The golf course has been closed for play this week (August
18 – August 25). During this time the staff was diligently preforming necessary
cultural practices. Although hot, the weather cooperated and the staff was
extremely productive. The greens and tees received sand topdressing followed by
solid tine aeration.
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| Topdressing the practice green |
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| Solid tine aeration |
In addition, the fairways were vertical mowed in four
directions. Vertical mowing is an extremely important cultural practice
for bermudagrass fairways.
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| Vertical mowing #4 fairway (first direction) |
Inherently bermudagrass has an extremely aggressive
lateral growth habit. To provide a more upright growth pattern, which will
enable the ball to “sit up” better, vertical mowing is performed.
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| Bermudagrass stolons lifted by vertical mowing |
Fairway
vertical mowing cuts stolons (above ground runners) and pulls them to the
surface. After vertical mowing, blowers and vacuums were used to remove debris.
This was followed by a cut with rotary mowers, which helped “lift and cut”
bermudagrass.
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| Second direction of vertical mowing |
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| Rotary mower's being used to clean up vertical mowing |
