Green Cutting

[Region3]

I've just been nosing around our club website and came across this in the 'course maintenance' section.

Posted 25/05/2011

Verti cutting of the greens is taking place today and Thursday. You will notice improved speed and trueness as we take out unhealthy grass and shorten the individual grass blades. The stimp reading on the 18th hole pre verti cutting today 8 feet, which increased to 10 feet after verti cutting and double mower cut.

I have no idea what verti cutting is (although I could hazard a rough guess by the name) but truer and faster sounds good to me.

My only concern is that last year they tried to make the greens faster at the request of some members, and frankly made them worse.

Still, looking forward to tomorrows round even more now. I think it will help me no end on away courses if I can play on 10's every weekend instead of 8!

Anyone else heard of verti cutting, and has it helped your greens?

 

[Losttheplot]

Heard of it but I'm no green keeper sorry.

Glad to hear your greens are going to improve.
Ours have been average till a few weeks ago and the improvement is astonishing. They've really done well and there running true and quick and are an excellent test.

 

[Mungoscorner]

Verticutting usually slows greens in my experience.In laymans terms its basically brushing and scarifying the lawn as its cut to remove thatch.
It will improve the green long term,but the greens will be slower and less true immediately after the process is carried out.The greens normally look "combed" after verticutting.

 

[kinhell]

Vertical cuts in long slices isn't it? I was at Sandwell Golf club on Monday and the greens were lightening fast. 12 on the stimp meter!! Supposed to get even faster !

 

[ash01]

It removes thatch. Thatch slows the ball down and causes it to run less true.

Thatch is inherent in alot of greens.

The grooves/slices/corrugations are packed with feed that is usually a sandy mix that has be be spread with a certain moisture content and is an intense job.

As it seems as though it has been recently done I would imagine that there isn't much change in your green speed or true run of the ball. This is due to the early morning temperatures not being warm enough and therefore not promoting the grass to grow to fill the voids. Once it warms up a bit early morning the grooves will become less apparent and the green alot better looking from distance (consistant colour) and up close. Once they are prepped and cut then the true roll and speed should increase.

May is a gamble with most horticulturalists/green keepers/gardeners as its unpredictable weather can hinder growth.

Give it a couple of weeks and they will be looking and playing well.

Just make sure you repair your pitchmarks.

Ash!!

 

[Region3]

Well, I thought they were the best I've ever played on there, and I'm in my 3rd year now.
As quick as they've ever been and very true. Not as good or as quick as Beau earlier this week, but definitely a step in the right direction.
One thing that I found strange was that they didn't break as much as usual. Maybe it's the grass standing straight up causing that.