Week commencing 16th May- The grass is starting to grow.... fast!!

The rain at the weekend, mixed with the sun we had last week, was a welcome mix for the course. This ensured that the grass really started to grow. I could see this clearly throughout the week.

My week started with changing holes on the Allander with Scott and Gordon along with raking the bunkers.

Now is a good chance to explain how you change a hole. Firstly, you need to decide where you are going to put the new hole. You look for a flat piece of the green, a spot of healthy grass, somewhere that hasn't had a hole recently and  somewhere not too close to the edge of the green. A hole changer is used which is a metal cylinder with a handle at the top. Two half circle shaped cylinders are hammered down into the ground then you twist the handle, pull up on the handle and a cylinder shaped tube of ground is brought up and a new hole formed. A board is used to stand on which prevents the new hole crowning and making it raised which would make it harder to putt the ball in.
( see picture below of equipment used excluding the mallet)

Next you go to the old hole and take the hole cup out using a tool that locks onto the bottom of the cup and then you are able to lift it out of the ground. Following this you would put in the tube of turf/soil you have lifted out the new hole into the old one and you ensure that it is level with the ground and within a few days the hole will be very hard to detect as it blends into the rest of the green.

Finally, you put the hole cup into the new hole and lower it down using a tool, with a heavy metal end (seen in the picture above) until the cup is roughly an inch from the top of the hole and that's it.

There are a couple of reasons for moving holes, firstly it makes the course more interesting to golfers by varying the pin positions and it also gives the ground around the hole time to recover from the increased activity over it.

On Wednesday, I, along with Gordon and Tish flymoed the grass around the burns, bunkers and tees. This is a task that generally happens once a week in the summer. Normally two people will flymo the areas while the third person will use a blower to direct the grass cuttings into certain areas. When cutting around the burns the grass clippings will be directed into the water which then gets washed away.

When we are cutting around the bunkers grass ends up in the sand, so the blower is used to get this out  and generally dispersed or blown into the out of bounds areas. The theory is to blow the grass out of the bunkers but in reality this is not always easy. If there is a slight wind, then the grass and some sand will inevitably end up on you! In your hair, face and eyes. It is a technique I have not mastered yet.

On Thursday I went around both courses changing the bins and filling up the divot boxes with a mixture of divot sand and grass seeds. Then in the afternoon I went around the Hilton picking up piles of branches that I had made earlier in the week.

Lastly, Friday was the day that I had to have my skates on. Graeme and Gordon were on a couple of cutting machines cutting the strip of grass around the green and the grass leading up to the green along with the grass on the tees. My job was to switch behind them dispersing any clumps of grass left there (see picture below). Usually one person will trim a tee while the other does the area around a green then leapfrog each other around the course (not literally) and I would follow behind. This way I know which tees and greens have been done. It becomes a bit more frantic when they decide to split up and I have to rush around the whole of the Allander switching but I managed to cover all the holes and caught them up on the Hilton. 

Here are a couple of nice pictures of the Bluebells that have sprung up in the last couple of week on a banking beside the second on the Hilton, if you hook your ball this way (which I would definitely do) go and have a look, it's very impressive. 

Week commencing 9th May- The sun has arrived!

I am so happy that the good weather has arrived! It makes those cold snowy days all worth it. It’s great to see so many golfers out enjoying the weather as well. We were also happy down at the sheds due to the return of our colleague Bobby who has been off for a few months, nice to have him back!

My week started off dewing the greens on both courses and raking the bunkers. I managed to get ahead of the majority of early rising golfers. I would recommend to anyone playing in the early morning due to the wildlife you can see and hear. The cuckoos, woodpeckers, pheasant (which make the oddest noise), the geese they also make very strange noises, the odd hare and a few deer. My afternoon was mainly spent raking up branches on the Hilton.

                                                                          A Pheasant

Looks like the animals have been having a great time messing up our bunkers overnight!

Tuesday was a very varied day. I started by raking the bunkers on the Hilton taking out any debris and stones. Once I had done this I then returned to the sheds and collected a few buckets and filled them with divot sand mix and water. I then went around both courses filling the divot boxes, filling the ball washers and picking up any tee pegs. Thankfully I had the buggy otherwise someone might have had to scrape me off one of the fairways from the heat!

My job in the afternoon was to find the lost rhododendrons. Yes they had not been seen for a number of years.  Up at the medal tee for the 13^th there is an area of broom shrubs that had overgrown over time and taken over some of the rhododendrons, so I had to lop back most of the broom to expose the rhododendrons. It is now looking much better and hopefully they will come into bloom soon, go and have a look!

                                       Before                                                               After

Wednesday was an exciting day as I was shown how to drive one of the tractors, ( New Holland TN55 for any tractor geeks out there, which is unlikely). It’s easy enough but trying to reverse it with a trailer is a bit of a skill that I have not mastered yet. So if you see someone driving a blue tractor, I would suggest keeping your distance just in case! I had divot sand on the trailer and mixed it in with grass seed and filled in divots on both courses along with picking up tee pegs.

Thursday and Friday I finished divoting, raking the bunkers and changing the bins on both courses. On Friday afternoon, Tish and I were up at the clubhouse tidying up the area around it including the shoe cleaners, blowing leaves and other debris, strimming and flymoing the grass around the car park.

 Sad to see the warm weather end but I’m sure we will have a lot more sun in the summer……. Trying to be optimistic. 

If you look closely enough on the course you might see some of these tiny violets. 

Week commencing 2nd May- The midgy has returned

This week started with very heavy rain which was not welcomed with open arms down at the sheds. The only positive being that this would ensure the grass was well watered before the forecast warm weather the following week.

On the Tuesday, Heather and I had the task of raking the bunkers on both courses. Due to the rain the previous day a lot of the sand had been washed elsewhere in the bunker and so we had to rake some of it back to fill in the gaps that had appeared.  (see pictures below)

On Thursday I helped to repair part of the fairway on one of the holes on the Hilton where drainage pipes had been repaired. The process of this is similar to repairing damaged ground. Turf shaped grass is taken out and sand put in to give a solid foundation for the new turf to be laid. The turf is put into place and made to fit tight with the surrounding grass. (see picture below) I can officially report that every golfers best friend is back…. The midge!

The last task of the day was to take sand up to the new path on the 10^th hole on the Allander and put it down beside the path in preparation for grass to be laid. (see picture below)

Often on a Friday is when the bins are emptied on the courses in preparation for a busy weekend (who is it that drinks the cans of Tennents!?, promise it’s not me). This was my job to do for both courses as well as raking the bunkers.

Weather update…… abundant sunshine next week J

Week commencing 25th April- Snow in April

I didn’t think I would see snow at the end of April but it is Scotland after all!

My Monday started off by dewing the greens. I did this with Greame and Tish along with raking bunkers on the Allander.

In the late morning and afternoon we had the task of completing the two new bunkers at the new green at the 10^th on the Allander. This was exciting not only seeing the process of building a bunker but also seeing the new green coming together.

The process started with taking out some of the current gravel that was covering the drainage channels. This means that fresh gravel can be put in to enhance the drainage. We then made sure the area was as tidy as possible and then we started to fill the bunker with sand.

Once the sand had been shovelled in we had to make sure it was evenly spread and then we trampled on the sand to compact it as much as possible.

That’s it, two bunkers filled in.

Tuesday started out with going around the Hilton with Scott raking bunkers and moving pin positions before the medal started. We then went around the Allander taking out any large stones that were in the bunkers and gave them a general tidy up. Lastly I helped with filling in divots on tees. This consists of a mixture of sand and grass seed placed into the divot holes.

Thursday was the day that saw snow return to Glasgow which was a surprise to everyone! We mainly continued to fill in divots that day and did as much as possible despite the weather.

Friday morning I went around both courses with Greame and Gordon changing bins, moving tee markers, changing hole positions and raking bunkers. The afternoon was spent raking up branches and then burning them back at the sheds.

Photo of the week-