Tournament Preparation

The Pinery Preferential is just around the corner and I bet a lot of members are wondering what we do to prepare. The main thing we do different is we starting rolling greens. We usually start rolling greens the Monday before the first round and roll greens through that Saturday. When rolling greens I found it best to roll at least three days prior to a tournament to see the best results. Usually the first day or so you only see a slight increase in greens speeds, it is after the third and fourth days you see a significant difference in the green speeds. Typically we can see the greens increase up to one to two feet on the stimp meter this is all dependent on the weather and any irrigation events. Secondly we increase our mowing frequency on certain areas of the course which include fairways, approaches, tees and intermediate rough. Normally these areas only see a mower three to four times a week. When you increase the mowing frequency we get a much better cut and it keeps the course tight. The down side is the labor hours we spend mowing, but it is only for a short time and the results are worth it.

Greens Roller

Greens roller heads up close

Prism to check quality of cut

Fairway mower in action