Graden

We have purchased our new machine the graden contour sand injection, this will greatly help us with firming the greens up, drying up faster after rainfall and be more disease resistant. This machine will take out the thatch in 2mm channels 1 inch apart and fills with kilin dried sand. After a roll, disturbance will be at a minimum, it will just be visual lines but will not affect ball roll. We hope to start using the graden on the greens in the next few weeks, I plan to split each green in half and do half at a time then let that side recover before we do the other side. Using the graden is as affective as coring the greens 3 and a half times with large tines but with hardly little effect on the putting surface as the channels are back filled straight away with sand. Below are some photos.

Selective weed killer

The osprey course was spot treated with a selective weed killer on fairways, tees and rough.

We cut all tees surrounds, fairways and made a start on the 2nd cut of rough. We also managed to get the wee greens sarel rolled, overseeded and top dressed.

Top dressing

The osprey greens where double sarel rolled to create holes for grass seed and then lightly dressed with pure sand. We then ran back over the greens with the sarel rollers and a drag mat to work in the sand and seed. This worked very well and we will carry out the same process on the wee greens tomorrow.

Cutting

We where lucky enough this week to get a majority of the cutting done early in the week as it has got a bit wet today. We are luck in a sense just now that it is s bit cooler so apart from the greens and approaches the rest of the surfaces are only needing cut weekly.

We had a small problem with our fairway mowers, as it burst a hydraulic hose but thanks to johns quick thinking damage will be minimal and it's not in a key area it's just before the burn on the 12th.

This week we have also been working on the newer tees 5,6,7,11,12 & 13. These tees have been quite weak since construction so we overseeded into the core holes that where still open from last year, dressed by hand and fed. All tees and approaches have been fed on both courses.

The new black tees at the 1st and 15th have also been prepped ready for either seeding or turfing.

A new path has been dug into the back of the 11th green this will allow us to grow a collar of rough as all golf should stick to the path. This will be far enough back not to affect golfers but to give some definition.

Heavy rain

After a dry start today the heavens opened and the course was battered with rain. Through the week the course has pretty much been fully prepared for the weekend. The bunkers will get raked on sat morning weather permitting. The greens won't get cut or rolled on Saturday morning as they will still be soft but we got them cut today before the rain so they will be playing well anyway.

Spraying

The bunkers on both courses have had there inside edges sprayed with total weed killer, this will stop weeds coming through. The bunkers have also been getting stone picked and sand moved every time they have been raked. The driving range has also been cut inside and outside the net.

The wee fairways and tees where cut today and have come up very nicely.

Thatch control

I also meant to say in yesterday's blog that we put in a thatch eating product called thatch clear in the sprayer for the big greens. We're trying to reduce the thatch content as it is making the big greens a bit soft, more disease prone and moisture retaining. This works hand in hand with out other aeration processes.

Wee course

The wee course fairways and around the tees, fairways, bunkers and greens have been fed with a granular fertiliser. The greens, tees and approaches are fine and very healthy but as the course is relatively young the areas we fed are needing a little hand to 100% fill in. These areas have never really had a good feed before.

We also fed the first part of the 5th fairway and the carry just of the 7th tees on the osprey course. These areas also needed a little feed.

The greens on the big course have been sprayed with iron (colour & strength), wetting agent (helps control moisture in the plant) and salute (which stands the plant for a cleaner cut.