People make mistakes. Some, less than others. Here are five common mistakes I see in Malaysia. These are not the commonest, most popular, or whatever. They're just the five that can be seen (and rectified or understood) by golfers and club managers alike.

1. The Five Mistakes on Greens
By: Normas Yakin Arifin
www.mynormas.com

2. Who am I?
• Glenmarie Golf & Country Club 1993 – 1996
• Glenmarie Golf & Country Club 1997 – 2000
• Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort 2000 – 2003
• Kota Permai Golf & Country Club 2003 – 2007
• Glenmarie Golf & Country Club 2007 – 2009
• Mines Resort & Golf Club 2009 – 2010
• On my own as consultant
www.mynormas.com
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4. The Five
1. Cutting height too low
2. Not doing regular soil test
3. Not maintaining the same grass
4. Compaction
5. Bad Mowing
• Common, noticeable to management/golfers
• Not too technical
• Routine

5. Cutting Height
• Why not?
– Photosynthesis
– The Rule of One-Third
–Minimum cutting height of grass differs

6. Photosynthesis?
Where?
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7. So much leaves
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8. Photosynthesis
• Fertiliser is not the food
• Plants make food in leaves
Sunlight
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9. Rule of One-Third
• Cut down too much
• Desperate for speed
• Or skipped mowing.
• Solve anything?
• Make grass grow: then
we cut the growth
drastically.
• Create more problems
• Raise the height!
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10. Remember…
“A slow green
is better
than a fast brown”
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11. Different strokes for different folks
• Different grasses
– Different tolerances
– Different reactions.
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12. Different strokes for different folks
• Different tolerances
• Different reactions.
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13. Different strokes for different folks
• Different tolerances
• Different reactions.
Tifdwarfs from greens on one course
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14. Different strokes for different folks
• Different Grasses
– Different tolerances
– Different reactions.
• Same grasses different places
– Different tolerances
– Different reactions.
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15. Same grasses different places
Shade will cause different growth habits,
• Grass grow longer under shade
• We cannot cut both at the same height
• But sometimes they’re on different sides of the same
green!
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16. Same grasses different places
• Grasses under stress are more fragile
• If we cut at the same height as grass not
under the same stress; the grass will suffer.
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17. So: remember two things…
Cutting height is not greenspeed.
“A slow green
is better
than a fast brown”
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18. 2. Soil test
• Minimum once annually
• Best done twice a year
• To know the current situation
• To see the trend
• To correct imbalances
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19. Nutrient availability
• Nutrient is enough: less fertiliser
• Not enough: more.
• Nutrient is in the soil; not taken up
• Culprit: pH.
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20. Different greens: different pH
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21. Take home point: Remember…
• Soil test should be routine: 1 or 2 times a year
• Soil test saves money
– How much to fertilise
– Direction and the effect
• Soil test saves greens.
– Acid environment (haze, sulfur)
– Salinity (sea water in irrigation lake)
For soil test:
Carron Lee
from SGS
013 351 8046
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22. 3. The same grass
• Most Malaysian clubs’ problem
• Especially with Tifdwarf
• A spontaneous mutation many years ago
• Mutation does not happen overnight
• Brought in : planting, replanting or golfers or
staff.
• Tifdwarf does not have DNA fingerprint.
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23. Tifdwarf
Bought 10 years or more ago Bought last year.
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25. Tifdwarf from same course
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27. Take home point: Please…
• Have your own nursery.
• ONE F**K**G nursery. It can even be your
practice green or green 7 OR 17 (Not “and”)
• All of your material for replanting must come
from this source.
• If you have to buy (sod?) bring a sample from
your club and compare.
If same: send your people during harvesting.
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28. 3. Compaction
• Soil particles pressed together
• Air and water cannot go in.
• Microbes dead.
• Water stagnant; algae.
• Roots die
• No air = anaerobic : hydrogen sulphide
• Black layer.
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30. Effects of compaction
• Disease
• Algae
• Root rot
• Stressed management.
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31. 3 years
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33. Two types of compaction
• One is surface
• One is pan compaction: caused by…
• Regular Hollow or worse; solid tining.
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34. Pan Compaction
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35. Relieving Compaction
• Aerate
– Hollow or solid
• Spike or Slice (for surface)
• Every few years, do deeper (for pan)
– Use verti-drain, drill, or bigger machine.
• Roll judiciously.
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36. Benefits
outweigh
problems
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37. 5. Bad Mowing
• Quite Common
• Most of all, is unsharpened or badly
sharpened blade.
• Secondly, badly adjusted height
• Then; poor operation.
• Last: machinery.
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38. Bad cut
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39. The knife bites
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40. As it should be
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41. Bad adjustment: mismatch
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42. Mower problems:
Rippling / washboard
Washboarding
Rippling
When the speed of the
mower traveling differs
from the speed of the reel
spinning.

43. Take home points: Mowing
• Sharpen blade properly.
• Grind!
• Train
• Get a good mechanic
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44. Other problems
• Wrong diagnosis
– Diseases, insects, compaction.
• Slow to react. Also: react instead of act.
– No training
– Attitude
• Bad construction
– Or reconstruction
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45. Amazing of all
• Bad practices
– Preventive spray
• Prevent what? Ants?
– No size measurement
• 2kg/100m2.
• Buy fertiliser rounded up to the tonne.
– no calibration of spreader
• Adjust at every hole?
– No training
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46. The Five most common Green
1. Cutting height too low
2. Not doing regular soil test
3. Not maintaining the same grass
4. Compaction
5. Bad Mowing
6. Other problems…

47. Normas Yakin Arifin
Call 012 511 3353
www.mynormas.com
www.slideshare.net