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Green Surrounds / Grassing

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Mike Hendren:
Looking at today's AOTD one is struck by the different shade of the grass surrounding the greens.  This is fairly commonplace among newer courses (Whistling Straits, Wild Horse et al), but why?  When did this concept come into vogue and is it artificial (any more so than green, green grass)?

Do you like it?

Mike

Bob_Huntley:
Mike.

Isn't it because the surrounds are turfed and the remainder is planted from seed?

Mike Hendren:
Bob,

All I know about grass is that I have to mow 1.2 acres every week.  I was under the impression that a different grass or blend was used in many instances.

Mike

Scott_Burroughs:
At Rustic, the green surrounds are a bent mix, the same as  the greens.  Rest of fairways are different grass.

TEPaul:
Mike:

Excellent, excellent question. This is a subject that we're trying to address at my course. It seems sort of superfluous to have up to 3-4 different "cuts" and heights immediately surrounding putting surfaces plus it's a good question about the general artificialness of the look of it. I think it's just something that's become basically a look of the age although the super talks about mowing considerations, turning, whatever, and not coming too close to bunkering with machinery for one reason or another.

But the fact of the greenspace cut right up to the edges of bunkering on the sandbelt courses of Australia makes one wonder. I'm sure not crazy about the rough cut collars surrounding fairway bunkering either and I did a bit of research on that some months ago from old course photos and it seems that "look" was always a part of American architecture although the rough cut collars seemed to have been shorter in the old days. I like the idea of increasing the effectiveness and function of bunkering by letting balls into them more easily and I like the idea of close cuts around greenspace too as it produces more possibilities of club selection--more options in fact--always a good thing to increase in golf and architecture.

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