25/3/11

With the mild weather we have got on with a lot of course work we have given all the tees, approaches and fairways cut, we have also changed all the holes and raked the bunkers for the weekend play.

The dead trees at 5 and 6 have been cut out, this tidies that area up. We also gave the osprey greens a light top dress this week and put some seed down, we still have core holes on the greens from October, this is because we core so late in the season we don't get the recovery before the growth stops, over the coming month or so we will be looking to dress the greens again. The pond at the second has been filled in, this only got filled today, so next week we will look to tidy the area up and mark GUR as required.

The last few loads to be levelled out at the 2nd pond.

Blair brushing in top dressing.

17/3/11

The new bridge we built has been put in at the 13th green side, we also started planting broom at the side of the 1st tee.

15/3/11

We had a wee bit of snow on Saturday but it was all gone by Sunday. The 1st green had 2 patches around the collar that had died back during the snow coverage, instead of leaving it and allowing it to come back when we had decent growth we decided to cut out the areas and returf. These areas will be in play for the start of the season. The list of work from the course focus group has just about been completed. I spoke to Grant Moir from the R&A and he confirmed that we can use the tiger tees on 6 and 17 for selected competitions we just have to make the golfers aware the tees will be at the longer distance. We also had a 3 small patches of disease on the putting green and 12th green, we have plugged these areas to the side of the green.

Lifting the damaged turf on the 1st collar.



One of the plugs on 12.

7/3/11

The greens got another cut/roll on Friday, the holes where changed and the bunkers where raked for the weekend. We got our first cut of the tees on the big course this week and have also marked the o.b. on 2,3,4 & 5. We also began some drainage work in between the 15th & 16th fairways.

Gary cutting the 10th green in the distance.



Blair cutting the tees.



Trying to catch the water on the maintenance track between 15 & 16.



If the decent weather continues i hope to start cutting the fairways and keep working on the list of work from the focus group.

1/3/2011

The dry weather has been continuing at Piperdam, the day time temperatures have been very pleasant but the overnight temperatures are still dipping down and we are having ground frosts most mornings. The greens are drying out quite well just now, we hope to give them a roll before the weekend. We have been carrying on with the list of suggestions that where put forward at the focus group. Below are a few photos of some of the jobs that have been carried out so far.

Trees stumps dug out at LHS of 9th fairway.



New path and existing path being renewed at 12th green.



New hazard stakes put out on RHS of 12th fairway.



Trees limbed up on RHS of 5th fairway.



Trees on LHS of 2nd green limbed awaiting grass to be cut down.




Please note, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at Piperdam on Thursday 3rd March 2011 commencing at 7.30 pm.