Machrihanish Dunes from a helicopter!

A group of golfers playing us on Friday arrived in a helicopter and the pilot kindly agreed to take our Golf opps/starter and Deputy Kevin Smith on board for a tour of the course here are 2 of the pictures taken - one of the 6th hole and the other 14 and 15.

Scottish Natural Heritage's visit July

Ian Jardine the Chief executive of SNH along with Stan Phillips and Andrew Campbell (also from SNH) visited the Dunes recently. We gave them a full tour concentrating on how the build of the golf course has had so little impact on a huge proportion of the site - currently a number of orchids and other wild flowers are in bloom giving the roughs a beautiful colour - even the wild thyme on the fairways survives due to the restricted heights of cut - giving them a purple look which is different but very much playable!!! Stan visits us regularly - giving us advice and helping us protect and enhance the SSSI where ever we can. The picture shows us looking at Frog orchids close to a bunker on 16.

Yay!! Rain

May and June where very dry months with only 35mm of rain over that period, we have a number of well points and these where tested to the full. Towards the end of June we actually ran out and they ran dry! So we where left in gods hands - and as luck would have it - it hasnt stopped raining since and have had 40mm in 5 days with more due! So hopefully i wont need to turn our pump on for the whole of July and let the Wells replenish! This week with more moisture in the ground we sarrel rolled and overseeded all the tees with a fescue mix and fed and topdressed them after. With having to use water sparingly unfortunately some of the tees dried out severely - to combat this we also applied the re-wetter aquaduct. Starting to see some nice signs of recovery now. Also with not having to worry about the greens overly stressing we brushed and also mowed with burshes down (flex 21's with brush attachment at 4mm) the following day we verti-cut them in 2 directions trying to take out some of the lateral growth and thin out some of the coarser indigenous grasses and then topdressed quite heavy - also giving them a hit with a granular fertilizer. We used the tru-roller for the first time to work in the topdressing - leaving the sand on the surface as long as we could with the sun out to dry then rolled in 2 directions - worked very well. The greens held up to the dry spell well - using our hydroject every 2 weeks and applying a decent wetting agent monthly along with handwatering - no real dry spot problems just one or two fairy rings appearing. We have a tournament on the 25th of july so now just working towards that.

Changes winter 2009

After some feedback from golfers and talks with Paul Kimber and David McLay Kidd we got permission to make a few alterations - this involved moving the 2nd tees inland to create a better angle of play/soften the 4th fairway that was hard to mow producing scalping/reshaped the 7th green/moved the 8th green 50 yards closer to fairway/reshaped the 14th green and altered some routes for golf paths saving over 700 yards in walking distance. Paul Kimber and Conor Walsh where again on site along with Gregg Sherwood from Southworth Golf Development (our owners) We turfed the altered greens and tees - this was started in February 2010 and the greens where re-opened for play mid April 2010 at a cutting height of 7mm. Again my squad performed great under pressure and proved many wrong when told wed not have them playable by April! Although there was allot of praying involved and the weather behaved! just

1st Ecology Management meeting (Sep 2009)

With the course being on a SSSI we have produced a indepth 5 year management plan for the protection of the site - every year we review and also talk about the monitoring that takes place. This involves regular visits from SNH and 2 visits from our ecologist to record data from set points within the site. If any amendments are to be made this is the time - for this meeting through feedback we decided to ask if we could get permission to alter parts of the course - this involved installing some new ladies tees/moving one full set of tees/moving a green and softening a fairway. After undertaking a impact study we where given permission - also at this meeting we agreed to start doing some trial mowing's of thicker roughs/some coring and seeding of agricultural based fairways and allowing us to vertidrain compacted foot paths. It was also agreed to up the numbers of sheep through the winter to combat roughs that where becoming unplayable but also smothering some rare flowers. SNH where to visit monthly throughout the winter of 2009.

The Grand Opening July 2009.

The golf course had a soft opening in May 2009 and a proper opening the week after the Open at Turnberry. After allot of hard work and many hours the golf course was taking shape - reviews where getting better and better - yes we needed some time to mature but the potential was there for all to see. The week before opening we where still rushing to make the course as presentable as possible for the worlds media! That week we had well over 20 staff and we worked closely with Gregg Sherwood who works for the company that owns Machrihanish Dunes and runs the Golf development. We had the greens smooth and running at 9.5 on the stimp the day before! The course was very fiery and linkys - and what happens? The day of opening we have over a inch of rain and the golfers get soaked! not to mention the 40mph winds! typical!!! but as good day and after many hurdles the course was now open - now lets keep improving.

The grow in! (late 2007 - May 2009)

By late 2007 DMK construction had left site and the grow in began - all the greens where seeded out with fescue and the rootzone was the natural sands from the site. This caused some problems as some greens where more exposed than others and in the end we turfed 5 of the shore greens. The fairways where mown out of the existing swards which involved strimming and collecting. Rabbit damage was a huge problem and there where an estimated 350.000 of them on site when we arrived (a successful cull has now taken place) but at the time every green site had to be fenced off. As no chemicals are allowed to be used on the SSSI (apart from on greens and tees) weeds like ragwort and thistles had to be pulled manually which took up huge amounts of manpower. The roughs in the beginning where to be maintained by sheep we purchased 25 hebridians and we "lend" up to 300 suffolks during the winter from a local farmer. Every greensite and tee complex that was chosen the existing turf had to be moved to another similar area within the SSSI this is where our ecologist played one of her crucial roles. One of the many "rules" we work within is that we are not allowed to import any turf or non native seed to the site - so patching damaged areas was very time consuming.

The beginning and construction

After a number of years going through the planning process work started mid 2007 with the course designed by David McLay Kidd and DMK golf constructing. Paul Kimber was lead designer on site (now with http://www.kimbergolf.com/) and Connor Walsh lead shaper (now with http://www.conorjwalshgolf.com/) Measuring 7,175 yards, Machrihanish Dunes features six greens and five tees at the ocean's edge. "We followed the lie of the land and unlike most courses around the world, we did not lay out the course and make the land change with it, we designed each hole around the natural terrain," says David McLay Kidd. During the whole construction phase we worked closely with Scottish Natural Heritage and actually employed a full time ecologist Carol Crawford (http://www.tnrc.co.uk/) The story was just beginning.

Welcome

Welcome to the Machrihanish Dunes Greenkeeper's Blog where Keith Martin, Keeper of the greens and his deputy Kevin Smith will give regular updates on the challenges and work involved in maintaining one of the most environmentally sensitive Links Golf courses in the World.