Top dressing greens

The main course greens were verticut this morning and then top dressed.  The rain that started around 8.30 didn't help, as dry conditions are needed for brushing the material in but we'd nearly finished by then so it didn't cause us any major problems.  Verticutting is, as the name suggests a bit like mowing but with vertical rather than horizontal blades.  The aim is to refine the putting surfaces by removing horizontal growth and reduce the impact of the coarser grasses on ball roll.  The high percentage of fescue in our greens has a strong effect on the way that the ball rolls across the putting surface.  The ball tends to sit into the fescue giving very good trueness readings (lateral deviation) whilst the coarser grasses have a negative impact on smoothness (vertical deviation).  The smoothness readings are still good but this is an area where there is scope for improvement.  We need to be very careful with verticutting and other agressive treatments as the fescue is weakened by excessive wear.  We only verticut when the fescue is growing strongly so that we don't tilt the balance in favour of the coarser grasses.