Update on Operation Shore Up

Over the last few weeks we have had contractors in helping us to repair all the storm damaged areas.This at times has seemed like a never ending proccess but thanks to the Contractors and our own Staff ,we are now busy with the final clean up and prepping areas for turfing.

We have managed to reclaim the lost Dune land at the Mouth of the 13th Burn the blocks are now in place and will be Sand Covered and Marram Sprigged in due course.

The Dry Concrete Mix Bagging work to the Banks of the Burn has been Completed.

The foundations are now in place for the new bridge, The Extended Burn Bankings have still to be prepped and turfed.

The Gabion Basket Work has been completed at the 8th hole with Enkamatting covering the baskets .We will be covering the matting with soil and seeding as soon as possible.                                                     
                                                   
                                                  
                                       
                                                                    
                                                        

Operation Shore Up

The Storms and Monsoons last month have caused a considerable amount of damage to the Burn Bankings at The 13th and a section of Dune land at the mouth of the Burn.We have also had two land slips above the 8th Green.Our local Plant Contractor Dick Sangster came in between Christmas and New Year .

     Dick sourced out concrete blocks and reclaimed the lost section of Dune land  ,we have also put Geo Tex sheeting behind the blocks to protect any sand/material being washed out with any further storms ,after this job he moved to the 8th green where the monsoons had created a bulging overburden of about 150 ton on the north facing bank this had partially slipped down the bank towards our 8th green.Dick removed the material which was threatening the green and regraded the bank.

The  second landslip on the 8th which faces East was different as there was no bulging overburden just a fault line at the top of the path.

After consulting with a couple of engineering companies ,the best way to fix this problen was with Gabion Baskets.                                              

After the baskets have been installed they will be covered with a mesh sheeting and soil and seeded to hide from view.

The geo tex sheeting is tucked under the base of the blocks and after back filling has been folded over this will prevent any material being washed away at the base .We will cover the top with sand and are confident that the usual spring gailes will once again start to gather and mask the base of the blocks.Marram grasses will also be planted.

The Burn at the 13th has taken a lot of damage and will be needing considerable work to repair the bankings.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                
                                                      
                                       

Rebuilding The Bathtub 14th Green

The decision was made to rebuild the 14th green which for a good few years now has not been able to sustain year round play, in the winters the green would sit wet and flood easily .Soil profiles taken showed a band of clay on average 12 " below the surface and about 3" thick , on top of this there was also a heavily compacted black layer. This Dew Pond Construction would have been the way the green was originally built back in the 1890s as the only irrigation back then came from the Sky ! In that era holding moisture in the rootzone was very important for keeping grass cover on the greens during summer play.In todays modern era we have irrigation systems and use them sparingly when required to get the correct balance of turf health and firmness.

                                               The 3 Pictures above show the Clay Band .

We stripped away all the turf and rootzone which will be recycled/reused .The clay was stripped away seperatley and set aside for the local pottery company to have !

Once all the junk had been stripped away to pure sand we built the sub base up with more sand.

                               After the sub base was in and shaped we added 11" of our own rootzone.

We have also extended the green back a few yards to gain more pin placements and spread wear ,bearing in mind the extension to the green and the poor quality of the original turf we have bought in new turf to give us consistency over the whole green .The weather during the reconstruction was challenging to say the least !With the usual frosts ,snow ,blizzards,monsoons ect.We also had a weeks delay on the turf being delivered to us because England was flooded !We believe that we have preseved the original iconic charachter the Bathtub green is famous for and the green given time to mature will support year round play .From a greenkeepers point of view this green has been our Achilles Heel primarily because of the poor drainage ,with reconstruction now complete we have nicknamed The Bath Tub -------The Sieve ! : )

2nd Nov 2012



Over the last week or two we have had several areas where we have stripped away old slippery astro turf paths on slopes and replaced them with rubber matting.

The Work In Progress.

Winter Aeration has progressed well both fairways and greens have been Verti Drained.

 Jim Working on The 7th Fairway 3/4 Inch Tines Stabbing Away !

   On to the Greens with 1/2 inch tines.

 The 7th Green Breathing After Aereation.

In preperation for winter works we have also been screening our own rootzone.

The Ultra Deck Screen Is A Great Piece Of  Kit.

We have also made a start with some bunker refacing.

This is the RHS Middle bunker on the 2nd. 



Irrigation GPS Survey

The last couple of days we have had Adrian Mortram from R.H.A Irrigation Consultants in doing GPS Survey work to create an accurate up to date plan of the Irrigation System.

Over the next few years it is hoped that we can upgrade the system where needed in two or three phases and an accurate plan is the first step in this proccess.

Autumn Overseeding

We had the course shut on Monday and Tuesday this week to Overseed some Fescue & Bent  into our Big Course Greens . The Operation worked well with little disruption to the surface .

First Job Was Using Our Speedseeder  To Put In The Bent

 It Makes Thousands of Dimple Holes For The Bent Seed.

Then We Used Our Disc Seeder For Ploughing In the Fescue.

Clean And Tidy After a Cut and Iron.

Rough Management

With this season being wet wet wet we have seen the rough in a lot of areas getting too thick.We normally hire in a flail box collector about this time of year but have managed to purchase a second hand machine : ) this will  allow us to thin out areas when the weather suits us .The best season for rough thinning is autumn when its naturaly dying back.

New Flail Ready For Action !



One draw back we have at Cruden Bay is that a number of the extended roughs have severe contours on them which the flail will not safley tackle, to get onto these more challenging areas we have used our John Deere Rotary Terrain Cut 8800 .

8800 Sawing Away !

Any grass lying after the 8800 is either raked up if very heavy or blown well out off play with the Kubota /Tornado Blower.