They are already moving earth at Gleneagles in preparation for the Ryder Cup coming to this neck of the woods in 2014.

As the rain hammered down yesterday, in the kind of biblical bursts that would have had Noah getting fidgety, officials of the Perthshire resort were probably wishing they could move heaven, as well.

Despite the unrelenting downpour, work carried on regardless as the diggers continued to churn away at the much-maligned 18th hole at the PGA Centenary course as part of a considerable makeover to the raking, uphill trudge of a par-5 that has been widely pilloried for being simply too bland for the closing hole of a Ryder Cup.

For the critics – Darren Clarke once seethed "it's beyond my comprehension they've chosen to have the Ryder Cup on this course" – the sight of a vast, muddy crater appearing where the green used to be must have been a joy to behold.

With upwards of £25m having already been lavished on the resort as a whole in the build-up to the biennial, transatlantic tussle, another "several hundred thousand" is being thrown at the 18th. They don't deal in small figures at Gleneagles, a point illustrated further by the fact that the closing hole carve-up involves shifting a colossal 35,000 tonnes of terrain.

"Moving 35,000 tonnes is not for the faint-hearted; it's an awful lot of work," admitted Richard Hills, the European Ryder Cup director.

After much deliberation with course designer Jack Nicklaus, during a consultation period that involved various proposals being thrown in and tossed out, an agreement was finally reached on just what to do with the last and work is expected to be completed in May.

"Jack and his organisation were extremely amenable in coming up with a solution to the problem, which is how do we take a piece of ground and make it something that is going to be exciting as well as being a wonderful way to finish, whether it be a championship or a match in the Ryder Cup," said Patrick Elsmie, the managing director of Gleneagles, who has also opened the chequebook for tinkering work to the ninth, 10th and 12th. "What he has come up with answers the challenges that were put to him.

"Jack's preferred solution did not in the end include any water. There were suggestions that we could look at a burn and a variety of different things, but the end solution is something that both we and Jack are excited about."

The hole in question will remain a par-5, but the championship tee will be moved forward and to the left while being raised by some two metres to give a better view of the fairway and landing area. This landing area will be around 30 to 40 metres ahead of the old layout.

Previously, the second shot would have been blocked out by trees if the drive had been too far right. From the landing area, around 289 yards up, the fairway will be levelled and this is where most of that 35,000 tonnes of earth is being shifted from. Essentially, this will flatten out the hole with a rise of just two metres compared to seven metres.

With work over the course hammering on, yesterday's wide-ranging press conference unveiled that the 2014 match will take place from Friday, September 26 to Sunday, September 28, a week earlier than the 2010 contest at Celtic Manor and a date very similar to the one previous time the Ryder Cup was held in Scotland, at Muirfield in 1973.

"This September, the average temperature was 23°F on those three days, it was balmy sunshine," said First Minister Alex Salmond with a smile, as he shrugged off the inevitable weather concerns for a tournament set to be held at the back end of the year in this meteorological minefield of a country. After the deluge at Celtic Manor, which forced the match to move into an extra day for the first time in its history, there were those who had trumpeted the idea of extending the match to a four-day format. Hills acted swiftly to end that particular speculation.

"At the moment, that's not on the radar," added Hills, who welcomed Diageo as an official partner of the matches in a relationship that stretches back to 1985 and one that will also allow the global drinks producer to help promote the blossoming junior initiative, Clubgolf. "There's been no desire from the players to change it. Davis Love III and Jose Maria Olazabal [the current US and European captains] have said that this is what it is. It does add to some of the skills of captaincy. Four of the guys have to sit on the bench. We've had no force to change it."

With the Commonwealth Games and the second edition of the Homecoming festival also taking place in the summer of 2014, Hills admitted that he harboured initial concerns at the sheer volume of major events happening in such a short space of time.

"We were slightly nervous when the Commonwealth Games was announced that there would be a clash," said Hills, who confirmed that the Johnnie Walker Championship, also at Gleneagles, would still be shoe-horned into the 2014 schedule. "But as we work through it with all the parties, we have turned it to a positive. It's going to be a fantastic festival of golf for Scotland."

interview Work under way to bring 18th hole at Gleneagles up to scratch, writes Nick Rodger