A cut above: giving fairways and greens shape, strength

CHENNAI: Come monsoon and it signals the season for intense debate among golfers. In fact, any seasonal change generates plenty of comments over the length, strength and sod beneath the fairways.

With each changing season, the cutting of grass is a precise science and many golf courses engage a full-time agronomist to spearhead the maintenance of fairways and greens. Adherence to the fairway height as it was in play in the preceding summer is often the benchmark in many western clubs, where the seasonal is starker, when compared to, say, Chennai.

In the golf courses in Chennai, the application of monsoon rules marks an important change. The monsoon rules allow a player to lift a ball that lies on the fairway, clean it and replace it without any penalty, although this provision is not applicable if the ball does not lie in ‘closely mown area.’

Often, senior golfers, who are both quick-witted and low handicappers, will have one quip or the other; the recent one being, “should one carry a measuring tape to find the height?” Jokes apart, maintenance is a serious business and clubs close the course for a session, once in a week, in order to keep the fairways and greens in shipshape.

Blades of grass

On Monday, Chennai woke up to grey skies, but by 11 am, the sun was out in all its glory. R Venkatesh, the course manager at Cosmo TNGF, was taking full advantage of both the weather and the closure of the morning session to opt for top dressing of the 11th green, in order to balance the undulation, among other maintenance work.

Typically, the top soil is mowed to a depth of 4mm, after which the surface is covered with sand in order to level down the high spots, allowing new grass to grow. This in turn will render the green true, explains Venkatesh. Once the grass grows, it is rolled and brushed. “For a couple of days after such an exercise, the green might play slow,” he says, well aware that the greens are often a golfer’s ‘do-or-die’ moment.

While the greens are cut to a height of 4.5mm, the fairway height is maintained at 12mm, with the first cut maintained at 24mm so that those on the fairway can easily figure out where the first cut starts and ends all the way up to the green. The roughs are allowed to grow to a height of 50mm, “although they were allowed to grow about four inches high for the PGTI tournament in Chennai”.

The roughs at the TNGF course are cut once a week, while the first cut is administered twice a week. Fairways are cut on alternate days, but the greens are cut twice a day.

Rain or shine

With all the maintenance, why the monsoon rules, one may ask. “Green golf courses are harder to maintain,” says Venkatesh. If the soil beneath the fairways is clayey, the wet earth will be clumpy and when a ball lands, it will plug in the soil and collect slush. “When it rains, you need to cut the fairway, otherwise the grass will grow fast. When you cut the grass, you should always have a little sunshine in order to tamp the fairway, so it is a sort of chicken and egg situation,” he says, wryly.

As for the greens, they also need ventilation. To create the aeration, specialised machinery for venting operations is used at the TNGF course, after which top dressing is done. In fact, course managers have to achieve the balance: ensure the root system is as strong and as dense as possible, while the top area remains tender. Tricky enough and after all that, players may still not finish with a single putt. But then, that is golf.

(The writer is the Lady Captain at Cosmo TNGF)