Bermuda Fairways - Mowing Practices

[Brent Hutto]

This past Saturday our little weekly "dogfight" competition was played under lift, clean and place (lift, clean and cheat?) because of the several inches of rain that had fallen the day before. I'd never done that before but I didn't want to annoy my (random draw) team mates so I went along. Hitting wedge shots from 30-90 yards when you've given yourself a perfect lie is truly like cheating. Out of seven or eight of those shots only one ended up more than a couple yards long or short of hole high. I had four up-and-downs from wedge range in eighteen holes compared to maybe one or two on a normal day and every one-putt I missed was a lipout. As a 20-handicapper it's very unusual to hit shot after shot inside 10 feet from 70 yards.

One of the club professionals said that this was because the bermuda fairways are always mown in the same direction and the grass adapts by lying down in the direction of the mowing pattern. So even what looks like a good, clean lie can be unpredictable because of that grain. He also said that by proper adjustment and sharpening of the mower rollers and by changing the direction of mowing every day you can get that same type of Bermuda grass to make the ball sit up perfectly every time. It's not clear why that's not done at my home course if it's possible.

Has anyone noticed this effect? Either I had a remarkably good day of judging those shots or the lies I normally get aren't as good as they look. Our fairways do tend to be somewhat tightly mown although the underlying (clay based) ground tends to be a little wet and not real firm. The course where I learned to play golf had much firmer sandy soil and the ball sits up very nicely on the fairways even thought that's not as nice a course in every other way.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Brent,
I'm not quite sure what your asking but I doubt your fwys are always mowed in the same direction. I don't know of any supt who doesn't change mowing direction regularly. Remember, bermuda doesn't strip very well, so it's not always easy to tell which way the fwys were last cut.

Bermuda gets a bad rap here because when it gets puffy it does tend to grab the ball. The beauty of bermuda is it can be mown very close and kept dry if color is not a main concern (it usually is).

If you want the straight scoop on how and why your fwys are maintained the way they are I'd get to know your super. Nothing against club pros, but the super is the guy to get your agronomic info from.

[Brent Hutto]

I guess my question is whether you'd expect that carefully sitting the ball up top of the grass should make it a whole lot easier to hit a consistent distance.

I would have thought that any fairway lie that appears clean would be good but it sure worked out better by picking the ball up and putting it gently back on top of the grass, even if it was within a fraction of an inch of the same spot. Maybe it's just a confidence thing.

I am going to ask the superintendent about it next chance I get. At the course I used to play I don't think they worried about the color of the grass, it's a fairly inexpensive public course. They definitely keep the fairways much drier there, which makes the course play a lot shorter and easier. I'd say my current club has more of a "lush" turf rather than just keeping it alive.