Finishing touches

We've really cracked on with jobs on the course in the last week. We have given the place a full cut and this has tidied it up. We have also just about finished off the drain at the old pond on the 2nd, that will be finished off today then we will need to dress and feed the area this will be GUR until it has recovered. The new bunkers at 5 and 15 are just waiting on sand and I'm hoping for delivery today or tomorrow. The bunkers on both courses have now also either been edged or strimmed. They have been weeded and stone picked, any bunkers that needed sand have topped up or will be topped up when the new sand arrives.

We've also had an opportunity to overseed and top dress greens yesterday, this has bedded in well and should help to take out any little chatter in the ball roll.

Course prep

We've finally made some good headway with course preparation as the snow has just about totally gone we have just been left will isolated patches. The greens are now down to 5mm in height and we've fed them with a c-complex 7-0-7 fertiliser. The temperatures are not quite there yet but look positive for the weekend so the fertiliser should start to work away.

The fairways, tees and approaches have also been cut, this has tidied them up. The new black tees at 1 & 15 have been top dressed and fed this will help to bring the surface on as I hope to get them in play sooner rather than later. The turf at the new bunkers on 5 and 15 has also been top dressed and fed.

Full greens

Both courses are now open on full greens.

We still have small pockets of snow about the courses. The greens have generally thawed themselves but we had to give a few greens on the front 9 a helping hand and shovel the snow off. All the greens are now clear but a couple are a bit wet that have just been cleared today. Now the greens are all clear they should start to dry and firm up. There will still be snow in some bunkers but the snow is generally shifting fast. We have managed to get some preparation done but this has been limited by snow/wet conditions. We will really get back on track next week we just ran out off time this week as we really only got back on the course on Thursday.

Open

The first and the back nine are now playable again there is still patchy snow but there is plenty grass showing. Hopefully another good couple of days thawing and the front 9 will be open as well. The wee piper is also fully open also the driving range is back open so ideal time to dust down the clubs!

Our maintenance/preparation has taken a bit of a knock for the start of the season but we will be working our hardest to get back on track over the next week or so.

Course is thawing

The course has had a good thaw the last few days and the snow has started to shift, we can now see more green than white! The back 9 is just about there and hopefully the front 9 will follow suit. There is a marked difference everyday. We have been out starting to shovel snow off the greens that are holding snow. I hope to have the wee piper open tomorrow (thurs) and we will carry on trying to get the big course ready for the weekend.