Wednesday 10th October 2012

Well that's another Dunhill over with.

The course looked superb with lots of good feedback again from the Pros and the Amateurs.

We were lucky that we only had a touch of frost in the roughs allowing us to continue our mowing regime during the tournament days.

Now to this week: a start was made to cutting back some of the juicier roughs.

This will hopefully allow more of the finer grasses to come through.

A start was made to overseeding the greens with the Dyna-seeders.

Then top dressing behind the seeding process. Frost delaying our efforts first thing in the morning.

 

Yesterday, the Burnside welcomed the World Hickory Open Championship

www.worldhickoryopen.com

 

Better say Well Done to Brenden Grace who won the Dunhill Links Championship.

Friday 5th October 2012

Dunhill week has arrived.

I am glad it wasn't last week.

Strong winds causing a few scoreboards to fall over.

Heavy rain causing the burn to overflow

and even burst its banks on to the Burnside.

The problems with having trees on a golf course, a lot of blowing pine needles and leaves.

Back to the prep and greens were cut at 4.25. No need to roll them as they are running good.

One guy who survived was a common newt.

 

Championship course was looking great for the start of the tournament, infact all courses are looking great. Credit to all the staff.

Buddon holes starting to take shape after seeding out.

Friday 21st September 2012

Still cold in the mornings but really nice when the sun comes out.

The circus is in town!!

The Dunhill Links contractors moved in this week to put up tents and scoreboard frames.

Also tv tower scaffolding went up.

On the course, our monthly application of wetting agent was put out on the approaches, surrounds and greens earlier on in the week. The colour should start to wean off by the end of next week.

Other jobs on were cleaning out the ditches. We have not really had a chance with all the rain this year.

Fresh gravel was also added to certain areas.

The yearly cut of "The Catherine Zeta Jones Tee" took place.

She never did play in the Dunhill but we built a tee in the rough for her at the par 3 16th hole. The first year of the competition.

Tuesday 18th September 2012

A nice afternoon/night on Sunday allowed us to apply more top-dressing to the greens.

A strong howler of a wind help dry the top dressing really quickly allowing us to dress and brush in all 18 greens in record time. Another 13 tonnes added.

I think i can put the sun creme away for another year.

 

On Monday another blowy day meant we could get out and top-dress the approaches and surrounds.

Fairways were also cut.

WTF is Dangerous Jimmy up to now.

You cant afford to turn your back on Jimmy for two mins. Here he is relocating the grass heap at the 16th.

Today, greens were cut just above 4mm and rolled.

It wasn't so windy today so we took our chance spraying the greens, approaches and surrounds with our monthly wetting agent mix.

Another job that was on was revetting the bunker at the LHS of the 14th green.

Handsome chap!!

Completed before the golf got round. This should look a lot more presentable for the Dunhill Links in two weeks time.

Wednesday 12th September 2012

A week of dry weather for a change.

Last week was Tassie Week on the course.

http://www.carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk/tournaments/craws-nest-tassie

The final was played out between two local guys Scott Mann and Andy Fyfe. The latter winning 2 & 1.

In the lead up to the week, greens were top-dressed along with approaches and normal maintenance was carried out including weed-killing.

Not this one though, he was pulled out by hand. Ragwort is a native species of the British Isles. It contains Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids ( PAs) which are highly toxic to a range of animals including horses and cattle. The aim of pulling out this weed is to prevent and control the spread of ragwort where there is a threat to the health and welfare of animals.

Other weeds/wildflowers were left as well including Birdsfoot Trefoil, Devil’s-bit Scabious, Clustered Bellflower and (pictured above) Yellow Bartsia - a flower quite rare in these parts.

 

Areas on the greens were sprayed for pearlwort. There has been a lot this year with this damp weather.

Hydroject has been out injecting more seaweed.

Today saw agronomist Richard Windows out on the course. Testing on our indicator greens took place (stimping, clegg hammer and moisture readings). I hope he writes a good report!!