The East of Ireland Amateur Tournament is hosted here at Baltray. This is the second tournament in three weeks for me this summer. The hours are different from the Irish Open, as the greens crew will be working from half six (6:30) until 5pm. The tournament round does not start until Saturday, then playing Sunday and two rounds on Monday.

Today, May 30, marked Day 1 of prep week. Golfers around the course - both members and guests - have stopped me today to say how great the course is playing. All compliments are very much appreciated. While there still is much to be done, the greenkeepers will have our regular morning duties then polishing up the golf course in the afternoon.

This was the morning view from the 14th tee box. Just turn around and you'll see the Irish Sea

In the morning I helped with course set up. Martin and I set tee markers, raked bunkers, collected rubbish (trash), filled divots on tee boxes and refilled divot bags for the golfers.

Divot bag stand.

My "polishing" duty for the afternoon was"strimming" (string trimming) bunker edges (below).

Barry Carpenter showing me how to get it done

It was a gorgeous day today, golfers covering each hole. Working around play was not easy but I still managed to jump around finishing all the bunkers on the course!

First day is done, lets see what tomorrow will have in store.