Frosty

Very frosty first thing on Sunday morning. As there is cloud cover it's taking a while for the frost to clear.

Course etiquette

With the greens still being a little soft after all the heavy rain can I remind golfers, both members and visitors to repair your pitch marks. Also if golfers could replace there divots and rake bunkers after they play out.

We had a golfer who's etiquette was obviously very poor and decided to play a shot of the 7th green right beside the cup.

Pin position A

We've cut what we can today as the grounds is still very wet. The greens, approaches, greens collars and drier fairways have been cut. We haven't cut tees this week as there is very minimal growth on them, they are also quite wet and they have been sand patched during the week, we didn't want to lift any sand or seed.

I've hand cored, overseeded and dressed of the drainage line at the front of the 7th green as this was looking quite patchy. The pictures show the line just after the sand had been put down, the sand has been brushed in again.

Sarel rolling

With the weather being so wet in the last few weeks it was important today to sarel roll the greens. This puts small holes in the greens that golfers will hardly notice and will not effect ball roll. This helps get some air back into the top 10mm, breaks surface tension and will help to get some moisture away. We will do this again later in the week to keep air going into the surface.

Our newest seasonal greenkeeper and gardener started today, that's us at full strength for the season ahead.

Career change for Gary?!!!

Rescuing a stranded rowing boat!

Pin position C

Changed holes to pin position C, this is deemed to be one of the 2 dry pin positions for the greens, as the forecast is looking quite torrid for the weekend.

The rough has also been getting some attention with Blair cutting the longer areas and Steve cutting around the trees.

The new sump drain at the 2nd seems to be helping alleviate some drainage issues, as with all the rain we have had, only a small puddle has formed and this seems to be draining away. Previously before the sump was installed it would floods badly and sit for quite a while. This area is still not quite knitted together but give it some heat the growth will kick in.

Mostly dry

After the deluge of rain yesterday the course is starting to dry up. Only a couple of greens (2&8) had a puddle on the collars. The greens are also firm enough to get a cut. The bunkers are also back in play as there is a mid week medal today. Every time the bunkers are being raked we are stone picking. When we edged the bunkers it went very dry which then led to a bit of contamination as the faces became quite brittle, we will strive to keep reducing the level of contamination in the next few weeks when we are raking bunkers.

We have still not got away from cold weather either, as you can see in the photo below we had hale stones overnight which had frozen.

Pin position D

Both courses have been fully set up for the weekend, with the pin position D for the big course. When cutting the wee fairways, I got half way through the 4th then got a shower of sleet, as you can see in the photo the difference between a dry (left) and wet (right) cut. There's is a lot less grass clumping when there is a dry cut, so when possible we will strive to dry cut, but with the Scottish weather that's not always possible!

Spraying greens

The Osprey greens have been sprayed with iron (for colour and strength), salute (to stand the plant up for a clean cut), vision pro (dark pigment that will boost growth) and little tickle of water soluble hi-k (gives a little growth boost when soil temperatures are still a little low).

We have also carried on with our regular cutting regime. The new area of fairway just off the 12th tee has been marked out and cut. This will give the hole a much more complete look. It's a little weak just now so we will feed it with a granular fertiliser when the temperatures come up.

Wee course

With the wet weather overnight and through the morning, we will be unable to do any productive cutting on the courses as this will be untidy and may stress out the grass plant. It is a perfect opportunity to catch up with the bunkers on the wee course and to begin edging, weeding and stone picking.

Summer vacancy

We are currently looking for a seasonal greenkeeper to join our team in what is a very exciting year for Piperdam. Own transport is essential. If interested please contact myself in 07803036831 or email ShaunAnderson808@hotmail.com

Friday

This week has been quite frustrating with the weather, we have had very little opportunity to cut as the snow has hung around all week. This morning we had to deal with the 3,4,5 & 7 greens on the osprey course and use snow shovels to scoop up the remaining snow/slush. It has hung around in the collars/edges of these greens as they are north facing and the way they are shaped, they had filled up with quite a bit of snow. I would generally never do this and let it thaw out naturally but the course was busy and the snow wasn't actually stuck to the leaf it, so it didnt cause any damage coming up. The 5th green has been left quite wet as the snow on the surrounding banks has melted and washed onto the green, this green hasn't been cut today as it would have put the green under stress. The approaches have also been cut. We are lucky in a sense that last week the course was fully cut so the all the other surfaces are still well presented.

Winter course

Still a bit of snowing hanging around, the wee course will be closed this morning and the big course will be on winters. As the day goes on we will reevaluate the courses and hopefully get some greens back on full on the big course and we may get the wee course open.

Snow

The courses have remained shut today. The snow was lifting slowly this morning but as the day has gone in it has melted a bit faster, hopefully the temperatures will stay up and we can get the courses open again at some point tomorrow.

Its snow joke!

After the recent mini heatwave we are back to traditional Scottish weather!!! I woke up this morning to snow in the back garden and 3"-4" at Piperdam!! The forecast is for more snow today and cold tomorrow but the temperatures are rising towards the weekend and being this time of year i predict the snow won't stay long.

Opening game

After a frost interrupted start this morning we cut and rolled the greens, moved the markers and raked bunkers.