Today I switched to the aforementioned 'regular' greens mowers and with it a marked improvement in the quality of cut on the greens. As expected, the grooved roller automatically lowered the actual height of cut, which resulted in bringing up a little sand and dulling the mowers. The amount of sand was minimal enough so it didn't affect the putting quality so the only negative was some extra work for the mechanics.
We are just two weeks out since aeration was finished and, even considering the weather, the greens are right on schedule being 85-90% back to normal. There is still a little sand to contend with and, as it works it's way into the canopy, I can lower the height of cut and get the greens back to their usual standards.
I put up a picture of the solid roller mowers in last post so wanted to post a picture of the grooved/groomer head mower also for comparison. The groomer is the spiral roller in front of the reel which is a powered comb (for want of a better description) that helps stand the turf up for a better cut. Currently they are turned off, otherwise it would pull the sand up out of the canopy and leave a huge mess.....
The grooved roller I use is very aggressive but I like it as it ensures very little of the grass is pushed over before seeing either the groomer or the reel, which gives a better cut. It can add a lot of stress during the summer months so it is changed out, if needed, to a less aggressive type to help the turf.
My iPhone really does not like to post upright pictures of the Prism Gauge, so once again I apologize, but here you can plainly see the difference the roller makes - the right half (lower in the picture) is the cut from the grooved roller. You can see how much cleaner and shorter it is than the side cut with the solid roller. Needless to say, the smoother the cut the better the ball roll. You can also see the remaining topdressing in the canopy.
The cleaner cut is also quite obvious in these pictures.
Finally a picture of the clippings and you can also see that the sand picked up is minimal.
I have mentioned the use of Dewcure to remove the dew, which makes it easy to mow the greens first thing and not worry about the sand sticking to the rollers and leaving a mess. I took this picture on my way in yesterday morning and you can easily see the lack of dew on 15 green and approach, which is contrasted with the heavy dew on the fairway.
We're also working on finalizing some projects, so more on them later in the week.
