Mowing

Have you ever really stopped to think about the mowing process at Lake Valley? You know, at home you mow your lawn maybe once a week, twice in the early spring growing season. At LVCC (and any golf course) mowing is constant. Weather permitting, something is mowed every day. Here's a breakdown of our typical in-season mowing procedures:

GREENS: Mowed DAILY at a height of .125". It takes two men using two mowers about 1.5 to 2.5 hours to mow all 19 greens. The mow direction is changed daily (front-to-back, side-to-side, 45-degree, etc).

FAIRWAYS: Mowed 2 to 3 times per week at .75" (3/4") height. We mow approximately 30 acres of fairway. It takes 8-12 hours to mow, depending on the striping pattern used and the amount of interruptions (play).

TEES, COLLARS, and APPROACHES: Tee boxes, collars and approaches are cut 2 to 3 times per week at a height of .650". It takes 1 mower around 4 hours with an additional worker helping with pulling and resetting the tee blocks.

GREEN SURROUNDS / TEE STRIPES: The greens surrounds are cut 3 times per week at a height of 2.25". It takes 2 mowers about 5 hours to cut approximately 15 acres of turf. Areas from tee to fairway at least 2 times per week. These areas take 2 mowers around 12 hours to mow approximately 20 acres of turf.

ROUGH: The rough is mowed is cut 2 times per week at 2.5" and it takes one man around 20 hours to mow the 50 acres of turf.

As you can see, mowing on a golf course is kind of like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. By the time you finish one round its time to go back and start again.