All go over both courses with a wet start to the Summer which has been difficult to keep up with the grass growth but the growth is starting to tail back a little with this dry spell 

Greens being cut & rolled, greens are being groomed at least once a week to help tickle/cut lateral growth 

We have replaced all the flowers at front of the Clubhouse 

We are collecting the grass clippings from fairways over both courses when we cut to help reduce weed seeds going back into the surface 

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

Our newly built driving range mat area is now in play for the season, the grass area is still out of play to allow turf to establish and knit in before we start to reduce the cutting height on this area 

Our drier fairways on the Balcomie course have been sprayed with a wetting agent and seaweed/fert to help strengthen them up going into the main playing season 

With the dry spell we are now watering greens etc at nights to keep the moisture level where we want it to be, we use moisture probe to check daily 

We are now cutting the deep rough areas left of 5th hole and right of hole 6 to help speed up play on the Balcomie course 

With it being such a wet and mild winter and the banning of insecticides we are having problems with the grub called Leatherjacket on the Craighead greens mostly with Crows etc pecking for the grubs, this in turn is causing damage to the surfaces, which we are seeding/sanding when possible, hopefully this should stop very shortly when the grubs pupate 

 

We have been carrying out essential aeration work to the Craighead course greens & putting greens to help us reduce or thatch levels and improve the firmness of the surfaces 

The greens were lightly double scarified to remove material then cleaned up and surfaces cut 

Then we carried out sand injection to a depth of 6" to help dilute thatch and improve drainage etc 

profile of the sand injection into the green 

Then after the sand injection we applied seed and more sand to help fill in the scarifying lines 

Then brushed in 

The dyke on the Craighead course at hole 8 is currently being rebuilt to complete this area 

We have replaced both the sprinklers on tee 14 of the Craighead course to help improve water coverage 

Greens & PG's over both courses have been sprayed with a liquid fertiliser and Seaweed to feed the grass plant 

We are still catching up on winter jobs of edging/weeding tee paths over both courses 

The Balcomie greens being groomed/cut & turf ironed, this should help with surface smoothness due to the grasses all starting to grow at different rates 

The new Balcomie course starters hut is now completed and in use for the Season 

We have replaced the boundary fence at the 17th tees on the Balcomie course 

We are now at full cutting of all main playing areas with the recent heat and rain 

We have now completed the new outdoor driving range tee with matting etc, hopefully this will be in play later in may once the turf has knitted in 

Watering the new turf daily 

The low lying are to the right of green 18 of the Balcomie course has been hollow cored to help aid drainage as this area lay very wet in the winter, we will look at carrying this task out again and possible use the sand injection machine on this area as well before going into the next winter 
 

We have been out spraying all the greens,surrounds, fairways, tees & immediate semi-roughs with iron on the Balcomie course 

Continuing to sand inject greens when the weather allows, this allows us to help improve our profile, dilute thatch and improve surface drainage 

We have started work on the foundation for our new Starters hut for the Balcomie course 

Concreting the base, this will be left for 2 weeks before we erect the building to allow the base to set, hopefully the new building will be up mid/late April, the building will look like the Craighead course Starters hut and will be painted in green to match 

Tees & surrounds over both courses have been fertilised with a slow release fertilise to aid recovery from the winter

Lewis one of our Greenkeepers has been over helping with course maintenance at TPC Sawgrass, this has allowed Lewis to learn and gain experience about very high standard set up of a course for a tournament 

Congratulations to Mike in the Greenkeeping department celebrating 25 years service with us, great the Society recognising these milestones in the staff 

Slow progress is getting made at our new driving range tee due to the adverse weather we have been having this winter 

Astro-turf frame has been installed and now the base of hardcore being added and compacted in ready for the whindust layer before laying the matting 

We have been busy digging out and replacing the sand in the newly built bunkers over both courses 

We have cut and collected our Corn Bunting area on the driving range ready to re-seed etc for this season and winter 

The area was then rotovated, raked, seeded, double raked to help cover the seed then rolled. this area will give these declining birds a good food source in our area 

We have been busy cutting and cleaning up our bunkers over both courses 

We have started to edged/weed our tee paths on the Craighead course 

A Spring application of fertiliser has been applied to our Craighead course greens & PG's 

The old dyke right of hole 8 on the Craighead course has been strimmed and cut back ready for this dyke to get rebuilt 

This winter has been a very wet winter with us now well over 550mm of rain fall since mid October 

The first few days in April we have had 88mm of rain 

The forecast is starting to look much better which will allow us to get both courses fully back open and let us catch up on planned course work that we are behind with