Fraise Mowing/Planing Fairways Cancel The title field is required!

1. Joshua Sawyer

   

   0 posts
   
   11/18/2016 6:11 AM

   We are looking to 'fine shape' bermudagrass fairways to smooth out the playing surface to existing contours. 40 year old course with two irrigation systems, small potholes, generally poor grade. Instead of stripping the turf and light dozing the surface and resprigging, I am researching fraise mowing or planing the surface. Seems like we may have an opportunity to decrease grow-in time, relocate sprigs, generally do it faster than traditional methods, but is this going to give me the results we are after? Anyone have experience with this kind of a project? Thanks.

   
   
   
   
2. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   11/18/2016 7:11 AM

   We fraze mowed our driving range tee this past summer to meet pretty much the same goals as you. Our tee was not very smooth due to many years of topdressing divots. We had lots of peaks and valleys across the entire tee. We fraze mowed at -.8" and this really did a great job at smoothing the surface. We followed the fraze mowing with a 20-0-10 with Ronstar the next day and a 15-0-15 about two week later. We reopened the tee at 28 days.
   
   Originally this project was going to have a contractor strip the tee, laser level it, then sod it back. The quote was around $22,000 for this half acre. We fraze mowed it for $4,000.
   
   If you are attending the GIS this year, they are offering a short session on fraze mowing that is free to attendees. A few university researchers plus myself and another Superintendent will be sharing our ideas and experiences. The session is on Tuesday from 3:30 - 5:00.
   
   http://www.golfindustryshow.com/gcsaa-education-conference/sessions/2017/turf-solutions-ii-fraze-mowing

   
   
   
   
3. Michael Hummel

   

   0 posts
   
   11/21/2016 11:11 AM

   Fraise mowing has been used for years in the professional soccer field maintenance as well as grass tennis courts.. It works! The amount of debris that you pull off depends a lot on the depth you cut downward. I has seen bigger machines that go deep however a tremendous amount of debris is harvested so you will need to have a game plan to remove.. Healing time varies again on depth of cut.

   
   
   
   
4. James Schmid

   

   1 posts
   
   11/21/2016 5:11 PM

   Andy Jorgensen said: We fraze mowed our driving range tee this past summer to meet pretty much the same goals as you. Our tee was not very smooth due to many years of topdressing divots. We had lots of peaks and valleys across the entire tee. We fraze mowed at -.8" and this really did a great job at smoothing the surface. We followed the fraze mowing with a 20-0-10 with Ronstar the next day and a 15-0-15 about two week later. We reopened the tee at 28 days.
   
   Originally this project was going to have a contractor strip the tee, laser level it, then sod it back. The quote was around $22,000 for this half acre. We fraze mowed it for $4,000.
   
   If you are attending the GIS this year, they are offering a short session on fraze mowing that is free to attendees. A few university researchers plus myself and another Superintendent will be sharing our ideas and experiences. The session is on Tuesday from 3:30 - 5:00.
   
   http://www.golfindustryshow.com/gcsaa-education-conference/sessions/2017/turf-solutions-ii-fraze-mowing

   
   
   We did the same on our driving range tee as well last summer. We did not go as deep as Andy, but we also added deep tine aerification, and a 5 ton roller to the process. I was surprised by how well it worked out. We are looking at doing it to all of the tees on the golf course this year

   
   
   
   
5. Joshua Sawyer

   

   0 posts
   
   11/22/2016 12:11 PM

   I am looking at alternatives to fine shaping a fairway with a dozer...we would also have opportunity to use the material removed to sprig banks of the holes. Do those of you with experience think it is viable to be looking at this as a way to remove unwanted dips, irrigation lines, etc., knowing that there may be some backfilling or grading in really bad areas? Also, if we are at the 2" or more depth (potentially multiple passes), will there be enough soil in the removed material to use to level any deeper undulations (with sprigs already mixed in the soil)? I think I am going to try this method on a par 3 next season, if I can get away with it.

   
   
   
   
6. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   11/22/2016 3:11 PM

   Joshua Sawyer said: I am looking at alternatives to fine shaping a fairway with a dozer...we would also have opportunity to use the material removed to sprig banks of the holes. Do those of you with experience think it is viable to be looking at this as a way to remove unwanted dips, irrigation lines, etc., knowing that there may be some backfilling or grading in really bad areas? Also, if we are at the 2" or more depth (potentially multiple passes), will there be enough soil in the removed material to use to level any deeper undulations (with sprigs already mixed in the soil)? I think I am going to try this method on a par 3 next season, if I can get away with it.

   
   
   You'd be surprised how much it can level even at just 1". Any deeper and I'd be worried about having to resprig areas.
   
   My concern with putting the sprigs back down would be 1) how consistent can you reapply them and 2) how well can you keep them alive during the process.
   
   You may want to consider fraise mowing at 1" or so, then topdressing and dragging in any "potholes" that remain.
   
   The main question is how what is the depth difference between your high and low spots?