{"id":1254,"date":"2026-07-03T13:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westhillsfredericton.ca\/golf\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2026-07-03T13:03:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:03:57","slug":"july-2-2026-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westhillsfredericton.ca\/golf\/blog\/2026\/07\/03\/july-2-2026-update\/","title":{"rendered":"July 2, 2026 update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Green Speed, Moss, Brushing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hey Folks,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope all is well. Its now July and what a month June has been. We’ve be extremely busy mending the golf course from the awful winter we’ve had and for the most part, have returned it to its former glory. Obviously there are some areas that need work, 3 and 13 green are still struggling, but we have switched from recovery mode to grooming mode. One of the challenges in that process is to not damage the areas still in recovery while promoting playability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key to increased speed and playability is stressing the turf in controlled manner, creating a balance of survival and playing surface. By the way this discussion could be 20 pages long so for the sake of simplicity Ill just give the Coles notes. Some of the practices that affect green speed are height of cut, level of fertility, rolling, moisture management, and canopy management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these things are not great for promoting growth, in fact the opposite. The essence is to reduce golf ball to turf friction. Reducing height of cut reduces surface interaction, reducing moisture and fertility reduces the thickness of the plants and therefore friction, reducing grain reduces drag on the ball, and rolling smooths out the surface. These are just some of the factors, but probably the largest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first cut of the season for the greens was at .180 thousands of an inch. Our current height of cut is .110 of an inch. That is 70 thousands of an inch difference, or 1.7 mm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This is an Accu-gauge, the device by which the mower height is set. With out too much detail the plunger by my finger is hooked onto the bed knife and measures the distance from the cutter to the ground. This is the height of cut, or HOC. This is the height we started at in May.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
This is our current height, roughly 2mm difference.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I posted these pictures because I often get asked when we are going to “shave the greens down”. While the HOC is probably the largest contribution to the speed, there are bunch of other factors that are adjusted to fine tune the turf. I don’t want to overwhelm this post with detail, but if you have questions, I am always available to talk about our processes. Here are some of the other factors in bullet point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Fertility – More fertilizer = fatter plant = more friction = slower roll. During the summer we back off on fertility to increase speed, but in trying to grow back the damaged areas we have increased fertility. This will peter out, and speeds will increase.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Canopy Grooming – horizontal leaves, thicker stands of grass = more contact with ball = slower green speed. Grooming practices like brushing and verticutting train the turf to stand up and create less friction. This also pulls out seedlings and young plants, you have to wait till the plants are rooted and old enough to withstand it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Moisture management – less moisture in the plant and surface of green = less friction on ball = faster roll. During events like NB Amateur, PGA qualifier, Club Championship, Invitationals and Non social golf tournaments we minimize moisture levels the greens. This is usually referred to as Drying down, or letting the moisture trickle down through the soil. Obviously not great for seedlings or cultivating recovery, so we had to wait to reduce moisture levels, unless they we provided by mother nature.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Rolling – Rolling smooths the surface but can crush delicate seedling, especially if there is sand on the surface.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Growth regulators – less growth = less friction on ball = faster greens. PGR’s are very common on golf courses right now, these chemicals are designed to slow the growth of plants to reduce the volume of plant material on the green. Clearly not to be used during the recovery process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    As of mid June most of the greens had recovered to the point where we could begin the above practices. Some green like 3 and 13 are still thin but we continue to over seed and push those areas till they are filled in. Again, this is a very generalized explanation to a complicated program, if you have more questions then by all means let me know!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After the NB Amateur ended we began aggressively brushing the green to reduce the Plants that had laid over during the recovery. Here are the photos from the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Here what the turf looked like prior to brushing. You can see the that the plants have elongated and traveled along the surface, we purposely don’t correct this so that the older plants provide shelter for the younger seedlings. The canopy helps to provide shelter from direct sunlight and evaporation. Great for seeding growth, terrible for putting. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    In this photo I’ve pulled back some of the elongated plants and you can see the smaller newer plant underneath. Center of the photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Same elongation, but after the brush has been through.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Post brush, pre cut.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Post brush, post cut. Still lots of work to do but getting better.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    This is not a one shot correction. It will take several cuts and brushes to tune the turf. When brushing and cutting these areas, the removed plant material can create voids, which we will top dress to fill in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Finally, the last item we going to talk about is the the moss on some of the greens. This photo is from one green. Moss is a very commonly seen problem on closely mown turf. This not a disease, its the infiltration of a plants in voids left from poor winters, unfixed or poorly fixed ball marks, and injured bent grass. Again, this is not a disease. We will be applying a herbicide on Tuesday to the greens to start the removal of the moss. The product is called Quicksilver and will immediately blacken the moss, so expect to see some black spots on the greens following the application. We have also begun the process of spot over seeding these areas to fill the voids left form the dead moss. The spring the best time for these applications, but we have held off on spaying this product, due to the large number of seedlings on the greens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thanks and stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Green Speed, Moss, Brushing Hey Folks, Hope all is well. Its now July and what a month June has been. We’ve be extremely busy mending the golf course from the awful winter we’ve had and for the most part, have returned it to its former glory. Obviously there are some areas that need work, 3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJuly 2, 2026 update | West Hills Golf | Fredericton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Beautifully crafted through the lush landscape of Fredericton's northside, West Hills is the newest 18-hole championship golf course in the province. 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