Verticutting Greens

The greens were verticut this Tuesday while the golf course was closed for maintenance.  Verticutting removes excess thatch and also helps reduce grain in ultradwarf bermudagrass.  The verticutter uses 105 mini saw blades that are spaced about 1/2 inch apart.  The blades are 1 mm wide and usually set around ground level.

The direction on this particular verticut was 3 to 9 (side to side).  The verticutter goes down and back on every pass so that no matter the direction of the grain on the green, it gets a true verticut based on the direction being verticut that day.  Everytime the greens are verticut the direction is rotated 45 degrees clockwise from the previous direction.  This rotation covers all possible mowing directions every 4 times the greens are verticut.

8 green after verticutting.

Thatch left over on the top after verticutting.

Once the verticutter is finished the greens mower will cut the green in a perpendicular direction.  This helps remove all of the debris as well as all of the grass that's standing up.