Big greens

The big greens have had a 9mm solid tine.  This will allow the greens to breath and help aid water movement through the surface.

Wee greens aeration

We have aerated the wee greens this week with a half inch hollow tine. This has removed some of the organic matter that has built up. We will leave these holes open through the winter to allow the greens to breath.

autumn update

With the autumn well and truly apon us we have been preparing the courses for the winter.  Firstly we have raised the height of cut to 5.25 mm, this takes some of the strain of the plant and helps to protect going into the winter months.  As the growth has checked back we will continue to utilise the roller to keep the strain on the plant to a minimum.

We have also cored, top dressed and fed the greens.  This will ensure they have the best opportunity to come out of winter strongly.  

The winter course has also been set up with winter greens and hole cups, they will only be used when the big greens are unfit for play.  The winter markers have also been put out on tees and mats have also been put on the par 3's to protect the tees through the winter months.

Please ensure all pitch marks are being repaired and divots replaced.

Top dress and overseed

The big course greens have been double sarel rolled to open the surface for over seeding.  We then spread a pure bent mix over the greens.  Top dressed to bed the seed in.  Then finally double sarel rolled again with a drag mat on the back to work the sand and seed into the profile.  Over the week we will use our vibrating brushes to keep working the sand into the profile.

We have over seeded to help promote more favourable grass species on the greens that will give a better, healthier and more consistent playing surface.

May progress

The course is still a bit slow on the growth front.  2 weeks ago today we had snow and since then the temperatures have shot up but it's gone very dry.  Hopefully as soon as we get a little bit of moisture we will have sustained growth.  The greens have had a couple of turf tonics in them to keep them ticking over but we don't want to load them fertiliser because when the growth does come this will cause a massive surge in grass clippings that will be caused by soft lush growth.  The tees have had a granular fertiliser and will soon kick into life when conditions are correct.  The fairways have also been sprayed with a mix of urea, iron, primo maxx and selective weed killer.

The greens have dried out nicely and we have been reluctant to put water on them as this promotes stunted root development also when putting irrigation water onto the plant the water is generally a lot colder than rain water and will stunt growth back further.  Further to one comment by I've heard we are no where near "losing" them.  The grass sward is healthy! The soil moisture content is well within acceptable limits.  The irrigation though has now been primed up and we've put a little water on the sand based greens as a couple of high spots had dried out a touch.

A wee update

Sorry for the lack of updates, I damaged my phone so was unable to upload!! 

We've successfully installed the new practice nets and mats.  These will be good to get warmed up before the first tee shot over the water (no excuses now lol).

There has also been a bit of debate about the drop zone at the first as some golfers found it looked a little awkward and felt it was like a pedestal.  We have blended the edges to better tie it in with the surrounding ground.

Some walkways have also started to cut up with constant wet weather we have been having.  We have roped a few areas off to rest them.  We then dressed and seeded them to help recovery.

Pitch marks!!

Please fix your pitch marks, as well as all the issues that go along with an unfixed pitch mark, the lack of golfing etiquette shown is horrendous!!

Big greens Spring renovations

Brilliant effort by the guys today to get the spring greens renovation done in one day.  The greens where cut, top dressed, solid tined, double brushed, rolled and fed.  This frees up the rest of the week to work on the bunkers and get them back in play.

Finished surface after work.

Wee greens renovations

Today we tried out a new way of solid tining & top dressing greens.  We tried out the new process of how we do things   on the wee greens before we carry out the same work to the big greens on Monday 21st March.  Generally in years gone by we would have top dressed after tining but this year we will swap the processes about.  This means we will dress first then tine after, this will stop wheel rutting from the top dresser as the surface tension will be 100% and not be disturbed already.  This also ensure that the holes are open and clean as the weight of the top dresser can close the holes that it runs over.  The wee greens then had a double brush and a feed behind.  This seemed to work well and I'm confident to use the same method on the big greens this coming Monday. 

Fairways bunkers at 2&11

The fairway bunkers on the 2nd have now been refilled with fresh sand.  As you will remember these bunkers were contaminated with quite a bit of debris and the sand quality wasn't the best.  We  removed the sand, reshaped the base and then lined with upside down turf to help prevent new contamination.  

The fairway bunkers on the 11th have now been emptied and the bases reshaped, weather permitting we will line the bases with upside down turf next week.

My American Adventure.....

Recently I was lucky enough to be selected for a delegation to represent Bigga at the GIS (golf industry show) in San Diego.  This was generously sponsored by Bernhards the world leaders in grinding technology.  There were 10 candidates picked from all over Britain and I was lucky enough to be the only Scottish golf course represented.  I can safely say it has been the highlight of my greenkeeping career.

Day 1, we were lucky enough to play golf at Encinitas ranch golf course, this was a lovely course in the hills on the outskirts of  San Diego, shame about my golf though.......   

Day 2&3, we had 2 days of seminars.  Day 2 "advanced stress management strategies for cool season turfgrasses" this was led by one of the world leading turf physiologists Bingru Huang from Rutgers university and by Course superintendent from Echo lake Chris Carson.  Day 3 "gadgets and gizmos - how to best use measurement technology" this was presented by Douglas Karcher and Michael Richardson both from the university of Arkansas.  Both these seminars were very informative, they gave so many ideas that I can use to improve my golf course.  This also gave me an insight into the industry in the states and battles they have to keep the grass alive and presentable!

Day 4&5, we spent these days at the GIS trade show, this is quite simply massive!!!  We split into groups and took turns to man the Bigga stand.  It was tremendous to see so many existing and new products, also it was a great opportunity to meet and speak to other turf professionals. 

Day 6&7, the final two days where spent on golf course visits.  Day 6 we visited Virginia country club and Lomas Santa Fe, both of these courses where magnificent and the course superintendents gave up there time to tour us around.  Day 7 we visted Torrie pines which had just hosted the farmers that had over 600'000 spectators during the tournament.  This was quite simply stunning, both the courses and scenery!!  The course super gave up his time and gave us a guided tour, it's unbelievable to think he is only 31 years old!!

This trip was an amazing experience that I am so thankful to have been given the opportunity to go on.  I feel very luck to have spent time with the other delegates,  they are a top bunch of guys that I'm lucky enough to call friends now.  We ranged in age, golf course type and  budgets but I learned so much from the guys and hope they took something from my experience as well.  As you can imagine I've got hundreds of photos from the trip, if anybody ever fancied me boaring them I will them a personal slide show lol

What the golfers don't see....

With the weather being quite wet this week and soaking the ground we have concentrated on some "shed" jobs to ensure we are ready for the coming season.  We have been putting our cutting units through the grinders and getting the markers/tee posts ready for the forth coming season.

Tree limbing

I've got a fair bit knocked out with the chainsaw this week, next time your out on the golf course you will notice the trees have been limbed on 2,3,6,7,8,13,14,16 & 18. This promotes vertical growth and makes it easier to maintain around and play shots from/through.