Balcomie course aeration week

It's that time of year again to carry out essential aeration work to the greens on the Balcomie course to relieve compaction and reduce thatch levels 

Greens 5,6,9,10 & 18 have been large hollow cored to help improve these surfaces more 

all the cores cleaned up before verti-cutting, cutting, spiking and overseeding 

the other 13 greens were just mini-cored 

verti-cutting after the coring to help rip out more thatch and clean the surfaces up before seeding

then spiking and overseeding to help improve the grass sward 

divoting the Balcomie course landing areas after a very busy season 

The Craighead course greens received their Autumn fertiliser to aid in the recovery from their aeration work 2 weeks ago, which consisted of mini-coring  and verti-cutting to help reduce thatch levels and open up the surfaces 

The cutting and collecting of deep rough areas on the Craighead course is ongoing to help reduce the thickness of these areas long term 
 

A very Linksy course this year due to the prolonged drought we have had this Summer with only 76mm of rain in the last 3 months 

We have received nearly 6mm of rain yesterday which has really helped the courses perk up and add slight more growth to our greens, so we have been turf ironing behind the mower to help add pace to the surfaces 

The Craighead course tees being cut, divoted and sprayed with a liquid fertiliser to aid in recovery from the drought 

We have made a start to cutting round certain gorse areas on the Craighead course to help reduce the dense grass which surrounds these areas, basically the same principle when we cut and collect our deep roughs to help thin these areas out and make them slightly more playable 

On that note we have started the cutting and collecting of our deep rough areas, this will be ongoing right through the Autumn months on areas over both courses when weather permits 

We are making progress on connecting our new borehole at our dump area next to the 12th tees on the Craighead course 

We have added more H&S signage at the tees on hole 2 of the Balcomie course to reduce and hopefully stop golfers hitting/playing onto the 12th fairway while golfers are playing the 12th fairway 
 

Changing holes each morning of the Club Championship over both courses 

At last some rain, which has allowed us to spray greens over both courses with wetting agent & Seaweed 

Polishing up fairways 

Spraying greens after cutting 

Cutting and rolling greens when possible to keep a good pace on the surfaces 

The Craighead course greens have had their Summer granular fertiliser applied 

Ongoing irrigation repairs on the Craighead course with replacing worn old sprinklers 

In the drought and very high temperatures we have been out hand watering greens over both courses to help hydrate the high spots 

Our 5th green on the Balcomie course has had some extra work carried out on it to help improve the surface by double spiking, over seeding, heavy top-dressing and rubbing in, this will help reduce thatch levels and introduce better grass species into the sward 

loads of holes for the new seed 

slow rub in of the top-dressing sand into the holes to cover the seed 

The Craighead course tees have had an application of slow release fertiliser to aid recovery 
 

Summer is here

Both courses starting to dry up, watering greens & tees through the night when the wind is calmer and lower temperatures 

greens being turf ironed before play 

hand watering high spots on greens 

18th green on the Balcomie course has had extra work completed on it to help improve the surface and reduce thatch levels - the green was double spiked and seeded 

loads of holes for new seed 

an application of 1 ton of top-dressing sand to cover the seed and fill in the holes and make the surfaces smooth again 

surface slowly brushed to work the seed and sand into the holes, then the surface was slowly rolled, watered and fertilised 

We have been out spot treating a weed called Pearwort on our greens 

Irrigation repairs ongoing on the Craighead course before a busy spell for the systems 

The Balcomie course fairways are having the grass clippings collected when cut to help reduce weed seeds back onto the surfaces 

Our last built in-house recycling bin for the Balcomie course is in place along the path from the 14th green to the 15th tees, next winter we plan to complete the Craighead course bins 

We have in a demo of a new flail mower for cutting and collecting our deep roughs going forward 

Getting the courses prepared for the days play 

All fairways and semi-roughs have been sprayed with a selective herbicide to help control daises etc over both courses 

The Balcomie course greens receiving their Summer application of fertiliser 
 

Greens being hand cut on the Craighead course for the Senior Open 

Spraying liquid fertiliser on the Balcomie course greens 

The Craighead course planned aeration work went well with us Scarifying, mini-coring the greens to rip out thatch from the surfaces 

cores taken out the surface 

The greens were then verti-cut and cut to clean the surfaces up 

Then we spiked and over seeded the greens with Fescue & bent seed to help improve the grass sward 

1.5 tons of sand was applied to each green to cover the seed, fill the core holes and the scarifying lines to help gain a surface for play 

the sand slowly rubbed in then watered in 

A very slow roll to smooth off the surfaces

We are involved with helping the Crail Community partnership, so we were in to the Village preparing an area which will be seeded out to add a source of food for birds and bees etc 

Our weaker fairways on the Balcomie course have been sprayed with a wetting agent & liquid fertiliser to help strengthen them up for the busy season ahead 

Another 1 tons per green of sand was applied to the Craighead course greens to aid recovery from the aeration work 

then rubbed in, rolled then watered in