In January we got hit with another hard frost for just over a week, which put our winter work plans behind but allowed us to catch up on some Gorse management 

We have build another recycling bin plus basket area for on our driving range 

We have built another bin for out side our Pro shop out of Railway sleepers to keep with the theme from round both our courses 

Some of the wetter fairways & walkways have been solid tined to a depth of 125mm to help open up the profile on the Craighead course 

The bunker short of green 2 on the Craighead course has been rebuilt and the surrounding areas altered to make it easier/safer to maintain when cutting 

the Pot bunker short of green 10 on the Craighead course has been rebuilt 

The Island bunker at green 12 has been rebuilt on the Craighead course 

The 5th fairway bunker on the Balcomie course has been rebuilt plus the weak surrounds have been re-turfed 

The proposed site next to our Clubhouse putting green for the new buggy/trolley store has been excavated down to see what the ground is like before going forward 

The bunker short of green 12 on the Craighead course has been rebuilt 

Both white & yellow tees on hole 6 on the Craighead course have been re-leveled and extended slightly to cope with play 

The Craighead course greens have had an application of winter fertiliser to aid in the recovery from the mini-coring from the Autumn/winter, this was planned to be done before but the weather and temperatures has held us up 

13th greenside bunker on the Craighead course has been rebuilt 

We have replaced the 6th yellow tee sprinkler, this will help with much better water coverage to the playing surface 
 

Merry Christmas from the Greenstaff

2nd yellow tee on the Craighead course has been extended and re-leveled 

New turf going down, we also replaced the old worn out irrigation sprinkler, so we should get a much better water coverage  

Tee roped off to allow establishment of the new turf and will be back in play at the start of the Season

Our new in-house built drinking fountain has replaced our old fountain at the Craighead course toilets at the 9th tee path 

We have started to rebuild the bunker short right of our 2nd green on the Craighead course

We have reduced the size slightly and we are raising the face to make it easier to maintain the surrounding areas, this bunker will be completed in January 

We have had a very hard frost for 12 days 

With the hard frost it was great to cut back the gorse at the 18th tee carry on the Balcomie course to open up the view from the tee 

With the ground being solid with frost any snow/rain could not penetrate the surfaces, which meant a lot of flooding which then froze over night and then we had a lot of big patches of ice over both courses 

Once the courses thawed out we managed to slit tine the Balcomie course greens to a depth of 150mm to help open up the surfaces 

No surface disturbance 

The right hand side bunker at green 1 on the Balcomie course has been rebuilt 

The Balcomie greens being cut after the slit tining and ready fro the busy Christmas period 

Fairways over both courses have been cut to tidy up the surfaces 
 

Winter course maintenance

Greens over both courses have been verti-drained down to a depth of 175mm with a 19mm solid tine to relieve compaction and aid drainage through the winter months 

The walkway/bridge at our 12th fairway on the Balcomie course has been re-turfed and rubber matting added as this area was worn out as its a tight bottle neck area for foot traffic 

The new turf will grow through the matting, which should be much harder wearing 

The walkway into the 14th tee on the Balcomie course is always wearing out, so we have laid Railway sleepers and matting to stop this area wearing out 

The surrounding areas re-turfed 

Hopefully this area should stay neater and less worn 

We have laid matting which the grass will grow through and be much better wearing 

After the greens were verti-drained they were all slowly rolled to help smooth the surfaces before play 

We have started to re-level and slightly extend our 2nd yellow tee on the Craighead course, which should allow us more teeing ground, we will also replace both irrigation sprinklers to help us gain better water coverage in the Summer months 

Striping off the old turf, this turf will be re-used for building bunkers etc 

The tee surface was harrowed in different directions to help loosen up the existing soil to allow us to level off the surface 

2nd greenside bunker rebuilt on the Craighead course 

The next section of dyke to be rebuilt was along the right hand side of fairway 8 on the Craighead course 

We have been out giving our fairways a cut but the cutting has been reduced as growth is now slowing down, in the last 2 months we have had good recovery from the long Summer drought

7th greenside bunker on the Craighead course rebuilt 

We are in the middle of making another in-house Railway sleeper recycling bin and basket area for our driving range, hopefully golfers will place their used baskets in this area once finished practicing  

Carrying on with the Railway sleeper theme we have across both our courses, we are making a new drinking fountain for the Craighead course with an added bottle filler tap