Balcomie greens slowly recovering from their annual aeration work 

once the work was completed we applied a liquid fertiliser and seaweed to aid recovery on the greens 

nearly 3 weeks later and they are back to normal going into the winter period 

With the colder weather coming in we are now starting to reduce our cutting program on all areas and instead we have been brushing fairways to keep them neat and tidy plus help disperse worm casts 

We are looking at replacing our fairway yardage posts to discs on the Balcomie course as these look much neater and tidier, just like on the Craighead course 

Aeration work on the Craighead tees is still ongoing when weather and staffing permits, the coring and scarifying is to help rip out thatch, allow more air into the profile and improve surface drainage 

We have carried out light scarifying to the Craighead greens to continue to help reduce our thatch levels to help produce firmer playing surfaces 

minimal disturbance to the surfaces 

greens were then verti-cut and cut to clean the surfaces up before back in play 

it worked out about half a load of material taken out of each green which is great as once the work was completed there was no disturbance to the surfaces for play 

 Then the greens were sprayed with seaweed and a liquid fert to aid recovery from the scarifying 

cutting and rolling greens in front of play 

We have applied another 0.5tons of top-dressing sand to the Craighead greens to help dilute thatch and to improve the surfaces 

Giving the Craighead greens their Autumn/winter feed to help strengthen the sward up going into the colder months 

This week saw us start our aeration work to the Balcomie course greens, which consisted of double scarifying at 6mm depth, cleaning up, verti-cutting, cleaning up, double spiking/seeding, applying 2 tons of top-dressing sand to each green then brushed in 

Scarifying helps rip out thatch from the profile 

the scarifying blades have tungsten tipped blades 

the amount of thatched ripped out of each green, this will help firm the surfaces up and reduce our thatch levels 

all go scarifying and verti-cutting 

Then we spiked and seeded the surfaces 2 ways to improve the grass sward 

loads of holes for to make a seedbed 

then 2 tons of sand was applied to each green to cover the seed, fill the holes and scarifying lines plus this will help to dilute the thatch levels

gently brushed in to the profile  

the surfaces were slowly rolled to help smooth and work the sand in 

then a good water in, next week the plan is to apply more sand to help the recovery of the surfaces going into the winter months 

already the gorse that was cut back at hole 16 on the Balcomie course has started to regenerate