27/10/2011

Thursday 27th October 2011

LINKS SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 2011

WEATHER

September was a mostly typical month with an average noon temperature of 15.5° C aided by an unusually warm three days at the end of the month coinciding with the Dunhill Links Championship.  Winds were generally light to fresh predominantly westerly and rainfall was near normal at 63 mm, a welcome major reduction from August. 

WORK ON THE LINKS

General

Routine maintenance combined with course preparation for both the Tassie at the beginning of the month and the Dunhill Links at the end took up the majority of man hours for September. 

Championship Course

Primo-Maxx

The usual bi-monthly spray of this top growth retardant was applied to greens at the beginning of the month.

Fungicide

A preventative fungicide application was made to greens as required early in the month.

Turf Repairs

Some minor turf repairs on one or two tees, 10th green surround and 14th walkway were carried out in the first half of the month. 

Putting Green Gates

The practice putting green entrance gates were repositioned to provide a more practical access coinciding with the new pathway to the golf centre.

Seeding – Golf Centre

Further seeding was carried out behind the new golf centre early in the month.


Scarification / Sand Injection

Scarification combined with sand injection using the Graden machine was carried out on certain teeing grounds.

Bunkers

Sand top up was carried out as required followed by rotavation of bunker floors as part of the usual bunker maintenance procedures.

Pine Needles

Blowing and sweeper collection of pine needles from the 9th green and fairway in particular was required on several occasions.  This process applied locally to the other two courses as well. 

Greens

Greens were rolled and brushed allied to mowing as deemed necessary through the month.

Fertiliser

The turf nursery areas were treated with an autumn fertiliser (6-0-12) towards the end of the month.

Craw’s Nest Tassie / Dunhill Links

Both tournaments were held in September this year and both proved very successful and popular with players.  The usual course preparations were carried out for both events with attention to detail once again to the fore.   

Burnside Course

Fungicide

Greens were sprayed with a preventative fungicide at the beginning of the month.

Minor Repairs

Minor turf repairs concentrated on plugging rabbit scrapes round the course.

Standing Water

Removal of standing water was again required from certain greens and approaches early in the month.

Drain Clearance

The drain line running down the left side of the 6th hole was flushed out to maintain flow rates.
Irrigation

Irrigation system work involved the construction of three concrete block chambers to house relevant bore hole flow meters including meter installation.  Sprinklers were trimmed around on fairways and tees.  The system was again not in use for turf irrigation other than washing in applications like wetting agent sprays or fertiliser treatments.

Aeration

Tees were slit tined during the month to a 4” depth while certain tees were hollow tined followed by top dressing. 

Weedkilling

Certain greens were sprayed with a selective weedkiller to control pearlwort development. 

Fertiliser

Greens received a dressing of Autumn fertiliser (5-5-11) near the end of the month while weaker tees were treated with a nitrogenous fertiliser (8-0-0) with iron sulphate.

Overseeding Greens 

All greens were overseeded as usual following the Senior Open from Monday 19th of the month.  The procedure involved the combined use of the Graden Scarifier and hollow tining for thatch removal purposes prior to seeding and working into shallow holes with the top dressing.  Following brushing, greens were rolled accordingly.

Buddon Links Course

Bunker Maintenance

Bunker maintenance included sand topping up as required.

Greens

Certain greens were verti cut followed by brushing whilst brushing and / or rolling was commonly employed for greens preparation.

Fungicide

Greens were sprayed with a suitable fungicide as a preventative measure early in the month as per the other courses.

Fertiliser

A few greens including green walk-offs were fertilised during the month where deemed necessary.


Wetting Agent

The usual monthly wetting agent spray was applied towards the end of the month and included approaches.

Aeration

The verti drain was used on flooded and other lower lying areas where required during the month.  All teeing grounds were also covered using ½” tines.

Environmental Work

Broom growth was sprayed with the chemical Timbrel in relevant areas on the Championship Course whilst stronger broom was strimmed back on certain holes on the Buddon Course.

The selective grass herbicide Rescue was sprayed in rough pockets on the Championship Course and ditches were cleaned out on both the Championship and Buddon Courses.  Fallen branches were cleared within the 6th, 7th and 16th triangle on the Burnside Course and several wind blown trees were removed for chipping on the Buddon Course.  




John S Philp
Links Superintendent

25/10/2011

Tuesday 25th October 2011


Very breezy yesterday.
Contractors still working on the bridge at the left hand side of 10th approach.
Derek works on his sleeper bridges. Here he is at the 3rd.
Today, heavy rain first thing. We kept most of the guys in doors in the morning or on tractor jobs.
Roughs still being cut. This time at the 3rd. Spiking on going behind the cutters.
Road metal is getting taken away from a road we no longer use at the 4th/5th. Once loaded up it is dumped at one of the Buddons roads for Dangerman to lute level.
Well almost level!!
In the shed, we are ready for winter works starting with plenty of compost mixed up.

In the afternoon, we managed to get out and on with some coring of the tees.


20/10/2011

Thursday 20th October 2011

Its getting ever so close to the end of the season.



The Rescue has done the trick on the clumps of ryegrass that we sprayed.





Heavy rain on the Monday brought a few balls down the Barry Burn. Thats a few Christmas presents sorted!!



Pine needles and leaves that fall at this time of year getting sweeped up with the TM.



We have stopped cutting at the weekends now due to the drop in temperature and lack of growth. This week saw the start of frost in the mornings.







Rough cutting around the course still ongoing as is the star tining of the fairways. Hopefully by the end of this week these jobs will be finished.



Yesterday, greens were top-dressed and cut after the sand was brushed in. This morning we just dewied the greens. More rain due again tomorrow night.


Congratulations to Dangerous Jimmy, who tied the knot at the weekend.


Pictures of the big day to follow.

17/10/2011

Monday 17th October 2011

Last week i had the chance to play Kingsbarns.

The course was excellent.

Back to Carnoustie, the bridge on the right hand side of the 10th fairway was taken away. This will now be replaced with a new fancy bridge.

Contractors due to start this week.

Seeding work continues on the roughs. Thanks to Panmure Barry for a shot of their seeder.

We cut the roughs before hand to allow discs to get right in.
The mix we put out on the roughs was:    Sheeps Fescue
                                                                      Wavy Hair Grass
                                                                 Sweet Vernal
                                                              Red Fescue
A Scotia Ecology Mix

We also put some of our heather seed out which we gathered from the course last year.

This week we continue star tining the fairways and cutting down rough.

10/10/2011

Monday 10th October 2011


Another successful Alfred Dunhill Links Championship





Great weather all week, with just a bit of rain on the Saturday.



A good week had by all,





including Shane Warne, Ian Botham and John Daly!!



Well done to winner Michael Hoey



Some of us managed a game at St Andrews on the Monday.



Burt Reynolds 2nd shot at the par 3 8th, yes 2nd shot!



Back to work, greens verti-cut and top-dressed.


They were then star tined





and rolled behind. Other tining work was on the fairways, which will get top-dressed after tining.



A start was made to cutting all the rough down to 3 inch, this will help the finer grasses come through.

Winter greens were marked out and divots plugged out.



A special Autumn/Winter feed mix was made up for the greens, John always says you cant beat a bit of the white stuff.




Today, the winds had died down to allow us to put the feed out.