Everyday at HCC we double cut greens. Even though our mowers are sharpened daily, there is always a benefit from mowing the greens twice, back to back. Our first cut is done with a triplex, shown above. One person is able to do this job. Also, in my opinion, using a hydraulic mower like this gives us a better cut because it is able to articulate the undulations on the green much better than a walk mower. Also, given its hydraulic nature, it spins faster than a belt driven walk mower. The triplex is always the first cut before the walk mowers. It takes the dew off the green, picks up any small debris missed by the blowers and stands the turf up to be cut again with the walk mowers. I estimate this adds 6" to 12" daily to our stimpmeter readings and well worth the time invested. Rolling greens with lightweight rollers adds another 6-8" to the daily green speed.
The weather conditions continue to be a challenge and the staff is doing everything we can to keep up. This is no easy task given the high skies and breeze that comes with it each day. We are doing everything possible to keep the golf course firm and fast. However, please keep in mind that we are not outfitted with an irrigation system that allows us to put water where it's needed. Most holes are equipped with a single row of sprinkler heads that don't irrigate the rough and over-irrigate the fairway. In order to get the proper amount of water to the rough, the fairway would be flooded. On the flip side, if we irrigated the fairway to the proper moisture level, the roughs would be dead. This leaves us with one option and that is to drag hoses. It's inefficient and expensive, but it works. As I said before, if it wasn't for our commitment to chasing "hot spots," the golf course would be extremely brown right now- to the point most would find it unacceptable. I don't say this trying to promote or plug for a new irrigation system, I say this because it is reality of what we face and we will do what we need to do. Given this is Highlands, we know rain is around the corner at some point. It is our goal to simply take it a day at a time and do what we can. It is physically exhaustive work dragging a 100', 1" hose around all day and the crew is doing a fantastic job staying positive through it all.