Our new sign has arrived to be put up next to our wild flower area, we are hoping this area will be a real benefit to the wildlife at Crail Golfing Society

 A section of the wall rear of the 14th green on the Craighead course has been rebuilt

 At last the frost is out the ground, which has let us get back to rebuilding the bunker on the 15th on the Balcomie course

 With the frosty weather we carried out a few small jobs ie trimming fairway discs, painting and gorse trimming etc

 15th bunker, we are slightly re-positioning the bunker to face the green more

 More gorse maintenance

 A few of the tee walkways were sanded to help with grip at this time of year

 Great to be out getting the courses set up for the Christmas period

 We have raised any low tee or greens sprinklers on the Balcomie course

 We are adding in a new drain at our new material bays

 More course set up, greens cut & turf ironed, holes changed and surrounds cut both courses

The bunker at the 12th green left hand side was rebuilt on the Balcomie course

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from the Greenstaff

Irrigation drain down

 With the cold snap with us now we drained down both courses irrigation systems and the pump house etc to save any frost damage to the pipe work etc

 We are still cutting and collecting deep rough areas that we can get to without causing frost damage to the playing areas with the machinery

 We have strimmed the areas/banks of the deep roughs that the flail mower can't get too

 That's us started to wash, rub down, under coat then gloss our out of bounds posts for both courses

 Gorse cutting/trimming at holes 16 & 18 on the Balcomie course as we can get to these areas without damaging the playing surfaces in the frosty conditions, Pro v's 50p a ball lol

 This week we had in drainage contractors carrying out work to the 2nd carry to the fairway on the Craighead course as this area can get wet/muddy after heavy rain

 They remove the soil to a depth of 300mm then add 200mm of pea gravel then 100mm of sand on top to allow the surface to drain better, the spacing of the channels is 500mm apart

 This area will be top-dressed and channels topped up with sand in the spring

 We have solid tined the Craighead greens again to a depth of 125mm to allow air and water down through the profile

 That's the 3 new bunker faces built at our new short game area from astro turf

 Also we have started to install the new irrigation pipe work and sprinklers to our new short game area

The Guys have made a start to rebuilding the left hand bunker at the 12th green on the Balcomie course, this will be completed next week

Astro turf bunker faces

 This week we had 38mm of rain over Monday to Wednesday then frost Friday which stopped most of our plans this week, but we did carry out other jobs like re-shaping the ground at the front of our new material bays

 This week we had our training of building astro turf revetted bunker faces which is how we are building our 3 new bunkers on the new short game area, this will hopefully stop the need to rebuild these bunkers every couple of years from wear and tear of use.We are recycling the astro turf as it has came from an old hockey pitch. It was great to meet and the guys to be trained by Llewellyn Matthews.

 each bit of astro turf needs to be cut depending on the shape and area of the bunker face it is used at

 We have placed black permeable sheeting under the face, then we will add more at the base of the bunkers to stop the sand being contaminated by soil or stones in years to come

 The building of the bunkers are very similar how we build our turf faces on the courses

 We have added in a hose pipe with small holes in it to water the turf round each bunker top to help them from drying out, this will be attached to our existing irrigation system but through a pressure reducer valve

 the first of the 3 bunker faces completed

 the building of the other 2 has been started and will be completed next week weather pending

 With the Balcomie course on it's 2nd mid week closure we were out spraying iron on greens, surrounds, tees and fairways to help harden the plant up/add a little colour going into the winter months, before the fairway were sprayed we slit tined and cut

 We have rebuild the 1st green side bunker which sits in the bank in front of the green

 All our bunker faces over 0.5m high are at 35 degrees of an angle to keep with our course policy document

 Great job done by the team, we have roped off this area to aid recovery and allow the area a good rest from all the summer play

 We have built a new bank next to our new material bays to keep them hidden from the courses

Other tasks have been course set up each day for the Craighead course and we are still working away at cutting and collecting deep rough areas