One of the many components that dictate the speed of greens is the height of cut.  So, it would only be logical to assume that the height of the fairway would also impact ball roll.  The fairways at Stockton Golf and Country Club have been trimmed to 5/8 inch as long as I've been there.  I've attempted to lower the height of cut to a 1/2 inch two times, but both were short lived.  The membership prefers a lie that allows them to "get under the ball" and 1/2 inch cut is a little too tight.

By cutting the fairways an extra 1/8 inch taller, I would think that we are sacrificing some distance.  To put that to a test, I enlisted our PGA Professional Teaching Pro and member, Rod Souza and our LPGA Golf Professional, Kelley Spooner to give us some numbers.  We went out to the 16th fairway which was cut at our standard height of 5/8 and measured roll distance for drives landing and finishing within the fairway.

		5/8 inch cut
Drive	Rod		Kelley
1	72		89
2	44		70
3	55		66
4			60
average	57		71.25

So far, this is already a decent amount of roll on a completely flat fairway (most of them are). Rod hits a higher ball with a bit more spin.  His drive that concluded with 72 feet of roll was one exception.  Kelley's drives were all nearly identical in distance and trajectory and she averaged 71.25 feet of roll after landing.  The fairway was not bone dry and not soaking wet.  It had, what I would consider "normal" moisture.  

Later that day, Mario used our John Deere 2500 Triplex to mow the fairway down to .5 inches.  In my opinion, this looks so much better than the turf cut just an 1/8 inch taller.



 I will be putting some signs up near the tee and in the locker rooms to inform the membership of this change.  I hope to get some feedback to determine the future height of cut.  It may look intimidating at first, like the ball is too close to the ground, but the additional roll will result in fewer shots to reach the green.

In the next few days, Rod and Kelley will be back on the 16th tee to give us the second half of the data.  I hope you get a chance to conduct your own test and see if you are hitting your drive a little further, lining up your approach shot a little closer, and maybe even putting for a stroke less than before.