Step Cut... Cancel The title field is required!

1. Shannon Slevin

   

   0 posts
   
   1/6/2014 6:01 AM

   I am doing a bit of research for the green committee on the amount of Clubs maintaining an intermediate/step/courtesy cut. I am in favor of eliminating the 3' band of 1" cut around the fairways for a more defined line between the fairway and rough. Last season we maintained a 1 3/4" rough swath around the fairways 7' wide then transitioned to the 2.5" outer rough. It seemed to keep the majority of the membership happy and provided the fairway definition we were looking for.
   
   Shannon Slevin
   GCS, Shorehaven GC

   
   
   
   
2. Canedo Alberto J

   
   1/6/2014 7:01 AM

   We have no intermediate cut. 3/4" HOC on fairways during growing season with 11/2" rough HOC. Winter/Fall 1" HOC on non overseeded fairways and 11/2" HOC on non overseeded rough. No fairway cart paths and golf course is all sand based.

   
   
   
   
3. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   1/6/2014 8:01 AM

   We don't have one here, bermuda fairways and fescue roughs (for the most part). We mow fairways at 3/4 and roughs at 2.5". We do get occasional complaints in the spring when the fescue is growing and thick, the ball will just roll off the fairway. But we do not enough complaints to change, along with the money to purchase another mower to do it.
   
   Course I was at before, a small college course, we would get complaints about the thick rough just off the fairways and little margin for error. When we bought a new tee and green bank mower (along with athletic fields), and mowed at 1.5", roughs were mowed at 2.5", and fairways at 5/8 to 9/16, we took the old bank mower and lowered to 1" for an intermediate cut along with a walking path from tee to fairway. We got a lot of compliments on that.
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
4. Clay Putnam

   

   33 posts
   
   1/6/2014 8:01 AM

   I believe the use of a step cut, or not, depends on the HOC of your fairways, the width of your fairways, and HOC of the rough. A low fairway HOC, high rough HOC, and a narrow fairway is a perfect candidate for a step cut. Conversely, a wide fairway with low rough HOC is not a good candidate for a step cut. IMO...

   
   
   
   
5. Craig Moore

   

   0 posts
   
   1/6/2014 8:01 AM

   Step cuts are a waste of time and money.
   Enough said

   
   
   
   
6. Corey Eastwood

   

   80 posts
   
   1/6/2014 12:01 PM

   Craig Moore said: Step cuts are a waste of time and money.
   Enough said

   
   
   Golfers love a Step Cut. Happy golfers is job security.

   
   Corey Eastwood CGCS, Stockton Golf & CC, Retired
   
   
7. Jon Ferrucio

   

   6 posts
   
   1/8/2014 8:01 AM

   Shannon,
   
   We had a step cut until the end of 2010. We made the decision to remove it due to the fact that we had to reduce the number of employees. When we had enough labor in the past we would be able to send the step cut mower out the door first thing in the morning on our mow days (m,w,f) and it was a 2 hour task. After reducing staff it became a job that would get started after greens were mowed. This put the step cut mower right into the middle of play which in turn became a 3-3.5 hour task due to having to constantly get out of the way and let play through.
   
   That being said we still have a few older members (less than a dozen) that comment on wanting the step cut back. We decided to lower our primary roughs down a 1/4" to 2.25 in. which has reduced the amount of complaints. We also had Adam Moeller from the USGA address the issue to our board and he knocked it out of the park explaining that the first cut is completely unnecessary at a club like this. Besides the obvious savings in labor, we were also able to justify removing it by the annual fuel savings ($2,000+) and chemical costs ($8,000) as we sprayed the step cut when we sprayed fairways.
   
   Jon Ferrucio
   Mahopac Golf Club
   Mahopac,NY