Killermont

 Course update!!!

It has been quite a frustrating week in looking back as it didn’t feel as productive as we would have liked, the sand installation ended up much more labour intensive than we expected to be honest, and we had been running 4 men down due to holidays and training days etc… 

Monday was to be the driest day so we decided we would cut fairways and only brush greens to rest them as had been cut all weekend, we did a good tee set up and divot, painted all the distance markers and most hazards etc.. 

Tuesday, while still light on staff we did get straight out onto sand installation at the 11th with some (35 tonnes) of sand had to be hand shovelled and spread evenly, we cut up some drainage pipes and placed them across the bunkers to guide us with our depths, 6” on the base and 4” on the faces. 

Once the sand was in place we then began the lengthy painstaking process of raking out, heel treading, raking… repeating the process over and over to pack them in, we had expected much more rain throughout which would have helped us with compaction but in never came to much. 

we worked on late Thursday night to get the last bunker sand installed. 

We had also been 2x cutting greens daily since Wednesday, reducing the height of cut from 6mm to 5mm..  The greens always slow down when first reducing the height but we plan to 2x cut them tomorrow and also roll them which should speed us up a tad. 

We have also managed to get the new PG down to that height (5mm) it isn’t as strong as we would like but we will have 4 holes cut on the strongest section until we get the germination for seed recovery. 

We did manage to turf in the 2x vertical drains applied on the 18th fairway just before the road replaced the collapsed inspection slab on the 18th fairway also. 

This really only left Friday to try and get the course in shape. 

This morning we…

2x cut greens

cut all fairways 

2x cut tees

2x cut approaches 

2x hand cut aprons 

full tee set up & divot 

full bunker preparation 

We had been monitoring the new bunkers playability today and felt the sand was so dry and therefore soft, we had to take late action and prime up the irrigation to go and hand water them down, it has seen an improvement but it will take a week or so of heavy rains and continues heel treading and raking until they solidify. 

All bunkers will be in play for tomorrows medal but they will be fairly soft, some balls could plug and if members do find themselves in the bunkers please try to be as light footed as possible, and equally light handed in raking until we get them tightened up. 

I think it’s important that we point out that the course isn’t as tidy as we would have liked at this point, but now the project work is complete, you will start to see the course moving up in standards. 

Seeds are now going in the ground as temps are rising so we will start to see much more recovery on the weakest parts. 

Greens surrounds in particular are desperate to fill out so we can then run machinery over them to cut them down, any areas longer that you would expect at this point is in fact a protection measure. 

Quick mention to both of our trainee apprentices.

Fraser has been part of the team for 4 years he is about go take on his last year level 3 sports turf maintenance, Andrew just joined us back in May last year and has just completed his first year of level 2. 

Both of these lads give 100% everyday no matter what. They also work well together and they have a positive competition on most of their work results. 

Fraser has been cutting fairways since last summer, Andrew started this week and both lads managed cutting the fairways 2x this week and they smashed it… well done lads keep up the good work👍

Best of luck to all taking part in the first medals of this new season 🏌️‍♂️⛳️😎

Killermont Course update!!!

 Course update!!!

It was another big push from the team this past week in some extremely wet conditions… 

As the capilary concrete delivery had been delayed until the Wednesday we took advantage Monday and Tuesday, we decided to commit to new drainage installation at the problematic area in between 11th green and 12th tee. 

This low pocket has a history of poor turf quality and it has been compounded in that its low lying with no adequate drainage.

We striped and disposed of the thatch ridden turf, installed new drainage then brought the levels back up with a rootzone, prepped and turfed with a new rye fescue turf. 

It has been white lined as GUR along with all other new turf around the bunkers until roots have established, we will try and make use of the front blue tee to keep traffic off all new turf in front of the 12th tee surrounds as much as possible.

We also had some preparation to clean out all the new bunkers with some additional drainage installed on the new bunkers at the 14th ahead of capilary installation. 

Capilary concrete was set to arrive on site at 10.00am, so we all teamed in to the preparation for that from 6.00 am till 9.30 

Martin was on the ball and had brought in his camping stoves and made the team a load of sausage rolls, which went down a treat!!! nice one Martin) 

not much time to let it settle as the concrete was coming in 2x loads, and when it arrives its all systems go to get the mixer off site and the capilary installed asap, as there is added cost if mixer is running overtime on site, that meant we didn’t stop from when it arrived at 10.00 until 1700 as there was a lot of preparation in between loads, like moving all turf protecting boards etc, it is a full on exhausting day for the team!!

We got the mixers emptied as quick as possible and finished the day off by covering the bunkers to be made water tight for up to 48hrs to dry set…

That just left us Thursday & Friday for course preparation for the weekend and captains challenge. 

we managed to cut a all surfaces except the rough, which is still a tad weak. 

Fairways are starting to take shape already. 

approaches and aprons all cut.

Tees got a cut early in the week. 

Greens cut daily expect from Friday as too wet. 

Friday morning we arrived to torrential rain some 15mm had fallen in just a couple of hours, we decided that we should close the course so not to set the course back with the season just around the corner. 

We did however manage to get all of our course furniture out in place, bins, benches, markers, distance markers, new pins, flags, holes cups ready for the captains challenge and season ahead. 

It’s always a difficult time this time of year, the course has just come out of a very harsh winter with the grass dormant for months, so everything is much thinner than we would like and the last thing we want to do is put unnecessary pressure on weak turf which, if damaged will not have time to recover.

It’s a critical time until we have the germination temps to push seed and recovery, we must be patient and protect the course in extreme conditions. 

The captains challenge course set up this morning went really well, we tried something different, with 3 men in and a shotgun start we decided to take 6 holes each, we hand cut the greens, full raked all bunkers, cleared tee surfaces… it was tight but we managed it all in just over 3 hours. It’s something we are considering in times we aren’t looking to roll greens on weekends, it’s a fair spread of the workload and a good quality weekend set up. 

Next week the priority will be to install the sand into all new bunkers and then straight out onto the original bunkers, edge up the faces, redistribution of sand depths, top up where required, it’s a very time consuming job which will no doubt run into the following week.

We are also considering some additional drainage works around 10th green surrounds. we will report that if we decide commit. 

All surfaces will be cut in preparation for the first medal of the year!!

We will have the practice range holes all cut out in preparation for the juniors Easter camp also. 

signs of summer this mornings getting a good quality course is set up in 😎

Friday 24th March

 Killermont: 

Course Closed!!!

The course has taken 13mm of rain in what looks like a short space of time, possibly the last hour or so. This 13 mm makes up 65mm for the week!!

We are concerned that at this point so close to season opening, foot traffic will set the course condition back considerably leaving no time to recover!!!

We will review the course throughout the morning, and update any changes. 

Glasgow GC Greens team!!!

Killermont Course update!!!

 Friday 17th March 

Another big week for the team tying up some very important workloads and with some unforeseen additional drainage works in really challenging weather conditions. 

14th Bunkers surrounds 

500m2 (7x pallets) of turf arrived late on Monday afternoon, we made the most of the late delivery and managed to prepare 400m2  of the rootzone ready to lay turf first thing Tuesday morning.

We got out sharp Tuesday morning and got off to a great start until the snow blizzards came down around 9.00 am. We persevered with the guys blowing the snow off the turf and rootzone with backpack blowers, just to keep us progressing, but that meant we would need to prepare the rootzone again so, it was a bit stop and start, but we cracked on until the 2nd dump of snow came down just after lunch… We battled through around 400m2 of turf down,  we considered minus -5 temps the next day would have put a stop to our progress so we decided to maximise the blue skies and some of the team  worked on to get all of the new turf down, that was a tremendous effort! A long taxing day for the team but rewarding to see it down. 

We still have one open area left of the 14th green. 

We just need to remove a thatch layer and re-turf it and it will be complete Monday.

The guys that worked late had a late start the next morning to have a well earned rest and let the frost lift.

We had a couple of drainage issues on the front of the 11th approach to green, after some heavy downpour’s we had more standing water than we are used to seeing, this was as a result of us building up the bunker banks. Apparently the water would run into the bunker on the left before… 

We decided to act and added some additional drainage which has now been installed with 2x sump soakaways in the lower spots to relieve surface water in heavy rains. It was tested today with some monsoon like showers and stood the test!

It has been a very productive week and considering the conditions we have maximised our progress.

We will be back into base out the 14th bunkers Monday & Tuesday next week in preparation for the capilary concrete , now scheduled for Wednesday, we will do all 6 new bunkers at 11 & 14 on Wednesday.

They will be covered to dry for 48 hours. 

We will focus on course set up and presentation Thursday, Friday & Sat for the Captains Challenge. 

We had planned to have all new sand installed to new bunkers for the Captains challenge but the delivery has let us down, sand will be installed for the April medal, 11th and 14th  Bunkers will all be in play.

16 & 18th Greens

We have got the 16th & 18th greens back in play, they do need some sand dressing weekly to level  out any imperfections so expect to see them a tad sandy over the next few weeks. 

Quick note to highlight that the course is currently at its weakest point with germination being dormant for so long now and continued traffic taking its toll. We would just ask for a bit of patience as germination temps are just around the corner and then we can get some much needed seed in the ground to recover all weak spots and bring the course conditions up to standards. 

Killermont, Greens Team

Killermont course update!!

 Course update!!!

The team have been working tirelessly this past few weeks doing our best to manage workloads around these freezing morning frosts which has hindered our progress of our ongoing development projects and course set up preparation. 

However, we are never stood still in these frozen mornings, as it presents us an opportunity to get through other works like our tree management operations in the long rough off the course. We have just about managed to get the left of the 12th, fallen trees cut and tidied up, another morning should see this area back in shape. 

We have more recently got to filling the worst of the potholes on main drive and in particular the front of 17th tee. 

Our maintenance facilities and machinery fleet are now in the best possible shape with new management practice in place, it’s proving to be very productive, and a much more tidy working space throughout. 

As mentioned the frost has hindered our priority work but we have been doing our best putting measures in place to help us commit to the job. 

We have been maximising our preparation  by covering the site when we finish last thing so that the area we are working on is at least frost free.  We have also been storing loads of rootzone materials in the sheds overnight on trailers so we have materials to work with until the main piles at the bays thaw. All these measures, as well as the guys working on late until just about dark means we are still on schedule to have all projects wrapped up and in play for opening weekend. 

It should be noted that we are fully aware that there is much more tree debris in the semi rough tree line areas as we would normally expect, we have prioritised the project work when frost has lifted. 

However we have this past week begun the full blow and collect of debris across the course but with only afternoon thaw, it is slow work in progress. 

The new bunker development at 14 & 11 is nearing completion… next week we have turf arriving first thing Monday morning, we plan to have the 14th bunkers surrounds prepped and turfed by midweek, weather permitting. 

Capilary concrete installation will go into all new bunkers at 11 & 14 early in the following week, (week of the 20th) sand installation will start to go in the same week and will be complete in the week of the 27th, ready for the seasons opening weekend, we will have the 14th new turf as “GUR” until around mid April,  to let the roots establish. 

The 16th & 18th greens drainage work is settling down well, we are just looking for the rain next week to get some sand and nutrition down to nurse them back into shape, we hope to have them in play in the week of the 20th. 

All in all we are happy with the shape of the course for this time of year, we do have some old disease scarring on the greens which is under control and will fill in and recover very quickly once we have good germination temps. 

We will get the debris tidied up across the course asap and the bunker development is nearly there.

The team are exited to bring in the new season and can’t wait for germination temperatures to start pushing seed and recovering all weak surface spots, and then getting into our new cutting routines seeing the course back to its full potential.

Glasgow Killermont Green Team

🌱⛳️🏌️‍♂️😎