It has taken 459 years and a pandemic but we are finally going to provide golfers with a toilet facility on the 1562 course.
Located by the 5th tee and also accessible from the 15th green, the image shows what our new toilet facility for female & male golfers will look like.
The toilet, which will only be available to golfers, will have a secure keypad access facility and is coupled to water and electrics from the greenkeeper shed area.
Planning permission has been granted by Angus Council and we’re waiting for a building warrant so that work can commence.
A huge thank you must go to Snowdrop Developments as the generous donors of the facility, and also to Crawford Architects, who have carried out the design and submission of final detailed drawings free of charge.
Bunkers and bunnies
Meanwhile, since our last update the greenkeeping team has finishing off the winter projects and looking forward to the start of the season.
Bunkers have all now been turfed around the tops and rabbit patching is well under way.
Our members have been asking why we don’t fill the rabbit holes with soil or sand.
Our temporary head greenkeeper Paul Teviotdale tells us one of the reasons is that when we have done this, the following day a vast majority of the holes are just dug back out again.
This makes more problems for the green staff when it comes to cutting the fairways, as in cutting over the soil will blunt the mowers. The cylinders would need to be sharpened by the course mechanic.
Cleaning up the soil before cutting takes up a lot of time, so when we turf the rabbit hole it leaves a tidier finish. Paul also tells us it’s less likely to be dug out by the little furry critters but they do try the odd one or two.
Topdressing
The weather has been kind recently so fertiliser has been applied to both greens and tees on both courses. We’ve also topdressed the tees both courses and the 1562 greens have also been topdressed.
We topdress for a variety of reasons. The one everyone knows is to improve the smoothness, trueness and to firm up the surfaces, but topdressing also helps dilute the thatch layer and also improves the soil structure to help the water to infiltrate through the soil.
We have started to tidy up the bunkers by strimming them and blowing the sand build up off the faces.
We will also top up the bunkers to replenish all the sand that has been hit out by the golfers and is blown out by the winds through the year.
Hopefully bunkers can return to normal soon with bunker rakes available for the golfer to use on exiting the bunker. Here’s a top tip for solutions in the meantime.
Fastest blade
Quick question for you: what is the fastest growing grass?
The answer is bamboo. It can grow 35 inches per day at a speed of 0.00002 miles per hour
And a parting thought comes from the greenkeeping team.
Why are golf balls like eggs?
They are white, sold by the dozen and a week later you need to buy a dozen more.
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