Fairway mowing gives superintendents the opportunity to embrace artistry and aesthetics while using the latest techniques and equipment to create the best product most efficiently.
Upscale golf courses are attractive venues by design, but golf course architects aren’t the only ones who have the opportunity to work their magic on the layout. Superintendents can use their maintenance inputs to create artistry on the golf course as well—and fairways are an ideal canvas for showcasing their creativity, and enhancing the aesthetic appeal of their properties, with their mowing pattern of choice.
SUMMING IT UP
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Those choices can include striping, contour mowing, pushing and pulling, and the classic cut.
Striping involves mowing in at least two directions to create a checkerboard pattern, while contour mowing creates curved stripes that follow the topography of the turf.
Pushing and pulling, which requires a large number of mowers, leaves no stripes on the fairways. Mowers travel from tee to green when pushing and from green to tee when pulling.
With a classic cut—also known by other names such as half-and-half or the shadow cut—one side of the fairway appears dark and the other side looks light. This pattern reduces mower traffic in the rough—and because it is less time-consuming than other options such as striping, it also helps properties save time and money on labor and fuel costs.
Pattern Preferences
In Pittsford, N.Y., the course maintenance staff at Monroe Golf Club (“Finer With Age,” C&RB, July 2012) used to mow its fairways in four different directions. In the fall of 2011, however, the club’s Greens and Grounds Committee made the decision to mow its 35 acres of poa and bentgrass fairways on the 1923 Donald Ross layout in a classic cut.
“A new goal had been established to improve the quality of the rough, and this fit in with that objective,” explains Golf Course Superintendent Matt Delly. “It keeps the tire tracks out of the rough areas adjacent to the fairways, and it’s a more traditional style. We did it to alleviate fairway mower traffic and to keep the mowers out of the rough going into winter.”
The shorter days in the late fall, along with weather conditions, factored into the decision as well. “The turf doesn’t dry out as quickly during the day,” Delly adds.
In addition, he notes, “It reduced the time to mow the fairways by a third, and that translated into labor savings and field savings. It reduced the hours on the equipment by the same amount as well.”
The Committee’s decision was based primarily on the desire to reduce fairway traffic and to increase turf quality in the rough, says Delly. But the reduction in labor, fuel costs, and wear and tear on the equipment were added benefits.
The North and South courses at Forest Creek Golf Club in Pinehurst, N.C., have a checkerboard pattern on their fairways and a contour stripe around the greens, where the grounds crew mows with triplexes. In addition to the two 18-hole courses, the property has a 37th “hog hole,” a par 3 that is played after the 18th on the South Course to settle bets, and this hole sports a checkerboard pattern as well.
“It’s more time-consuming, but there are no misses and we’re hitting everything,” notes Director of Golf Course Maintenance Bill Patton.
The visual effect that results from the look is well worth the effort, Patton believes. “It allows the superintendent to do artistry with mowing,” he explains. “The golfers are looking for the ‘wow factor’ in the artistry of mowing patterns.”
The Forest Creek mowing method also gives the property something in common with a famous neighbor. “The short cut approach around the greens is like Pinehurst No. 2,” reports Patton.
John Ottaviano, Golf Course Superintendent at Manchester Country Club in Manchester Center, Vt., has seen a number of changes in the preferences for fairway mowing patterns in the last 30 years.
When he first got into the business, says Ottaviano, who has been at Manchester CC for 27 years, rotating the fairway mowing patterns in a clockwise and counterclockwise direction was standard procedure. Now, however, the 18-hole golf course is another that goes for the “wow” factor with its fairway mowing patterns.
Manchester’s maintenance staff members now mow their fairways in a north-south, east-west contour striped pattern from front to back, alternating the direction each time they mow the fairways so the grass stands up or lays down.
“It gives us the best quality of cut, and it’s the nicest appearance for the golfer,” says Ottaviano. “You tend to get a better roll on the golf ball, and when the ball comes to rest, it’s going to stand up a little bit better.”
Influential Inputs
While the development of lightweight fairway mowers has given superintendents more options when it comes to tending to the grass, other inputs on the fairways also influence how they mow the grass.
Aided by a strong growth-regulator program, Monroe GC’s staff now mows the fairways four days a week at a height of about 4/10 of an inch. The grounds crew alters the light and dark patterns every five weeks, to reduce the amount of grain in the fairways.
Because Monroe’s golf course is built on a natural sandy loam glacial deposit, the maintenance staff also runs groomers on the fairways to stand up the turf and reduce the grain for a cleaner, more uniform cut. This practice also improves the appearance of the cut and provides a more consistent playing surface. However, Delly reports, the crew pulls the groomers up during stressful weather conditions, such as high heat and humidity.
Weather conditions influence the mowing practices at Forest Creek and Manchester CC as well.
“All jobs are affected by the volatility of the weather, and our product changes seasonally based on the weather,” notes Patton. While the extreme heat and extreme cold tend to average out, he adds, it does seem that the hot days have gotten hotter and the cold days have gotten colder.
Ten years ago, the Forest Creek property experienced drought conditions, Patton recalls, so the crew didn’t mow the fairways during the drought. But last year was extremely wet, which also made it harder to mow.
At Manchester, Ottaviano notes, “When we have a lot of rain, it’s tough to get a good quality of cut on the fairways because everything is so soft, and the mowers will leave tracks. We have to wait until the fairways are dry or mow later in the day, but that becomes an issue with the golfers.”
During the golf season, the Forest Creek staff mows the Bermuda grass fairways at a height of .045 inches, which allows the ball to roll and provides sufficient grass underneath the ball for it to be playable.
“We mow the fairways every day when they’re growing,” reports Patton.
Depending on the season, however, Forest Creek will use a different mowing pattern on the fairways. The property has hybrid Bermuda grass fairways, and the maintenance staff overseeds the fairways with rye grass in the fall. During the summer months when the grass has transitioned to Bermuda, the crew uses a shadow cut on the fairways. “The checkerboard pattern doesn’t show up on Bermuda like it does on rye or bentgrass,” notes Patton.
The number of trees on a golf course affect the growth of the grass, and as a result, mowing frequency as well.
“We’re always assessing tree health and the tree maintenance program and how they relate to playability and architectural integrity,” says Delly.
To alleviate tree and shade issues, Manchester CC renovated its back nine for agronomic and playability purposes in a project that was completed in 2003. With the renovation, the property now has pure bentgrass fairways on the back nine and a mix of poa and bentgrass on the front nine.
“When we did the renovation, quite a few natural areas were established, and that cuts down on our mowing,” says Ottaviano.
Increasing the acreage of natural areas helps golf courses save time, money, and labor with their mowing practices; the Manchester grounds crew only mows its natural areas once a year.
Consistency Counts
Regardless of the mowing pattern of choice, golf course properties tend to follow consistency in their fairway mowing practices by having the same people perform the task.
At Monroe, two veteran crew members usually mow the fairways. “They have the process down,” reports Delly. “We had to fine-tune it to make sure the fairways were evenly divided right down the middle. It took a little tweaking to make it even. We also contour it so it mimics the flow of the hole. It’s not just a straight line from the tee.”
Consistency is especially important when using a classic cut, says Delly. “We had to commit to it over an extended period of time to see the benefits,” he reveals. “If it’s a temporary change, you don’t get a true feel whether people accept it or resist it.”
Some people questioned the look when they originally changed the fairway mowing pattern, Delly adds, but once they got used to it, they developed a preference for the classic cut. “The look grows on people,” he adds.
Forest Creek, which dedicates two fairways units to each of its courses, typically has the same crew members mow the fairways as well.
“It’s one of the preferred jobs in the golf course maintenance business,” Patton reports. “It takes a $40,000 to $50,000 piece of equipment, so we want skilled, seasoned people driving it.”
At Manchester CC, where the fairways are mowed every other day at a height of ½ inch, the same two people also mow the fairways on a regular basis. “When you have the same people doing it, they’re probably going to do it a little bit quicker,” explains Ottaviano. “They know where everything is, such as a sprinkler head that is out of adjustment.”
A Matter of Opinion
While the primary purpose of mowing is to prepare the golf course for play, fairway mowing patterns can showcase specific features of a property as well. “We’re seeing more and more of [the classic cut] on weekends on the PGA Tour,” notes Delly. “There’s a trend of going back to the more traditional look and feel, both in terms of aesthetics and playability.”
When Monroe made the switch to the classic cut, he adds, “It took a lot of the ‘busy-ness’ out of the golf course” and returned it to its traditional charm.
“What each golfer likes and doesn’t like in terms of aesthetics is a matter of opinion,” Delly concedes. But he also believes that the classic cut improved his club’s product and provided financial responsibility at the same time.
“The quality of cut is certainly a lot more important than it used to be years ago,” says Patton, who has been at Forest Creek for 19 years. “All maintenance practices have gotten more intense and improved through the years.”
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