Fescue Rough on 10 and 18

The fescue rough between 10 and 18, and between 18 and 17 was a topic of discussion at the most recent green committee meeting.  There was some concern about the thickness of the grass and the resulting difficulty with locating a lost ball.  The decision was made to cut the grass to a lower height, despite the possibility of loosing the yellow color that occurs during the summer.

The grass that was used in these areas is a blend of fine leaf fescues.  The reason these grasses were chosen is for their aesthetic appearance during the summer months, after they have grown and produced a seedhead, when they turn a gold color.  These stand of grasses work best in sandy soils that do not hold lots of moisture, or nutrients that aid in turf growth.  When these stands are planted on soils with higher amounts of clay, like we have on the course, the stand tends toward a very dense canopy.  The higher amounts of water that are available to the plant for longer periods of time allow the grass to grow a thicker stand.  The picture on the right shows what a ball in the grass looked like before we cut the stand.

One characteristics of these grasses that enhances the golden color are the seedheads that they produce.  By cutting these grasses now, many of the seedheads were removed.  It is likely that these stands will not exhibit the usual color they possess in the summer months after this cutting.

Our method for trying to thin these areas was the use of a flail mower with vertical blades attached.  These blades did not cut the turf horizontally, but cut vertically into the canopy (vertical mowing).

These three areas were the test runs for determining how we would mow the areas on the course.  The strip on the left consisted of the blades moving slow and the tractor moving slow.  The middle strip is the blades moving fast and the tractor moving slow.  The strip on the right is the blades moving slow and the tractor moving fast.  The strip on the right resulted in the least disruption of the height of the grass, but did removed a large amount of material.

Here is a picture of the grass being cut.  The grass was cut in two directions in an effort to remove more material.

After the mower had made the two passes.  We used rakes to clean up the removed debris, as well as stand the grass back up.

After the mowing had been completed, here is a picture of what a ball in the area looks like now.