If You Want Your Lawn To Look Like A Golf Course - It’s Gonna Cost Ya

Many homeowners believe that a properly cared for lawn should resemble a golf course.

The grounds on a golf course represent some of the most intensely managed areas of turf around. It is common that a large percentage of the operating budget for a golf course is spent just maintaining the landscape. It is also common for golf courses to utilize irrigation systems and frequent applications of fertilizer and herbicides to maintain the high standards expected. And it takes armies of grounds maintenance personnel routinely using expensive machinery - like core aeration machines to counteract compaction problems and precision cut reel mowers on the greens. I guess what I’m trying to say here is that if you had people and golf carts on your lawn all day, your lawn would also require a lot more special attention in order to look that great.

Since you probably do not have the kind of traffic on your lawn that a golf course has, it should not be necessary for you to expend the kind of resources that a golf course must in order to achieve a very attractive lawn. For example, the type of turf used on most golfing greens is bentgrass, which requires very short mowing to look its best. Although it is rare - at least in the Midwest - to find bentgrass as the turf of choice for the homeowner, it is not uncommon to find a homeowner trying to achieve a similar look by mowing their lawn entirely too short for the type of grass they’re growing.

If a homeowner maintains the height of their lawn between 3 and 4 inches, they are apt to find that watering once a week is all that their lawn needs. This weekly watering might even be supplied by rain. Another benefit to mowing your lawn high is a reduction in the amount of broadleaf weeds that can get a start in your lawn. Broadleaf weeds that start out in the shadow of taller blades of grass will often die from inadequate sunlight. It is also important to realize that turf mowed higher will have a lot more green leaves and thus be able to make a lot more of its own food through photosynthesis.

If you mow your lawn at a height of 3 to 4 inches it will require less water, less fertilizer, and less weed killers. It will better tolerate foot traffic. Simply put, your lawn will not only look better but it will be healthier.

NEXT TIME: Sod vs. Seed