[Patrick_Mucci]

maintain a first cut of rough.

Craig Sweet's post reminded me of "costs to maintain" and where, why and how certain practices came into being.

For a very long time there was rough and their was fairway.

Where, when, why and how were first cuts introduced and what's the cost to maintain them ?

Similarly, around the green, when did "fringes" first surface ?

Were fringes a by-product of riding mowers which needed greater turn radii ?

[Jim_Kennedy]

Pat,
I once asked Rand Jerris about 'fringes' and after searching for an answer he wrote back that he couldn't find one. His thought was that it came about due to powered greens mowers, i.e. somewhere to turn without their hurting the green surface due to their much greater weight and power roller.

I don't know about the time frame for first cuts of rough, but I'd guess it came about with the advent of operator controlled hydraulic systems. First cuts add man hours and the possible addition of another piece of machinery.

We stopped cutting fringes a couple of years ago. I may be wrong, but I think the new Toro mower doesn't have an adjustment to do them. I don't think eliminating them saves any time, but we did get some 'free' greenspace out of the change.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jim,

That's interesting.

Pine Tree has begun a process whereby fringes have become part of the putting surface.

I like that change as you tend to get rolloffs where the green is elevated and you incrementally capture some interesting hole locations.

[Alex Miller]

I don't know where it started or the cost to maintain it, but I'm pretty sure I know why a first cut started.

I played a tournament once at a course which did not maintain a first cut, but the rough was a good 5". In the fairway, and especially around the greens any ball that rolled up against the rough would produce an extremely difficult shot. Near the greens if the ball were to roll through to the back of the green against the rough, the shot coming back was impossible to play with anything but a bladed wedge.

The first cut IMO allows a player to use his skill rather than subjecting everyone to the same harsh penalty. I understand poor shots should be punished, but when a shot that is on fairway/green and up against the rough is tougher than a shot that is actually in the rough adjustments need to be made.

[Tom_Doak]

Patrick:

I think it's partly a function of fairway irrigation.

In the old days, the areas you are talking about weren't irrigated, so they were a bit raggedy in the summer months from traffic and drought.  They couldn't cut them regularly, so they didn't present as a "first cut", but they did supply a bit of buffer between the fairway and the deep stuff.  Once they started getting water, they had to start mowing them regularly.

[Cristian]

I am not sure but this seems logical:

Isn't it a result of irrigation of fairways?; the grass became more lush, also just off the fairway. Therefore the rough became too high thick and punishing and a first cut was employed as a buffer.

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