Tree thinning 16th Rosemount

As part of our woodland management policy we brought in Scottish Woodlands to thin the trees on the left hand side of the Rosemount course 16th hole. After this has been completed the loch will be more visable and the 2nd and 5th greens on the Wee coures should see more light and air improving turf health on these wet greens.

 

 

2010 greenkeeping team photo

GEO Certification

http://www.golfenvironment.org/directory/872_the_blairgowrie_golf_club

Path ends

We have been working away installing astro-turf to the ends of paths. This helps to stop the gravel being dragged out over the turf killing off the grass. 

Rabbit damage 11th green Lansdowne

Autumn Work on Wee Course

Over the past 6 weeks we have spent many hours clearing up leaves, especially the 7th hole as the
prevailing winds blow many leaves from neighboring woods. just as we thought we were nearing the end the high winds returned yet again blowing over ten trees between the 2nd and the 5th greens and scattering large amounts of debris over most of the course.  

Hole 16 on Rosemount - Out of Bounds

A new defining edge is being added to the 'out of bounds'. Wooden boards are being put in place, soil added then turfed which will give it a more definite edge. The area will be white lined and ground under repair.

Autumn

Temp 0 C, 2nd frost in 3 days.

Rosemount 2nd Tee Bank

With the advice of The Scottish Golf Environment Group we have planted shrubs that attract wildlife (birds, butterflies, bumble bees etc). Once the shrubs grow and spread we hope to have a blanket of colour at different times of the year.

Course update June

With growth now in full swing the courses are looking great and as predicted the sun is shining making it a very enjoyable experience to come and play. Club championship finals this week so good luck to all involved. 

Wee course maintenance will commence on Monday 7th and with current weather conditions the course should be back to normal very quickly. 

 

Course Update 10/05/2013

Since the last update there has been some improvement in the greens and are slowly coming along but due to cold, drying winds and very little rainfall they are still struggling a little. We are not alone with this as we have spoken to several members from other clubs and our sales reps who travel the length of the country and are constantly in contact with other courses and everybody is in the same boat.  We Keep getting told that links courses are excellent at the moment and the greens are superb, this is due to the different species of grass they have, no trees to shade the course and the lack of snow/frost they get through the winter.
Speaking to our reps about other courses and what fertilisers have had the best results as a start up feed and they have all said the same, nowhere has had much success with their first feed and that the growth actually went back with the cold, drying winds.
We are still confident that this will be a good year and hope you can understand that we are doing everything we can to get things moving but the one thing we are not in control of is the weather.

COURSE UPDATE 19/04/2013

Over the past week we have seen a steady rise in soil temperatures and they are now reading an average of 12 C over the courses meaning we are now seeing some growth on all areas. Over the past couple of weeks we have been putting a lot of our time into the greens with cutting, shaping, rolling, top dressing, over seeding, fertilising, verti-draining and verti-cutting. All of these procedures are necessary to help with winter recovery. On a whole the greens have come out of winter well and for the time of year are in excellent condition with the exception of few which will require some extra attention but hopefully with this warmer weather and the work being put in will recover quickly. Other work on the courses has included the cutting of tees, approaches, fairways, bankings, divoting, scrub and dead broom clearing, and general tidying up after some strong winds. We are all confident that with the hard work being put in by all greenstaff, the current condition of the courses, and with hopefully the mild weather set to continue we will be back in top condition and it will be a good season to be playing golf at The Blairgowrie Golf Club.

 

 





Turf Nursery

First steps of re-seeding the turf nursery taking place. The turf nursery saves the club a lot of money as buying in turf can be expensive. When turf is grown in our area it then becomes climatised to our local temperature and conditions.

New swilken bridge, practice greens and flower bed

The golfing season has officially started here at Blairgowrie but the cold weather still continues with a night time temperature of night of -5 last night and some cold nights forecast for the rest of the week. On a more positive note the courses have come out of winter in good condition with little disease scarring on the greens. Soil temperature is still to low for any growth meaning the application of fertiliser would be wasted at this time. During these cold spells we are kept busy with blowing bankings, edging the pathways, clearing the woods of fallen debris and removing dead broom from around the courses.

Course condition

With the course official opening less that 2 weeks away the snow has come back and cold weather is forecast for the rest of the week.

Stump grinding

Stump grinding is now taking place on the Lansdowne course, they will be taken down to 4 inch below ground level and left with a scattering of wood chips on top.

Rosemount 17th - Bridge Construction

Bridge construction at the Rosemount 17th

Bridge construction at Rosemount 17th