16/02/2026
Lake Claremont Super Work: Vertimowing the Greens
On a cooler morning, you might come across the Golf Oracle groundskeeping team, which was hard at work at Lake Claremont Golf Course, taking advantage of the milder weather to vertimow the greens.
Vertimowing is a key golf course maintenance practice that employs specialised equipment fitted with thin, vertically oriented blades. These blades make shallow cuts into the turf canopy and soil surface, typically penetrating 8-12 mm deep. By slicing through the grass vertically, the process lifts and removes excess thatch—the layer of dead grass, roots, and organic debris that accumulates between the soil and the living grass blades—while thinning out the turf canopy. Unlike the more invasive methods of coring or aeration, verticutting offers a gentler approach with minimal disruption.
Our new Superintendent, Sam Cutri, shared his insights: "Our vision here at Lake Claremont and at our other course, The Springs Club in Armadale, is to deliver the highest standards of a private golf course to a public facility. A huge part of that mission is maintaining the greens' playability and sustainability. This can be an ongoing battle against the weather, wildlife, and normal wear and tear from play, which is why we try to vertimow as frequently as we can."
As a milder ventilation technique compared to spiking or coring, vertimowing emphasises surface-level grooming. It's typically conducted monthly during the growing season, tailored to the grass type and local conditions, keeping the greens in peak form with little to no major downtime.
At Lake Claremont, we have a paspalum couch variety called Saltene, which is drought, salt, and disease-tolerant but also very hard and aggressive, hence we need to do the vertimowing regularly.
Depending on the weather, recovery usually takes 4 to 7 days, ensuring the course is back to its best in no time.
We perform vertimowing to ensure healthy, high-quality putting greens through several key benefits:
Controlling thatch buildup: Excess thatch creates spongy, uneven surfaces and hinders drainage. Vertimowing removes it, allowing better pe*******on of air, water, and nutrients to the roots.
Managing disease burden: Thatch can harbour fungi, bacteria, and pests while restricting air flow, drainage, and nutrient absorption—conditions that worsen diseases like anthracnose, dollar spot, or basal rot. By thinning the canopy and clearing organic debris, vertimowing improves oxygen exchange, fosters denser root systems, and enhances the effectiveness of fungicides or preventive treatments, resulting in healthier, more resilient turf with reduced disease pressure.
Promoting upright growth and density: The process severs lateral stolons (horizontal stems), encouraging vertical growth for a denser, more robust turf.
Improving surface smoothness and playability: It minimises puffiness, grain, and inconsistencies, leading to truer ball rolls and superior mowing results.
