Course Update - 18th May 2018

Things on the courses are progressing along nicely just now. Growth has finally picked up, and although not excessive at the moment there is enough to allow us to start working on grass refinement procedures. This will help to improve the ball roll on the greens, which in turn will improve the putting quality of the greens surfaces.

I have heard some feedback this week regarding slower green speeds, particularly in the evenings. Basically, we do all the work to the greens starting at 6.00am weekdays and 5.00am at weekends, so there could be up to 12 hours of growth on the greens and also a lot of traffic over them if you head out for a few holes in the evening. All of these factors will inevitably slow the putting surfaces down. We will be applying a growth retardant to the greens and aprons next week, this should help to retain the morning speeds for the rest of the day.

We have managed to verti-cut the greens on all three courses this week, taking approximately 6 full boxes of grass off per green. This task removes any grass debris which can lead to thatch accumulation, as well as standing up any lateral growth. Verti- Cutting will slow the greens down for a day or two, however it will improve the putting quality of the surfaces thereafter.  No1 Greens were also top-dressed this week, this will also help to smooth out the surfaces, but just like the verti-cutting, this practice can slow the surfaces down initially.

Just in case there is a perception that we are protecting the greens for the Scottish Opens, this is definitely not the case, I will be cutting at the lowest recommended heights and carrying out tasks like, verti-cutting, grooming, brushing and turf ironing in a sensible manner to ensure we get the surfaces running smooth and true as they could possibly be, but I also need to ensure we don't go in to these tournaments too lean so I re-literate the words – in a sensible manner.

As I’m sure you are aware, there is not a switch that we can flick that creates the optimum Greens performance, it is a build-up many timely procedures which coincide with the suitable growth rates and weather conditions that will slowly but surely create the best conditions possible.

Last but not least, we will need to start roping off some of the key landing areas on fairways ahead of the Scottish Opens. This will commence on the 28th of May and is to ensure we hand over the course in the best condition possible. We will rope off the most heavily divotted areas, and you will initially be requested to take a lift and drop, without penalty, to a drop zone area in the semi rough. I will re-asses this a couple of weeks later, roughly four weeks out from the tournament. If conditions require it we may need to introduce play from mats in these areas to prevent excessive divots being taken out from the semi rough areas. A number of small individual mats may be placed within the roped off areas so, instead of picking up and walking to a drop zone to play your shot, you bring the mats to your ball and play from the mat. The mats will remain in the roped off areas at all times so you will not be asked to carry a mat around with you. I know nobody really wants to play from mats or drop boxes, but to ensure the course is handed over in the best possible condition we have to take these preventative measures to ensure existing divots have time to recover and no additional divots are taken.  The above rules will not apply to strokeplay competitions and the Club Championship week, but will apply to all other formats of play, including all matchplay/knockout events. Apologies for the inconvenience but I am sure you will all appreciate the reasons why.

Course Manager

Stewart Duff

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