Month: June 2019

Course Update from Richard Stewart

Good morning All.

The Greens staff  are well into the prep for Captain’s Day so I thought I would give up an update because I know how important this day is to the Club.

Hopefully you have seen the new pit for trollies. We still have some work to do on it. Where you enter the bay needs stoned to avoid coming off the bay only to walk over that small piece of grass again.

The new Tee signs are going in the week starting 17th June. I’m going to do this with Green Keeper Chris.

Yardage markers are going to be replaced as well.

The banks to irrigation ditches with be flailed this week and I have ordered sleepers, hard core and a digger to finish the path at the 18th. Again we will have this done before Captain’s Day.

Thankfully the drainage the guys put in last year seems to be working but I was out yesterday and identified some paths that need work.  This isn’t a quick fix but the areas that we can fix we will. I planned a lot of work on these in the winter months this year.

Your feedback on the course is a real help to me and I thank the Club. Good or bad, I enjoy getting on the course and trying to make it better, so thank you all again.

We struggled this week a bit with cutting because of the heavy rain and as we fertilised 2 weeks ago so the grass was jumping out of the ground. We had to double cut the Greens and fairways 3 days in a row. Yesterday, when I left, the guys stayed on to try and get the rough cut again, but because of the rain, the machine was making a mess so they had to stop. The rough might be a bit long this weekend so I apologise for that.

Staffing

Young Andrew Henderson is now a Greens Keeper. He held the position as a grounds person for many years and applied for a Greens Keeper position and was successful. We are all delighted for him. That leaves us down one man and we have another member of staff on long term sick so basically we are down 2 Greens staff. That said, Craig Fullerton is my new assistant Manager and he starts on the 17th June. I will then slot into the Green keeping duties for the 2 weeks leading to Captain’s Day to ensure the course is in the best condition it can be.

Craig, when he arrives will pick up the greens committee again and I will introduce him to you all when we have the BRS open night.

Vehicles

This week we received our new John Deere pro gator with sprayer attached, (a £45,000 pound piece of equipment). The equipment fleet is coming along nicely and we have provisionally secured 9 new machines to come before the end of the year. The fleet of new machines will enhance what we have and the newer modern machines will leave a better finish on the course.

Thank you all again. Everything you have suggested has really made the course stand out this year. We are getting great feedback and that’s down to you guys as well flagging up areas you want us to look at.

Now that we have a good standard we want to push on to make the course better and better.

Richard Stewart

Allen Park & Ballyearl Manager

 

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