Verti-cutting Greens

If you’ve had a chance to play Cowan Creek this week you may have noticed some areas on the greens that have some small patches of scalped turf. This week we decided to get a bit more aggressive with our verti-cutting so that we could remove more thatch than normal. These areas are where the verti-cutter “pulled” or cut into the grain one way and then the mower cut that grain the opposite direction on the mowing pass. This is a normal occurrence when going this aggressively and the scalped spots will not affect ball roll and will heal very quickly. This process will take place on each of the courses over the next few weeks.

Thatch removal is critical to keeping the turf healthy and to promote growth. It also helps speed the greens up and smooth them out. During a regular play day we would not be able to do this due to the amount of clean-up but on a closed day we have the time to get everything cleaned up once the process is complete.  As you can see from the photo below the amount of thatch removed from just one green was quite a bit. (The hat placed on top is just for size reference, we did not burry any of our employees during the making of this communicator) We will continue to be aggressive with our verti-cutting for the remainder of the growing season and the results in turf quality will be evident both in playability and aesthetically.