to help smooth off the surfaces and add a little surface speed 

Greens being cut then turf ironed, the last 3 weeks have been damp/dewy mornings which doesn't help with surface pace due to a wet cut 

Preparing courses for daily play 

We have started to target weaker greens and carrying out some TLC, greens 5,6 & 10 on the Balcomie course have been spiked, over seeded 2 ways, heavily top-dressed, brushed in then a liquid fertiliser applied to improve the surfaces by incorporating more finer grasses and sand into the profile which is much needed 

top-dressing after the seeding to cover the seed and smooth off the surfaces 

Then greens slowly brushed to work in the sand to fill in the spike holes & cover the seed, which makes an ideal seed bed 

Then watered in, these greens will be lightly watered daily to keep the seed damp to help it germinate 

It's all these small jobs that we have struggled to carry out with being reduced staff, trimming of the fairway discs and sprinkler heads over both courses, these jobs make a massive difference in presentation 

The new short game area maturing well and being well used, this has been a great addition on our driving range 

 We have a junior member Ross Mallory who is helping us out on work experience for the last couple of weeks before he goes to College to study Greenkeeping, hopefully this will help him in his studies with getting some practical experience beforehand and getting used to the very early starts 

The courses have really greened up since the rain at the end of July 

10th green and surround on the Craighead course, recovering well from the drought 

We are still at reduced staff which means we are at reduced cutting of all areas, when cutting our fairways we usually collect the grass clippings but with being at reduced staff this job has been stopped 

holes 5 & 6 on the Balcomie course 

We have been out over seeding weak areas on the Balcomie course tees 

Greens being cut, holes changed and a liquid fertiliser and iron being sprayed to aid recovery from the drought 

With the rain our playing surfaces are slightly slower due to the increase in growth so when possible we have been turf ironing behind cutting to improve the surfaces 

Green 15 on the Balcomie course 

An irrigation burst at green 5 on the Craighead course, this will be fixed in-house 

Cutting of the 17th fairway on the Balcomie course in front of play