New Mowing Program

This year we have developed walking lanes from tee to fairway. The early morning players are able to follow these lanes and keep their feet dry from early morning dew.

The walking lanes are aimed towards the best angle of ball flight from the tee. They are not always in the exact center of the hole corridor but more or less along the best lines for aiming the tee shots. 

The fairway cut follows the same line as the walking lane. This provides a nice visual from the tee that directs the golfer's eye to the ideal line of ball flight.

We are also mowing the rough the same direction as the fairway. Note the rough on the left side of the fairway center is mowed green to tee, same as the fairway cut. The intermediate cut however is mowed in the opposite direction. This provides a really nice contrast and outline of the hole. I feel that the ground contours are more visible with these cuts than they are with the checkerboard fairway and striped rough patterns.

In areas where the intermediate cut is widened to help the high handicap players run the ball in, the reverse direction of cut is pushed to the perimeter. This gives the golf hole the illusion of being wider than it actually is. 

The intermediate cut is widened around areas where the high handicap golfer may miss. With this mowing pattern a golfer may miss long. The intermediate cut can be used in this way to maintain a healthy 2.5 inch rough, while providing an easier playing surface in the areas where the high handicap players struggle. 

On this hole we pushed the intermediate out on the left side of the green so the golfer can miss left. From 1.25" the shot is much easier than 2.5 inches. Just trying to make the game more fun for everyone!

We are gradually bringing the intermediate down to 1" and greening it up a bit to provide tighter lies.

Bunker edging is nearly complete. On some bunkers we have cut back over a foot of turf to get back to the original edges.