LINKS SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
FOR FEBRUARY 2012
WEATHER
February
was a fine month with a predominantly westerly airflow mainly light to fresh and
only 8 overnight frosts all in the first 2 weeks of the month. Average noon
temperatures were a little up on normal at 7.5 ° C and rainfall was low with a
total of only 20mm for the month. Burnside and Buddon Courses were closed on
the 5th, 6th and 9th of the month due to ice
over frozen ground.
WORK ON THE
LINKS
CHAMPIONSHIP
COURSE
Drainage
The drainage installation at the start of the 7th
fairway was completed early in the month.
Burn Wall
Raising – 10th Approach
The burn wall adjacent to the 11th tee to
fairway walk-way was raised by two kerbs to match the 10th approach
side of the burn. Turfing to the wall was completed following sand infill.
Turf Repairs
Some “heads” were required on the 3rd green
approach and divot scars were similarly repaired on landing areas at the 1st,
3rd and 7th holes. The section of access road running in
front of the 10th tee was turfed over as was the track in the gorse
to the left of the 5th hole.
Mounding -
Left Of 10th Walkway
Following final sand cover this separation mounding
from the 3rd green Burnside was turfed over with fescue turf.
Aeration
Greens were slit-tined followed by rolling whilst the
new turf laid on the 7th fairway was mini-tined, top-dressed and
rolled.
Mowing
Greens were brushed, cut and rolled twice during the
month while green approaches and winter greens were mown once. Tees were mown
as required and roughs were brushed.
Bunkers
Grow covers were removed from bunker faces during the
month and sand topping-up progressed on re-built bunkers. The two bunkers at
the 9th greenside were filled with the trial sand mixtures as
agreed.
Top-Dressing
Fairway sand top-up dressing was carried out in the
second half of the month with certain fairways receiving an additional
dressing.
Hand Watering
The unusually dry weather for February resulted in the
need for hand-watering on re-turfed areas generally.
Bridge
Repairs
Ditch crossing bridges on the 2nd, 5th
and 6th holes were repaired as required.
Turf
Conditioner Treatment
Granular wetting agent and seaweed was applied to
bunker faces and tops along with repair patches and “heads” as required.
Ditch Bases
Gravel was used as a ditch base covering to suit new
levels on the 2nd, 3rd and 5th holes.
Spring
Fertiliser
Tees were dressed with a mixture of ammonium sulphate,
iron sulphate and seaweed. This lawn sand mix was applied to higher parts on
fairways and around the 16th green. A 4-6-8 organic based fertiliser
was used on trafficked tees, bridges, approaches and new turf on the 3rd
and 18th fairways.
BURNSIDE
COURSE
14th
Tee
Turfing was completed at the beginning of the month on
this re-modelled teeing area and irrigation control valves and boxes installed
accordingly. A line of MP rotator sprinklers were installed on the green
walk-off towards the tee at this time.
Aeration
Greens were solid-tined with 8mm pencil tines during
the month while verti-drain aeration included certain walkways and fairways
using ½ ̎ solid tines.
Bunker
Revetments
Bunker revetments during the month included
One on the 2nd
green approach
One at the left hand side 3rd
green
One on the left hand side 4th
fairway
One on the right hand side 12th
fairway
Irrigation
The irrigation installation running to the right of
the 17th green, adjacent to the 17th green on the
Championship Course, was updated with new smaller sprinklers with restricted
throw to suit this narrow separation strip of turf. The two remaining bore hole
meter chambers were constructed on the 5th and 17th
holes.
Top-Dressing
All fairways were top-dressed with our own screened
dune sand followed by brushing-in as usual.
Mowing
Greens, green surrounds and teeing grounds were cut
during the month as well as the new turf on the fairway. Greens were rolled on
several occasions.
3rd Green –
Rear Right Repair
The flood prone dip to the right rear of this green
was raised following silty top-soil removal and suitable sandy replacement. The
coarse turf to the base of the adjacent mound was replaced also.
BUDDON LINKS
COURSE
Mounding – 5th
Greenside
This mounding was re-shaped before turfing over with
fescue turf in the first half of the month.
Turf Repairs
Turf repairs included turfing along the walkway edge
of the previous sand extraction area in front of the 18th tee and
the irrigation track on the practice tee where pipework and sprinklers were
re-adjusted following the Huxley Tee Turf installation.
Mowing
Greens and winter greens were cut and rolled during
the month.
Aeration
The main aeration work during the month was the
verti-draining on greens using 8mm pencil tines, followed as usual by rolling.
Par 3 walkways were verti-drained also.
Bunker
Maintenance
Bunker maintenance involved the usual blowing of faces
and general tidying in conjunction with topping-up with a bunker sand mixture
from our sand supplier H. King – Kilwinning.
Ditch Work
The main focus during the month along with
environmental work in the early part of the month was ditch excavation and
associated pipework.
The ditch track was excavated at the 8th
hole running alongside the 8th green and on to meet the ditch next
to the service road at the corner of the practice tee. The first 50 metres or
so was piped using 300mm reinforced pipe backfilled and turfed over. The
remaining section was left as open ditch and the side walls were turfed over
with turf revetments formed where necessary. This work proved to provide a much
better outlet to the ditch running alongside the railway than the alternative
going under the service road near the gas sub-station.
The ditch behind the practice tee and either side of
the gas sub-station was cleared out to appropriate base levels.
The pipe running under the service road at the 12th
green walk off was lowered to suit lowered ditch level and two concrete pipes
were installed at the ditch crossing close to the 6th tees leading
into The Championship Course.
ENVIRONMENTAL
WORK
Further routine environmental work was carried out in
the first 10 days of the month due to the frosty conditions.
Gorse was coppiced on the 1st, 8th,
11th, 12th and 17th holes on The Championship
Course, the 6th, 8th, 12th and 15th
holes on The Burnside Course and the 6th, 13th, 8th
and 11th holes on The Buddon Course.
Broom was strimmed back on the 14th hole of
the Burnside Course and round the Buddon Course generally.
14 dead trees were removed from the 6/7/16 triangle on
The Burnside Course as was the overhanging limb to the rear of the 13th
tee. Blown trees on the 6th and 11th holes of The Buddon
Course were cut-up and all arisings were chipped at the skip site close to the
western boundary.
The spoil heap was tidied up and suitable access road
re-established alongside.
The chipping site opposite the 13th tee on
The Buddon Course was cleared and planted-up and this chipping site relocated
to the sand storage area near the spoil heap.
Log stacks were placed at the 7th hole.
All bird boxes were cleaned out early in the month.
John S. Philp
Links Superintendent
