Cutting of greens straight up and down does it do harm to the running of the greens(setting up ruts etc.) or should you always mow diagonally?

Thanks Jim F.

​Hi Jim.
Thank you for your question. Mowing your green up and down the way you are bowling is not a good practice. Once in a while it does not matter, but if you cut them up and down all the time it will create not only ruts but also the grass will be laying down a certain way that will cause a friction. Most golf courses will use the clock system from 1 to 7, from 2 to 8 etc. to avoid mowing the same way all the time.

​Most bowling greens are cut from corner to corner, alternating direction every time they cut. This way the grass doesn’t have a chance to grow a certain way. Cutting, rolling and verticutting should be done from corner to corner.

Hope this helps.
Charles Roach

​The proposed fee is very reasonable. A couple of follow up questions: 

Do you have an outline of the information to be presented?
Where (what city) will the seminars be given?
When will the seminars be given?

At this time I would expect that Highland Park will send between 2 and 4 members, 
depending in part on the questions I have posed.  

I’ll be very interested in integrated pest management session, given that virtually all 
chemical means are effectively unavailable to us. Also interested in leads for used greens 
maintenance equipment. Also professional contractor services (we currently do all our 
maintenance by members).

Thanks looking forward to the sessions

Bob

​
At the last meeting I had with the University this was discussed:

1. The benefits and strategies of top dressing
   
2. Basic overview of turf disease and control (This is where IPM will be discussed.)
   
3. Cultural practices - over-seeding, dethatching and aeration
   
4. Weeds control and fertilizing.
   
5. Strategies to raise the profile and prestige of the green keepers
   
6. Plus there will be questions and answers at every seminar.

 
This will happen at the Guelph University Turf Institute in the city of Guelph.
No date has been set yet. As soon as I get more information I will post it on the OLBA web page.
Hope this helps.

Charles

Charles - most interested in your turf seminars. As greens chair, I will be attending. Are you able to provide an estimate of the costs, as other members of our club will likely wish to attend? A topic of particular interest to our club is addressing the heavily compacted dead patches, particularly found at the ends of the rink. Also interested in sod patching.

Hi Bob,
Thank you for your interest in the seminars. No  price has been set yet. It will depend on how many people will attend. As of today twenty-two people have shown interest in attending. The more attending, the cheaper it will be. A good guess would be about one hundred dollars for the three seminars or thirty-five dollars per seminar.
 
As for the dead patches at the end of the green, they are caused by using the same rink most of the time. For some reason most club bowlers like to bowl on the center or on the best rinks you have. The best advice I can gave you is make  a schedule of rink movement. If your green is square use this movement:

• Start with north/south with three settings, A,B and C. Bowl on A setting for three days same with B and C.
• After nine days change direction to east/west and start over again. This way you can let the ends of north and south rest for nine days.
• After nine more days rest the east and west. This way you spread the wear and tear around.
• And don’t be afraid to use the outside rinks. The more you use the outside rinks the better they will get.

As far as sodding is concerned you will have to find out what caused the problem in the first place. Most likely it was compaction. You will have to remedy the compaction before anything grows in the area.
Charles