Bermudagrass – Cutting Like a Golf-course

Q: I cut my ‘Tifway’ bermudagrass lawn with a reel mower at one-half inch high. I was at The Masters this year and I know they cut the fairways at three-eighths inch. They are perfectly green and beautiful, but when I cut my grass the tips look dull and the grass doesn’t look as green. Am I doing something wrong?

A: You have to do two things. First, keep the reels on your mower sharpened and adjusted so closely that you can slice a sheet of paper between the bed and the knife. Secondly, you must mow every day or every other day.

Sharp blades assure that the cut grass leaves stay green. Mowing very frequently makes the grass creep along the soil surface, yielding a dense green layer of foliage. The Masters, of course, has dozens of greenskeepers to do the labor. Are you sure you want your lawn to be so perfect? In my opinion, you could raise your cutting height to one inch, mow when it reaches an one and one-half inches, keep your blades sharp and only have to cut every week.