Get Your Roll On!

“How often do you roll?” is a common question I get asked.  There is no set schedule for the frequency in which roll.  The goal is to maintain stimpmeter readings between 10.5 and 12.  Research has shown increased rolling of putting surfaces provides more consistent speed day to day compared to mowing alone.  There are four different mechanical options:

                     - No Mow or Roll – Yellow Square

                     - Mow Only  - Blue Square

                     - Roll Only – Red Square

                     - Mow and Roll – Green Square

 

After the mechanical practice is performed a stimpmeter reading is recorded on a specific green( #3) giving us a daily reading.  That reading helps me decide what practiced will be performed the following morning.  The quantity of clippings collected is also monitored each morning, if the greens are mown, to help determine the following days practice.  The mechanical practice is recorded on a calendar with a coordinating color, at the end of the month, the calendar looks like the one below. 

 

◄ Jun 2015	~ July 2015 ~					Aug 2015 ►
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

 

The frequency of each practice varies month to month because of growing conditions of both cold weather and warm weather.  Greens will be mown less in February v. July as the grass doesn’t grow as much.  Mowing excessively places undo stress on the plant causing it to be susceptible to disease.  During heat waves mowing and rolling are alternated to not place undue stress on the plant.  Providing consistent green speed is a goal, but having healthy putting surfaces is the priority. 

 

	~ February 2015 ~
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28

 

The table below shows the number of  times the four practices have been performed during each month.  (I excluded the January dates because we were closed for nearly 10 days due to cold weather.) 

	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Tot.
N/A	14	12	8	4	4	3	2	47
Mow	6	10	9	9	6	9	8	57
Roll	5	8	9	4	7	10	4	47
M/R	3	1	4	14	13	9	17	61