Rolling the Greens

[Adam_F_Collins]

I've been playing early spring rounds here in Nova Scotia and the club I've been playing at has been rolling the green, making them putt a little (lot) quicker, without cutting the new spring grass.

Are there downsides to doing this? What adjustments (if any) have to be made to the maintenance of greens which are rolled in the spring?

[Anthony_Nysse]

Adam,
  I know when I lived in Michigan, we rollled greens in the spring to smooth out the surface because of frost and thaw, smooth out any play marks from the day before, but mainly because the grass didn't warrent enough growth to have to cut everyday. Plus it's real hard on a reel style mower to not mow grass. It warps the bedknifes.

Anthony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Don_Mahaffey]

Adam,
Here in Central Oregon we are presently mowing 4 days a week and rolling 3 days a week. As the season progresses we will increase mowing frequency, but we will continue to roll 3 days a week. We are having a cold spring, the grass isn’t growing much,  and there really is no reason to mow if you don't cut anything. The rolling keeps them smooth and helps with firmness and pace. As we get more into the growing season regular rolling helps keep the greens at a good pace without super low heights of cut. In our area moss is a huge problem and longer grass competes better with moss. Rolling, bi-weekly topdressing, and application of a growth regulator allows us to keep our greens rolling about 9.6-10.2 while being mowed at 5/32 (.152) of an inch, a height of cut considered very long in today’s golf course management world.

[wsmorrison]

Don,

Do you find that a result of 9.6-10.2 with relatively long blades of grass (5/32) from less frequent mowing and consistant rolling is that there is more grain to the greens (something I like)?   I guess it is also a function of the type of grass strain(s) you've got. And if there is more grain, what is the members' response?

[Craig Sweet]

Ditto, here in western Montana. Mowing greens 3 times a week and rolling a couple of times. Not much growth yet. Greens are rolling pretty good, golfers are liking the speed...probably 9.5-10...airification next week with 1/4" hollow tines...top dressing and some over seeding...

[Don_Mahaffey]

Wayne,
Our greens were originally seeded with Penncross over a decade ago and are now from 30% to 70% poa.

The Penncross can definitely get leggy and laid over. We top dress every other week from April to Oct. and we always verticut before we topdress. Because of the concentration of poa in the bent, the vertical mowing helps to keep things evened out as the two different grasses grow at different rates. Like most supers I've been trained to remove grain. Maybe when we get into late summer and the poa has shut down we may experiment with letting the bent get a little leggy just to see how it plays.

[wsmorrison]

Thank you for your reply, Don.  We ought to consider the mindset that has developed to eliminate grain in greens.  I'm no expert on turf grasses, but I think grain is a wonderful feature in golf courses, particularly classic courses.  

I forgot how much I liked it until I play at Huntingdon Valley CC.  I know there's an overblown sense of fairness that has creeped into the equation and that clubs that set up their courses for tourning pros will hear them screeming bloody murder if there's grain in the greens; after all they are making their living at it. But I think it keeps older courses from having to worry about guys coming in and shooting lights out all the time.  Some will on some days, but the scoring spectrum would surely be pretty wide over a 4-day event and likely over a 2-day event as well.

If course, in practical terms it would be hard to have a Linc Roden III at each course educating and directing efforts such as those at HVCC, not to mention such a wealth of talented players in a single club.  Its not for every club, but I certainly think it should exist on some courses, it would be a shame if it were eradicated completely.

Why do you think it became something abhorrent?

[Craig Sweet]

Would the bent greens have to be mowed a bit higher for the grain to "come back"? It seems it has been maintained right out of the greens as mowing heights got lower. I wonder how the members would like grainier (sp) and slower greens?

[wsmorrison]

I don't think members would take too well to slow and grainy, but maybe fast and grainy.  

Perhaps greens could be relatively long (.156) to have some grain but still kind of quick (9.6-10.2) with the rolling.  

I am talking out my arse here, but I would like to see a variety of playability that could be achieved if some courses had grain.  It is lots of fun to play HVCC knowing you have to concentrate that much harder to do your best on those greens.  Its a challenge I look forward to and a nice change of pace.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Wayne,
I think grain became bad as the elite clubs and their Superintendents learned how to remove grain from their greens. The best clubs in the country didn't have grainy greens thus if you wanted to have good greens, they couldn't be grainy. I think it could be argued that greens without grain roll smoother. Maybe only when your putting directly into the grain, but even if the ball only hops a bit in one direction that’s enough for most golfers to think the greens may not be as good as those without grain. And without a doubt, grain in greens is sure to be considered unfair by many.

Verticutting and topdressing are regular cultural practices used to help control thatch. Of course verticutting will remove the grain, but IMO, doesn’t really do that great of a job of controlling thatch and I believe healthy greens could be maintained without regular verticutting.

GCA is the only place I’ve ever read about golfers who like grain. I think you'd have a tough time convincing the members at just about any club to embrace grainy greens.

[James Bennett]

At my club, we cut at 3.5mm (about 0.14 inches), dust nearly weekly through summer, and fortnightly in winter, roll at least weekly, use some growth regulator (weak application of TGR paclobutrazol) to manage the poa (we are 50/50 bent/poa, and this gives a more even presentation).  Greens run at about 10 feet, although they quicken up in winter to about 12 feet due to lack of growth (but run firm, and true.  The rolling in winter helps with the surface run-off following heavy rain).

Its a lot easier to maintain greens with a little longer sward during extreme summer heat and drought (the TGR is good here to manage the difference in growth habit of bent vs poa), but the frequent dusting and rolling adds to the quality and speed of green.  

The right combination of greens practices is an ideal 'maintenance meld' example.  Get the right chemical applications as well through knowledge and analysis and a significant improvement in turf quality and playing surface occurs.  Nearly enough to make the members happy