6/2/11

We had heavy snow on Wednesday night into Thursday, luckily it had all gone by Friday morning. We carried on with limbing branches on the golf course this week, we have cleared and area on LHS of the 10th fairway. This an area that has been up for much debate over the years so after discussions with Bashir (Greens Convenor) we came to an agreement that we should look at thinning the area out and making it more playable for the golfers. We also discussed the possibility of moving the white tee forward to the yellow block on 17, this will take the par 3 down from 210 yards to 181 yards this should make the hole more golfer friendly as the as it stands the par 3's on the course are quite long and tricky, the hole will still offer a challenge but it should make it more fun! We will also be looking at putting the white tee block on 9 back to the original tee on the LHS this will better accent the hole and golfers will be hitting into the hill rather than with the hill this will better give the hole the character and definition we are looking for. This will also stop any unfair run in to the bunkers. We have also been up at the lodges this week tidying up all the damage that has occurred to the trees so far this winter.

Below area of trees at 10 that has been limbed.

26/1/11

With the continuing mild weather we have been carrying on with work on the golf course, we finished cutting down the trees at the edge of the loch on 10. We also filled the last bunker on 14 with sand, that's all the new bunkers now complete. We only have to go back to the old bunkers and put a fresh edge on them for the new season. We have also finished of the new ladies tees on the course by finishing turfing the banks.






The greens are all at different stages of thawing out, as it stands the wee greens are on full. On the big course around about half of the greens are ready for play, if the weather carries on in the same manor we should hope to get a few more in play for the weekend but as you know it is all weather dependant. The greens are generally in good condition we are starting to lose a little bit of colour and as the different grasses lose the colour at different rates the uniformity of colour is not as it was during the growing season. This is a common thing to happen as the greens are not being fed during the winter months as if you feed them they can flush up and encourage a serious disease problem. If the greens are able to take it we will try roll them later in the week obviously this is weather dependant and how well the greens thaw out.

17/1/11

As i said in my previous post the courses are open again. The vast majority of all greens are clear of snow and ice, we still have a little on 2,5,8,10 and 12. We have tried to break up the ice as best as possible and clear the ice off as long as the ice wasn't sticking to the plant. We sprayed a fungicide on on the greens with a knapsack this should control any more disease that may try to break out and knock on the head the few patches of disease that have formed bellow the snow.

We have also been trying to re-secure the netting at the driving range it has come loose with the heavy snow and strong winds.

Carefully taking ice of the 2nd green.

View from the top of the hill.

16th fairway looking towards the green you can see the change from when i put the photo on last week.

17/1/11

After 50 days of snow coverage the golf courses reopened today. The Wee Piper is fully open and the Osprey Course is on the winter circuit. The reason the big greens are not on full is because they are still very soggy with all the snow and ice melt and also because of the heavy rain over the weekend. The greens have come out of the snow very well with only a few touches of disease around the collars.

14/01/11

Happy new year to one and all.

The golf course has been a no go zone in the last few weeks because we still had a good covering of snow and it was sheet ice below. We have been keeping the lodges and clubhouse clear of snow and gritted also we have chopping wood and kindling for the fire in the clubhouse. During the period of snow we have also started servicing and sharpening cutting units we have also started to paint the markers for next season.

The past couple of days had led to a decent thaw and we have lost most of the snow cover but we still have sheet ice over a majority of the courses hopefully with the thaw over the weekend we should get rid of a majority of the snow and ice but as usual that is obviously weather dependant.

9th fairway, trees have been thinned and limbed but you can see the ice on the fairway.

16th fairway looking towards the green.

Markers have had brown coat only needing the colours freshened up on the ends.

27/12/10

Just when we thought we getting a thaw last weekend the snow came back and completely covered the courses again. We've had snow cover now for over 30 days so we could really use a thaw. We have been keeping the lodges and clubhouse area clear of snow and gritted.

The ice on the loch is now at 7 inches which is thick for the possibility of getting the grand curling match on. I never thought i would be able to walk across the loch let alone drive vehicles on it that was a new experience!! We've been trying to clear the snow on the ice but we need to clear the half the loch (20 acres) to give the curlers room to play. A decision will be getting made this week to see if the grand match can go ahead.

We've had another 4-5 inches of snow again today but the weather forecast seems to be getting milder this week so hopefully we will get a good thaw and get back to work on the courses.

13/12/10

The snow is still with us at Piperdam although the level has dropped from over 15 inches to roughly 2-3 inches. Unfortunately the weather is turning for the worse towards the end of this week again so we will just have to wait and see what happens. On nicer news Blair Purdie one of our greenkeepers, wife had a baby on Friday called Islay so we wish all the best to Blair, Gail and baby Islay.

We have got back on the golf course and had started limbing trees. During the snow we were up at the lodges clearing snow, we also got the shed tidied up, got markers prepared for painting and started stripping down cutting units.