All go on our courses

Spraying a liquid fertiliser on our Balcomie course greens 

The last few weeks we have been concentrating on keeping moisture levels up on our greens & tees over both courses and trying to hand water walkways etc as its been so dry this Summer 

Our rain train has been out on our drier/weaker fairways on the Balcomie course to keep grass coverage 

Course very dry 

Greens & PG's over both courses have had their monthly spike to help open up the surface to allow better water and air movement, then an application of wetting agent and Seaweed, which the spiking helps to allow theses products into the profile 

We are now starting to cut & collect our deep rough areas on the Craighead course to help starve theses areas to make them cleaner and more playable 

applying a slow release granular fertiliser to the Balcomie course tees and walkways to help aid in recovery from such a dry spell and very busy season 

Great to have volunteers to help divot our fairways, great way to meet the green staff and find out what's happening on our courses 

Setting up our courses before play 

Courses starting to green up slightly after the rain this week 

We have started to look at any weak areas from the Summer drought, these areas will be spiked, seeded and sanded to aid recovery 

 

 

All go on the courses with the busy season, greens being cut and turf ironed most days to help keep pace on the surfaces 

Monthly spiking of greens over both courses to relieve surface compaction, allows water and air movement 

after the greens are cut & turf ironed you can't really see the spike marks and it does not affect play 

After the greens have been spiked we applied our monthly wetting agent and Seaweed, the spiking allows this product into the profile better then a light water in

We have been spot spraying the weed called Pearlwort that is in our greens, then we are spiking/seeding and sanding these small areas to aid recovery 

We have replaced another 3 tee sprinklers on the Craighead course that were worn and not working correctly, this will give us better water coverage to these tees going forward 

When we get a chance we are out seeding and divoting our fairways to aid in the recovery from all the play

Our drier fairways on the Balcomie course have been sprayed with a low rate of wetting agent and fertiliser then we have had our rain train to water in and help keep good grass coverage to these areas in the dry conditions 

Cutting, cleaning and raking of bunkers 

Greens and surrounds being cut on the Craighead course before play 

 

All go on our courses 🚜🌞

Greens over both courses being turf ironed after cutting to help maintain surface speed and smoothness  

 

Fairways on the Balcomie course being cut and grass clippings boxed off to keep a clean surface and less weeds seeds going back onto the surface 

A couple of weeks ago we lightly scarified the fairways to help cut out long ends and lateral growth then the clippings were collected, then we have applied a low rate of liquid fert etc to aid in plant strength to these areas, which should allow these areas to bounce back better after prolonged dry spells 

The Craighead course greens and PG's have had an application of granular fertiliser to help strengthen the plant then the fertiliser was washed in, this helps the fertiliser to start breaking down and being available to the plant

The day after fertilising, the greens were only slow turf ironed so not to take any fertiliser off the surfaces, then the next day we cut with grass boxes off again for the same reason to get the maximum affect from the fertiliser 

Courses have greened up nicely since the rain, but are getting dry again as we are back in a dry period 

We have been out hand watering bunker tops and high spots on greens etc to keep these areas hydrated, this also allows us to use less water as only targeting the drier areas 

Using the moisture meter over areas to check where needs watered and areas that we can leave to help give us better consistence across our greens and again helps reduce water usage

Moisture readings to help us gather the information of what moisture % we are at across our greens 

Greens being cut daily over both courses 

The Craighead course tees and walkways have had an application of slow release granular fertiliser to aid in plant strength, this product should last up to 3 months as it slowly breaks down over a longer period without flushes of growth

We are trialling rubber tees on certain bays on the driving range to allow golfers to use woods off the mats 

Courses slightly greening up since the rain last week, cutting over both courses was reduced due to the drought conditions and we focused on hand watering and divoting fairways  

We had a swing joint crack under the 14th tee sprinkler on the Craighead course 

Swing joint replaced 

We have now replaced and added more coastal warning signs on the Balcomie course to make walkers more aware of the dangers with golf being played 

our weaker/drier fairways on the Balcomie course have been getting watered with our rain trains at night 

The Craighead course greens have had an application of a granular fertiliser 

We have installed 2 frames so you can have your bicycles secure while at the Club 

Greens being turf ironed then an application of liquid fertiliser to aid in plant health 

We continue to cut areas of deep roughs to help pace of play over both courses 

The Balcomie greens have been spiked to a depth of 25mm to aid better air and water movement in the top profile 

Once greens cut & rolled you can't tell this work has been completed, we try to carry this out monthly during the season 

We are constantly checking our moisture levels in our greens over both courses, which in turn helps us use water more efficiently 

fairways being divoted on the Balcomie course 

Our drier fairways over both courses have been sprayed with a liquid fertiliser and wetting agent to help aid recovery in these drought conditions