Friday 8th March 2013

Another lot of bunkers built this week. Above bunker at 9th fairway was lowered and a new turf was put on the head. This was lowered due to a build up of sand over the years making the bunker higher and higher.

7th green

5th approach

14th fairway

guys at the 15th approach

another one bites the dust! and the rain is here, maybe a bit more than we wanted but it keeps the newly laid turf moist.

 

The roughs were all brushed up and dead grass/moss picked up with the TM brush.

Bridge at the left hand side of the 1st nearly complete

 

As i said the other day a few of us were at the Scottish Bigga Conference. A few of the guys have taken away some information onboard and have tried to use this in their working day

If you were at the Scottish Bigga Conference you will know whats going on here if not, there was a video shown about a fish company from Seattle.

http://youtu.be/gNDP9jLuzXU

 

 

 

 

6th March 2013

What a great spell of weather we have been having, is it wrong to ask for rain??

9 days since we have last had rain, get the irrigation at the ready!!!

A really good week of work last week.

 14 bunkers have been rebuilt, with a little help from Malx and Barry (Burnside Bulgy Boys).

Certain bunkers at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 14th being rebuilt.

Bridge work is still continuing on the course. Here, at the 1st the beams have been put in place after coming back tarted up from the workshop.

More bunker work.

Moles??

 No, Rookie is back from his trip to Oz. He is the master of heading out divots on fairways. This process has been a bit relaxed over the years due to lack of tight turf. Concentration is more on really bad areas now and par 3 tees.

Master craftsman Barry has produced a bee box which will go out in our Operation Pollinator area. The thought of honey sandwiches for our morning piece sounds good.

 

Yesterday, we had a group of 7 guys attend the BIGGA Scottish Regional Conference at Dunfermline. It was a great day, with a range of topics talked about and another chance to meet up with fellow greenkeepers from around the area.

 

Forgot to mention last week congratulations to Paul who recently got married to Melanie. All the best for the future. 

Monday 25th February 2013

As my camera has finally bitten the dust, i will show you some pics of jobs that have been completed or near enough.

Above, we have taken away the astro-turf path that led to the 8th green and installed a rubber mat.

The grass will hopefully grow through the rubber mat and give a more natural look to the hole rather than the astro-turf.

An additional change to the Championship Course this year is the removal of the green tees. The new yellow tees will be a mixture of the old yellow tees and the old green tees. The course will measure around 6600 yards. The box will remain on the yellow tees for the season apart from Spring, Autumn and Paul Lawrie Meetings. Doing this allows us to use any tight turf from some of the tees we wont use anymore.

Here is the 4th white tee.

The area is stripped of turf and prepared ready for rough turf.

Thge 17th fairway is finally finished.

I am glad to see the back of that job!!

With the floodings, we have taken the step to try and raise all the bridges around the course. The only downside is that irrigation pipes have to be raised up too.

Dangerous Jimmy has a new pair of wellies to match his bucket.

The yellow wellies are one way to spot where he is on the course.

Thats as long as he wears them.

Another bridge ready to be raised, this time at the 1st.

A big hole between the 10th and 11th fairways is where we managed to get sand for the 17th job. The only thing is that it has been too wet to get back in to sand cap and re-contour the ground.

A crow enjoying a dook.

 

Bunker at the 5th completed. Hopefully get on with a few more in the coming weeks.

 

Tuesday 12th February 2013

LINKS SUPERINTENDENT REPORT FOR JANUARY 2013

WEATHER

96 mm of rain fell in January (more than twice the average rainfall for this month) with rain falling on 21 days which meant the inconvenience of the water table being higher than normal causing certain holes on all 3 courses to be unplayable at times resulting in them being closed or shortened in length. It also meant that bunkers were flooded and travelling around the courses for the greenstaff was very awkward. Temperatures were average but there was a lack of sunlight due to all the rain which isn’t good for the metabolism of the grass plant.

WORK ON THE LINKS

Water removal and the continuation of the Winter Works Programs were the main focus of work through January.

CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE

The greens and approaches were slit tined early in the month with the greens being verti-drained with 8mm tines and top-dressed during the last week. Greens were cut twice and rolled once. Sulphate of Iron was applied to greens, approaches and surrounds to keep the grass leaf hard and to control any small patches of moss.

Winter Works

·        Extension of top tee at 1^st hole completed, preparation work in surrounding area continuing

·        Preparation work on Island and 2 of the 3 bridges raised to help alleviate future flooding

·        Installation of rubber mats and surrounding turf on 8^th walkway completed

·        Bunker at LHS 5^th fairway revetted with rear and run-in being raised slightly to allow more sand to be put in bunker to prevent standing water

Other work

·        Pumping flood water from affected areas

·        Verti-draining wet/flood affected areas

·        Front half of 10^th green mini tined to remove silt from flooding

·        Bunker floors loosened

Environmental Work

·        Gorse cutting at 1^st, 8^th, 9^th and 12^th holes

·        Eight leaning trees removed from LHS 9^th hole

BURNSIDE

The emphasis on the Burnside during January was to remove the flood water, debris and silt left on the back of the Barry bursting its banks in late December through pumping and squeegee-ing water and shovelling large areas of silt from the 3^rd/4^th fairways. These areas were then verti-drained to assist in the drying out of the surface and soil profile.

Winter Works

·        Bunker revetment either completed or commenced at LHS 7^th green, 12^th green (2), 15^th fairway (3) and LHS 18^th green (2)

·        Ground raised in front of newly raised bridge in front of 3^rd tee

Other work

·        2^nd & 3^rd greens/approaches mini cored and top dressed

·        All greens pencil tined (6mm solid tines) and rolled behind

·        Fairways slit tined

·        Winter tee mats washed

·        New turf on 6^th and 11^th tees tip dressed

Environmental Work

·        Dead trees removed from RHS 5^th hole

 

BUDDON LINKS

The Buddon greens were Star tined (8mm) and rolled and were cut twice during January. Verti-draining continued on fairways, walkways and on the practice ground and the bunker floors were loosened as required.

Winter Works

·        Adjustments and turfing on and around the left and rear of 4^th green were almost completed

·        New back tee at 13^th was shaped up

·        Revetting alongside path at 3^rd tee

 

EDUCATION

Craig Boath, Stephen Mitchell, Gavin Lowe and I attended BIGGA’s Turf Management Exhibition in Harrogate where we attended workshops and seminars as well as finding out the latest developments on products and machinery used in the Greenkeeping industry.

Retired Links Superintendent John Philp paid a visit to the sheds one morning to deliver a presentation on the History of the Open Championship and the modern day guidelines for preparing a course for the Open to the staff.

 

PENDING RETIREMENT

Eric Watson, our Maintenance Engineer of 25 years, announced that he will be retiring on 31^st May. Along with advice from Eric we are in the process of advertising for the position with the intention of having someone in place shortly before 31^st May so that Eric can assist his replacement to become familiarised with the operations of the Workshop and Golf Courses.

Sandy Reid

Links Superintendent

4^th February 2013

Saturday 2nd February 2013

Well this my first real post of the year, the last one being before Christmas. 

Dangerous Jimmy being the fairy on top of the Christmas tree.

Dangerman was not the only thing i was having to keep an eye on before and during the festive period.

 

It was the weather and the high tides,

causing a lot of headaches and heartbreak. Just when we had cleared up from the last flooding this comes along.

A lot of work being carried out on the course just now as we try and play catch up.

The mound in front of the 4th tee has been lowered, a little bit of sand saved and a discovery of three hand hammered gutta-percha balls.

Mound shaped and re-turfed

 

The fairway bunker on the left hand side of the 5th has had the run in raised and the height of the bunker on the left hand side raised at the same time.

This bunker gets bad with lying water after heavy rain.

The idea is to raise the sand level too. Job completed more pictures to follow.

With the flooding of the burn the descision was made to raise all the bridges around the course, starting at the 17th. When the burn level does rise the problem is that the bridges are too low and the water hits off the bridge and gets pushed on to the fairway.

This week, greens verti-drained with 8mm tines, double rolled, top dressed and brushed in. All greens completed in 3 days.

FRIDAY 25TH JANUARY 2013





LINKS SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

DECEMBER 2012

 

 

 

WEATHER

The early part of December was very cold with the ground being frozen solid and the daytime temperature rarely above 2^oC. This all changed during the second week of the month with it becoming being very mild, warmer than average and at times particularly wet, especially so over the weekend 21^st – 23^rd when the culmination of prolonged heavy rain meant the Barry Burn burst its banks in a few areas causing large areas of standing water and for much debris to left deposited along its course. This period of heavy rain also meant the water table rose substantially meaning that the natural drainage of water across the courses, be it on turf or in bunkers, was severely affected.

WORK ON THE LINKS

The bulk of the work this month was continuing with the Winter Works Programs across the courses however the cold spell at the start of the month meant that the gorse management work commenced and the wet weather at the back end of the month meant that the bulk of our time was spent clearing flood water and tidying/repairing any resultant damage.

CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE

The greens were cut once and rolled twice during December and also received an application of fungicide and Iron Sulphate to prevent disease ingress. The approaches and surrounds received an application of Iron Sulphate.

From just before Christmas through to the New Year the bulk of the work involved removing water from the 10^th, 11^th and 17^th holes by pumping and verti-draining after they suffered from flooding from the Barry Burn.

Winter Works

·        Removing slabs etc from alongside 1^st tee and driving up-fill sand on to site

·        Mound in front of 4^th tee lowered and re-turfed

·        Turfing of mounds to right and rear of 9^th green completed

·        Preparation work to pathway at 8^th hole

·        Preparation of Island at 17^th including the installation of a new irrigation pipe network and the turfing of the RHS

·        Removal and turfing of another section of road along the right side of the 6^th green

·        Revetting bunker at LHS 5^th fairway and raising run-in

 

Gorse/Broom Removal

Gorse and Broom cutting took place at:

8^th carry, 9^th carry, RHS 14^th carry (broom removal also), LHS 14^th and LHS15^th

BURNSIDE

The greens were cut once and rolled twice in December and were sprayed selectively for disease with fungicide.

Verti-draining took place on approaches and fairways with ½” tines whilst the tees and walkways were slit tined.

Winter Works

·        Turfing of 6^th tee was completed

·        Bridge alterations at 3^rd and 4^th

·        Weeds and silt removed from burn at 3^rd/4^th

Gorse Management

Gorse cutting/removal took place at:

RHS 1^st, LHS 6^th, RHS 8^th, RHS 9^th, LHS 11^th, next to 15^th tee, in front of 16^th tee (roots also removed), LHS 18^th green and around various road edges/corners.

 

BUDDON LINKS

8mm solid tining on greens commenced and the 11^th and 14^th fairways were verti-drained.

Work commenced on and around the 4^th green to re-contour the left side of the green down to the lake edge. The bulk of the beach type area within the confines of the lake was removed during this time with the sand being used to raise the low area on the approach.

Four bunkers were revetted during December – 2 at the 8^th and 2 at the RHS of the 16^th green.

STAFF TRAINING

Stuart Kerr, Andrew Pickard, Mark Reynolds and Stephen Sutherland attended a course in Basic Irrigation Design at Elmwood College on the 12^th of the month.

 

Sandy Reid

Links Superintendent

8^th January 2013



Monday 10th December 2012

LINKS SUPERINTENDENT REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 2012

 

 



WEATHER

November was a fairly mild month with about average rainfall and a slightly higher than average temperature. There wasn’t much in the way of wind therefore the courses didn’t dry up as quickly as we would have hoped after periods of rainfall. The last week of the month saw some welcome frosts which helped dry out and firm up the surfaces which made vehicle access to and from jobs less disruptive.

WORK ON THE LINKS

November as always sees the start of the Winter Works on the 3 courses and the commencement of any aeration programmes such as Verti-draining. Winter greens were established, having any divots plugged and being top-dressed.

CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE

The greens and surrounds were verti-drained with 13mm tines and top-dressed immediately to not only fill the holes but to increase the sand content in the upper soil profile. A cut and a couple of rolls ensued they were back to being smooth and true within a day or so. Any outstanding Hydro-ject work was completed and an application of fungicide was made to prevent any disease outbreak.

Other work

·        Cutting/strimming of thick rough and sea lyme dominated roughs was completed

·        Tees and fairways were all top dressed

·        Fairways were verti-drained with 13mm (½”) tines

·        Patches of Yorkshire Fog were plugged on the 1^st tee

Winter Works

·        Job of raising the 2^nd part of the Island on 17 commenced

·        Excavating sand from between 10^th & 11^th holes for up-filling the Island

·        Low area on 9^th fairway raised and re-turfed

·        Mounds at right and rear of 9^th green were stripped and lowered

·        Braids bunker lowered by 9”

·        Road along side 6^th green removed and turfed instead

·        Astro turf matting removed from path at 8^th

·        Gorse in front of 12^th tee reduced in height to improve sight lines

 

BURNSIDE

Greens were only cut twice during November but along with the approaches were applied with Sulphate of Iron to harden the grass leaf and help control moss. These same areas were Verti-drained using 8mm tines to a depth of approximately 18cm (7”) and rolled a couple of times afterwards to level surfaces.

Other work

·        Old permanent winter tee mats were removed and turfed over with new portable mats being put out instead

·        Verti-draining of fairways with 13mm tines commenced

·        Raising and trimming sprinklers as required

Winter Works

·        Back tee on 6^th hole was raised and re-turfed

·        11^th tee was extended forward

·        Bridges at 3^rd and 4^th holes were removed to prepare for raising and replacing

BUDDON LINKS

The greens were top dressed and aerated with 8mm cross tines whilst the 6^th fairway was scarified completing this sort of work for the season. The new type of portable winter tee mat was put out on to the par 3 tees.

Winter Works

·        The fairway, approach and surround of the new 10^th hole were turfed using turf from the 17^th fairway of the Championship Course and from the start of the 2^nd fairway of the Buddon Links

·        Work adjusting the 4^th green and it’s surround commenced

·        Bunkers were revetted at the 4^th, 6^th and 14^th greens along with one at the 6^th fairway

·        New line of sprinklers was installed on 4^th carry/walkway

 

STAFF TRAINING

Three members of staff attended a 4 day training course on fine turf management presented by the STRI in Kinross. 

 

 

Sandy Reid

Links Superintendent

6^th December 2012