Auchterader Golf Club

Golf Course Update - in order to keep members fully updated of developments on the golf course, we will be distributing a course update following every Committee Meeting.

Course Update - JULY 2025

A quick mid-season report as most work has been general maintenance, preparation and presentation work for the busy summer golfing season.

To carry on from the last report where we were in the middle of a very dry spell, we did eventually get some rainfall in May. We had gone from 19th of April to the 23rd of May with just 2mm of rain. The last 7 days of May we had 43mm, another month below average.

June was a mixed bag with some wet days and some very warm temperatures, 83mm of rain in total for the month. Typically, 43mm of this fell on the first round of the gents club championship!

July has continued similarly with some rain days and an exceptionally warm period with temperatures touching 30 degrees. 35mm so far (Thursday 18th) with some significant rainfall forecast.

Greens

• Daily mowing @ 3.25mm with triple mower
• Regular rolling/double rolling with tru-turf roller

• Spraying continues on summer program with seaweed, liquid fertiliser, plant growth regulator, wetting agents and some bio stimulants according to plan

• Fungicide sprayed as and when required

• Aeration with PlanetAir machine every second Monday

• Verticutting every 2 weeks @ -1mm alternating weeks with the PlanetAir work

• Regular light dressings of sand after each verti-cut (approx. 6 tonnes each time) Yearly total approx. 84 tonnes

• 11th green continues to be mowed with a pedestrian mower until it is fully established

• Regular green speed checks stimping consistently above 10 for general play, tournament and club champs measuring above 11 and closer to 12 at times 

  Hollow coring will be taking place on Monday 28th July. As in previous years carrying out this essential work at this time of year allows for the best recovery in the quickest time frame with conditions more favourable for getting as much sand down the holes as possible. The results have been clear to see over the last few years and has allowed us to produce very good surfaces right through the summer season and into the winter months. It has also allowed us to push the greens and achieve firm fast surfaces with very little intrusive work since the start of the season.

  An email has been sent out to request some help from volunteers. We have had a few replies but require some more help to allows us to core all greens in the quickest time frame so we can carry out the recovery process as soon as possible.

Tees, Approaches & Collars

• Tees and approaches regular mowing @ 8mm with triple mower

• Collars regular mowing @ 6mm with pedestrian mower

• Collars have been receiving the same maintenance processes and spray applications as the greens

• Approaches sprayed twice with nitrogen, iron, seaweed, liquid fert and a PGR

• Tees sprayed twice with nitrogen, iron, seaweed, liquid fert, PGR and wetting agent

• Tees divoted daily to aid recovery

• Both tees and approaches are due to be aerated once the hollow-coring work has been completed on the greens

Fairways, Intermediate & Semi-Rough

• Fairway mowing carried out twice weekly @11mm height of cut
• Intermediate mowing also twice weekly @ 19mm
• Semi-rough mowing carried out once per week

• Fairways and Intermediate have both been sprayed three times with urea, ferrous sulphate, ammonium sulphate and a PGR

• Weaker fairways @ 7th and 11th were sprayed without the PGR to encourage more growth

• All areas blown regularly over the period to remove leaves, debris and excess grass

Bunkers & Paths

• Bunkers raked daily with spring rakes

• Bunker sand levels checked and sand added as required. This is ongoing with some being done this week

• Bunker banks fly mowed and strimmed every second week

• Paths have been blown and tidied regularly

• All main areas have been weeded and and this will continue as time allows

• Potholes fixed and blaize added to some areas, again, this is ongoing

Miscellaneous

• The two new mowers that were on order have arrived.  A greens triple and a sidewinder mower replacing ageing and problematic equipment

• Irrigation system has been utilised to great affect particularly through the very warm temperatures that we have had recently

• Most areas of thick rough have been cut with the tractor deck in the last couple of weeks to help thin these areas out and improve the speed of play

• We have seen an increase in pitchmarks and divots on and around some greens recently along with certain holes having practice balls lying overnight. This is time consuming for us to repair every morning and keep in front of golf with our morning setup

• We have recently had a change in our staff with Gordon McLay moving on after 2 years with us and we thank him for all his hard work helping us achieve a product we are proud of and wish him well in his new position

• This opened an opportunity for Scott MacFarlane to join the team and he has now been with us for the last 2 weeks. Scott brings with him a wealth of experience having previously worked at Dunblane, Bridge of Allan and most recently Falkirk Tryst. We have thrown him in over the last 2 weeks and he has handled everything very well whilst learning his way around the course. We are delighted to have him on-board and he has settled in very well with all the existing staff

  To wrap up this short report, I hope that everyone has had an enjoyable season so far and enjoyed the course and conditions. Again, feedback has been very good and the team, full time staff along with our weekend/holiday guys, deserve a great amount of credit for the pride and dedication they show daily to produce the best product that we can.

  As mentioned above we still require more volunteers to help with the intensive coring process and if anyone is available and can help could you please message or email me with your name and I can add you to the list. Rolls and tea/coffee are provided around 11am.

  Mobile – 07901002416

  Email – greens@auchterardergolf.co.uk

Shaun McNaughton