Friday 8th June 2012

Well here is The Godfathers last report before he retires - emotional

LINKS SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT FOR MAY 2012

WEATHER

May continued where April left off, generally cloudy and cool with a wet spell in the middle of the month.  A dry spell ensued from the 19^th and temperatures improved gradually with 21 ° C reached on the 27^th, until 20 mm of rain fell in the last 2 days!  Winds were variable in the first half whilst the second half was dominated by an easterly flow.  Total rainfall was 64 mm and average noon temperature was 11.5 ° C. 

WORK ON THE LINKS

CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE

Greens

The greens were lightly fed early in the month with a spray mix of Sulphate of Ammonia, Seaweed and Iron.  They were given their main spring feed later in the month witrh a homemade mix of organic nitrogen and seaweed.   

Cutting and rolling were alternated for the first half of the month whilst growth was slow but after the hot week experienced from the 21^st along with the reaction to the spring feed, cutting and rolling was intensified, sometimes double cutting, to produce suitable smoothness and pace.  The growth regulator programme of Primo Maxx was also commenced to help maintain speeds whilst also benefitting the plant roots. 

Greens were lightly top dressed on 2 occasions, received their monthly application of wetting agent and were Hydro-jected during the last week with seaweed being added. 

Approaches / Surrounds

Approaches were fed with the same granular mix as the greens. 

Tees

Tees were top dressed and were treated with a selective herbicide for the control of weeds.

Fairways

Bumps and weak areas were fed with an organic liquid feed; fairway extensions from recent years were hollow tined and top dressed.  Similar areas were also Hydro-jected with water and wetting agent. 

All areas containing the weed Pearlwort were aprayed with a selective herbicide. 

After discussion with our agronomist, Richard Windows, the height of cut on the fairways has been raised to 10 mm from 9 mm.  It is our aim to produce a slightly denser sward which will limit the ingression of Pearlwort and reduce the amount of extremely tight lies without affecting ball reaction. 

Walkways

Weak walkways were fed with a 12:0:9 compound fertiliser. 

Roughs  

Areas of rogue, unwanted grasses were sprayed with Rescue; the rough over the ditch at the left of the 4^th was sprayed with Glyphosate so that it can be prepared for the Wild Flower seed mix. 

2 – 4 yards of rough outwith the semi-rough was cut at 4” with isolated pockets of thick growth also being strimmed. 

Weeds were spot sprayed in roughs around greens and tees. 

 

General Work

• Public Putting Green was opened at the beginning of the month.
• Ditch bank was repaired at the 3^rd green along with any rabbit scrapes that were noticed around the course.
• An irrigation pipe was replaced that crosses the burn at the 18^th green.
• Plastic “Grass-Crete” was inserted alongside path on topside of putting green to help prevent damage to the turf from delivery vehicles.  

Agronomist

Richard Windows made his spring visit on the 16^th of the month.

BURNSIDE COURSE

Aeration

Hydroject aeration involved greens, fairways and green walk-offs.  Mini hollow-tining was carried out on the new turf on the 3^rd green rear perimeter, on newly turfed bunker heads and several repair patches as required.  This work was followed with top dressing.

Top Dressing

Greens and approaches were top dressed twice during the month along with the re-built 14^th tees. 

Primo Maxx

The top growth retardant, Primo Maxx was applied twice to greens during May as part of the routine summer programme. 

Wetting Agent

The monthly application of Revolution was carried out in the middle of the month.  Approaches were treated with the inclusion of liquid iron and liquid nitrogen. 

Fertiliser

A nitrogen / potash fertiliser was applied to tees (12:0:11) and a similar material was spread on the re-seeded area to the right of the 10^th hole.  A nitrogenous fertiliser was applied around the 5^th green to encourage growth. 

Weedkilling:  Selective:

Selective weedkiller was applied around greens, on tees and locally on fairways. 

Total Weedkiller

Total weedkiller was applied to the usual areas involving: around the Starters’ Box, Public Putting Green border, car park and around the maintenance buildings. 

Bunker Maintenance

The usual bunker maintenance was carried out during the month including sand shaping. 

Irrigation : Hand Watering

Some hand watering was required to local areas on greens as well as new turf in the second half of the month.  Sprinklers on greens and tees were trimmed round during the month. 

Mowing

Greens mowing was intensified through the month and regular weekend mowing was established from the beginning of May.  Greens were verti cut in the middle of the month to control prostrate growth and a cutting height of 4 mm was established by the end of May.  Greens were rolled as required following brushing and top dressing.  Strimming was underway generally round the course and roughs were mown as required.  Lower lying fairway areas were mown at 7 mm using Triplex mowers near the end of the month.   

BUDDON LINKS COURSE

Aeration

Green surrounds and tees received solid tine aeration using 8 mm tines as did the 14^th fairway, early in the month. 

Wetting Agent

The monthly treatment with Revolution was applied to greens in the first half of the month.

Top Dressing

Greens and approaches were top dressed twice during the month in the usual manner.  The dragmat was used to work in the second dressing to minimise seed head disturbance. 

Overseeding

The 2^nd tee was again seeded and top dressed along with the 18^th walkway and 3^rd tee bank.  Worn areas and flood damaged sections on the 10^th and 14^th holes were verti seeded.  The turf removed section in the junior area was prepared for seed. 

Turf Conditioner Spray

Greens were sprayed with a tank mix comprising liquid seaweed and liquid iron early in the month. 

Fertiliser

A Spring / Summer fertiliser (14:0:9) was applied around greens, as well as the 7^th and 11^th fairways and 2^nd, 4^th and 10^th walkways. 

Weedkilling

Selective weedkilling was carried out on the 2^nd and 18^th fairways as well as the “tented village” area beside the 1^st hole. 

Contractor’s Area

The “Open” contractors compound was levelled to fill low areas especially in the southernmost section in preparation for the construction company 1^st Golf. 

Turf Repairs

Turf repairs during the month involved narrowing the service road in front of the 15^th tee and stripping the poor turf from the 1^st tee.  

Mowing

Greens were mown more regularly during the month as well as rolled and brushed as needed.  Debris was blown from greens as necessary and the temporary green on the 12^th fairway was prepared.  A ditch crossing was formed for future player movement to the 13^th tee round the new 10^th construction works. 

The area within the trees either side of the 7^th hole was cut as were ditch and tee banks. Strimming was carried out generally round the course. 

CONSTRUCTION OF NEW HOLES – 1^ST GOLF

Marcus Terry arrived to set up his base at the “Open” Contractors’ site on the 22^nd of the month.  Consultations were held with Douglas Shearer and Richard Stuttard (S T R I ecology) thereafter to establish health and safety and construction boundary requirements.  Vegetarian stripping was underway as soon as machinery arrived and the wetland area front right of the new 12^th teeing area was excavated and shaped to act as a trial area for soft rush transplanting when the specially designed translocation machine arrives.  The north – south ditch was excavated and stumps removed.  A fresh water supply to the compound was established from the Buddon toilet block behind the 8^th green. 

ENVIRONMENTAL WORK

Marram was planted in the rough to the left of the 5^th hole of the Championship Course and on the mound surrounding the Golf Centre.  Young broom and gorse growing in the heather on the 8^th hole was strimmed.  

Young broom regrowth, particularly in heather was cut back early in the month on the Burnside Course.  Tidying up following further stump grinding was carried out on the

6 – 7 – 16 triangle and a soil and seed mix applied at relevant sites.  The burn was cleared of weed at the 5^th and 17^th holes. 

On the Buddon Course trees and scrub felled in the new 12^th green site and surrounding area were cut up and removed, smaller cuttings being chipped.  Further gorse clearance was carried out to the right of the new 12^th hole in particular, followed by chipping.  Vegetation was cut away in the line of the new core path route to the left of the 12^th hole through the pine tree block, branches again being chipped.  The spoil heap was tidied up. 

.

John S. Philp

Links Superintendent 

Wednesday 30th May 2012

Well the warm weather continued until today.

Little bit of drizzly rain.

The past few days have been spent hand watering areas making things tick over through the dry spell.

This week we welcome the Royal Swedish Golf Society who are playing on all three courses. 

Newly cut fairway extensions were mini cored.

The hydroject is back out on the greens, hopefully they will be completed by the weekend.

Young kids have dammed up the burn, not good when we are clearing out any weed.

Not a job for Dangerous Jimmy.

Bunkers also tidied up this week with the flymo, strimmer and blowing.

Seed that was put down under the plastic trackway is starting to come through.

An area where wild flowers (part of Operation Pollinator) will be sown out is being prepared. This area has been sprayed with total, the next step will be to scrape away the vegetation down to bare earth.

Handyman Barry is painting the diesel cage after it was completed.

Today with the drizzle the swallows were out in force. Swallows normally feed 7–8 metres above shallow water or the ground, often following machinery to catch disturbed insects, but they will occasionally pick prey from the water surface, walls and plants. They are also attracted to Toro red.

Back to the 10th green, pesky kids have been on it with BMX bikes. A few burn marks on the green.

Project Buddon has started with contractor Marcus Terry on his own til the rest of the team arrive. 

He has been very busy clearing areas from the edge of the job to allow the bulldozers a bit more easy access.

Sunday 27th May 2012

Welcome to Carnoustie Del Sol.

What a week weather wise, we didnt expect heat like this!

The greens were due for a feed and thats what we did on Monday. A Carnoustie special mix including dried blood, hoof and horn, seaweed, iron and the secret recipe specially imported for the last time from John Philps shed.

Will he pass on this secret ingredient, who knows??

Greens were brushed and the homemade mix was put out with Vicons. Greens were then double cut behind, in the dry, to break down the hoof and horn a little bit more.

Other jobs on this week were spraying the fairways for weeds and especially pearlwort, which seems to be rife this year for some reason. Fairways were cut as normal with the heights going up slightly to 10mm.

Most of the week we have been cutting the greens with the triples and boxes off returning any fertiliser back into the green. Friday we double hand cut(collecting clippings) and rolled behind.

Links Championship Qualifying takes place on Monday night, this is the start of all the club tournaments now.

Workshop are busy building a mesh frame round the diesel tank to stop any thieves.

Marcus from 1st Golf Ltd arrives to set up camp for the project on the Buddon Links more on that later.

http://www.1stgolfltd.com/

Forecast for next week looks really good again.

Hand watering at the ready!

Monday 21st May 2012

LINKS SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT FOR APRIL 2012

WEATHER

April was a poor month and a complete contrast to March. Following the record high temperatures at the end of March we had snow on the 3^rd of the month resulting in a morning closure of the courses! Average noon temperatures were down 4° on March at 8.5°C and total rainfall of 101mm was 8 times the March figure of 12.4mm. Winds were variable, light to fresh and sunshine hours were lower than normal.

WORK ON THE LINKS

CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE

Greens

The greens were Hydro-Jected (water injected aeration) with added seaweed at the beginning of the month and received only bespoke feeding to weaker areas to help encourage growth during the cold weather.

Greens were double verti-cut and were brushed on 3 occasions to help refine coarse and prostrate growth.

As there was very little growth in general, cutting was only required 3 to 4 times per week with rolling often taking place in substitution.

Approaches & Surrounds

These areas were all verti-cut as required and trafficked areas were mini cored and top-dressed.

Selected weaker areas were fed and the wetting agent and conditioner program commenced.

Fairways

Fairways received a blanket spray of Ammonia and Iron with weaker areas and bumps also receiving an extra feed without the Sulphate of Iron.

Bumps and weak areas were Hydro-Jected with wetting agent added.

Newer turfed areas were top-dressed.

Tees

All tees received an application of a granular fertiliser and the Hogan tees were verti-cut as required.

Roughs

Weak and trafficked areas were fed with a compound, low nitrogen fertiliser.

Bunkers

Hard bunker floors were rotovated to loosen them up.

General Work

·        Irrigation pipe was ploughed into new turf nursery at 5^th hole and other minor irrigation repairs were carried out as required.

·        Commercial turf was laid on nursery next to practice ground and behind the Golf Centre. Seeding work also took place around the Golf Centre.

·        Trafficked areas around the course were midi-tined as required.

·        Public putting green was solid tined, top dressed, fed and was verti seeded as required prior to re-opening.

·        Plastic Grass-Crete was laid on top of turf at gaps in fences behind and in front of 6^th tee, this will prevent these areas from being worn down to the soil each winter by foot and machine traffic.

·        Golfers car park behind the Hotel was cleaned up

BURNSIDE COURSE

Turf Conditioners

The wetting agent dispatch was applied to higher spots on fairways whilst breaker curative or alternative product was applied to tees. The monthly application of Revolution was carried out early in the month.

Aeration

Greens were solid pencil-tined during the month and fairways star-tined. Approaches were

midi-hollow-tined followed by top-dressing and brushing. Certain walk-offs and bridge approaches were similarly treated. Rubber crumb was applied and brushed in at bridge approaches. Walkways round the course were verti-drained and fairway high spots hydrojected. Certain greens also received hydroject aeration.

Top-Dressing

Greens were top-dressed in the middle of the month followed by the usual brushing-in and mowing. Re-turfed bunker heads were also top-dressed.

Fertiliser

Various areas received a spring fertiliser dressing during the month. SSD (8-0-0) was used on green walk-offs and a 12-0-9 fertiliser was applied to certain walk-ways, the new 14^th tee and recently re-turfed fairway areas on the 6^th and 13^th fairways. Newly turfed bunker heads were sprayed with a liquid fertiliser (12-0-7) combined with liquid seaweed. Greens received a 4-0-8 fertiliser late in the month.

Primo-Maxx

The top-growth control product Primo-Maxx was applied to greens as part of a summer programme on the 13^th of the month.

Selective Weedkiller

Selective weedkilling commenced with spot treatment in roughs.

Minor Turf Repairs

Worn-out turf was replaced beside winter mat positions as required and rabbit scrapes were plugged as required. Gorse stumps to the right of the 4^th hole were removed and turfed over.

Mowing

Greens brushing, mowing and rolling was carried out according to the slower than normal pick-up in growth. Strimming was undertaken round the course generally including round sprinkler heads. Fairways, tees, green approaches and surrounds were mown weekly and semi-rough and selected coarser full rough areas were mown at the end of the month.

BUDDON LINKS COURSE

Top-Dressing

Greens and approaches were top-dressed in the first half of the month.

2nd Tee

The 2^nd tee required renovation following divot damage from The Dunhill in the main and to a lesser extent The Woman’s British Open last July. The tee was deep scarified using the Graden machine, hollow-tined and overseeded followed by top-dressing.

Bunker Maintenance

Bunker maintenance involved brushing new faces, trimming as necessary and sand shaping in the usual manner.

Conditioner

The monthly wetting agent treatment with Revolution was sprayed on greens in the middle of the month.

Fertiliser

Fertiliser (4-0-8) was applied to the greens and approaches whilst tees were dressed with a (14-0-10) fertiliser. Previously re-turfed fairways, i.e. 7^th, 9^th and 14^th were treated with a (12-0-9) product.

Aeration

Solid pencil-tining (8mm tines) was carried out on greens, green approaches, surrounds and walkways towards the end of the month. Greens were power brushed along with approaches followed by mowing in the second half of the month.

Mowing

Greens and approaches were lightly verti-cut towards the end of April. Mowing and rolling was carried out according to conditions throughout the month. Semi-rough and certain rough areas were mown at their respective heights late in the month and strimming was undertaken generally.

Environmental Work

Dr Bob Taylor made his annual visit on behalf of the R & A at the beginning of the month.

On the Championship course young gorse was planted around the new turf nursery at the 5^th hole and on the burn banking behind the compost shed. Further Marram grass planting was carried out to the left of the 5^th hole and on the mounds to the left of the 10^th.

Young saplings were re-planted on the 6^th, 7^th & 16^th triangle on The Burnside Course.

Further stump grinding was carried out in this area and some Scots Pines were planted on the 17^th hole close to the service road junction at the 6^th tees.

On The Buddon, gorse was cut out next to the service road to the left of the 11^th hole along with some lower tree branches in preparation for the re-routed core/path service road. A number of pines were removed to clear the site for the new 12^th green. Further gorse clearance was required to the right of the new 12^th hole line and all cuttings were stock-piled for burning.

Glyphosate was sprayed over the required areas within the new hole locations after mowing while soft rush was strimmed back as required to deter birds. These areas of rush are targeted for transplanting into wetland areas within the development.

3 members of staff attended a sustainability seminar at St Andrews which included general waste recycling.

John S. Philp

Links Superintendent 

Friday 18th May 2012

Another good start to the week weather wise. Not warm but dry.

Another application of top dressing was applied to the greens.

Greens cut behind and rolled.

The 3rd green was overseeded before we top dressed

using the Greentek Dyna Seeders

http://www.greensward.co.uk/greentek_dynamics.htm

The rest of the week there was not much growth so it was a case of either cutting or rolling.

Selective weed killing was started around the course.

Dangerous was up to his tricks cleaning out the sheds not with a brush but a blower!!

Stoor everywhere.

Down at the 18th, we have had a problem with a leaking pipe that goes across the burn alongside the bridge. We had to take concrete sleepers off to get to the pipe. Pipework repairs carried out by Callum Chalmers and our very own Dunc, as Gus our irrigation engineer is off after having an operation.

Also this week we had a visit from Richard Windows from the S.T.R.I

http://www.stri.co.uk/services/sports-turf-quality-performance-testing/

Here we have Sandy, The Godfather and Richard all conducting different tests on the greens.

Tuesday 8th May 2012

The sun is out but the temperatures are still low.

Yesterday we were out top-dressing greens and approaches,

dew brushed off the greens and approaches first with the tractor brushes then sand brushed in behind the dresser.

Areas then cut behind the brush

and rolled.

 A good drop of rain (3.5mm) at night helped the sand top dressing into the sward. 

After all that we went out and took our twice weekly readings with the moisture meter, clegg hammer(firmness) and stimp meter(speed).

Today, greens were rolled and we top dressed tees, certain green surrounds, the public putting green and the turf nursery.

Dangerous Jimmy has had a busy week so far. Here he is looking for balls in the burn whilst cleaning out any weed.

Romping the Links office garden, that shouldn't need cut for a month now!!

Cleaning out the waste water treatment system with the pump

(which the pipe had a hole in it and sprayed Alan's clean car with waste water).

Hope Sandy doesn't think just cause he has a new job he is going to get it easy. He better hurry up and hand cut the 1st tee as he has bunkers to rake after that!!!

Another job that has just been completed is down at the Golf Centre.

Golfers and delivery van traffic has worn out to the sides of the path.Plastic trackway has been inserted down the pathway and seeded.

Once the grass grows through this should tidy this area up.