Measuring greens performance - evening test

My last post was what we look for when the greens are initially maintained, ie first thing in the morning when cutting and rolling is carried out. Another crucial point when thinking about how the greens are performing is the longevity of quality throughout the day. I have been away over the weekend and in that period the temperatures both day and night have improved significantly so I was keen to see the change in the greens. Grass is starting to grow faster than it has previously, so I took the opportunity to measure growth, smoothness and speed at the end of the day. I took these measurements at 8.45pm, over 12 hours after the greens were initially cut. Where the mixture of grasses on the greens were predominately bent they were smoother and had grown slightly more. These pictures are from the practice green.

 The green has grown around one millimetre, this showing an approx height of 4.5mm, previous height of 3.5mm.

The green running at 8'5'', again the measurement in the morning was 9'4'' after a single cut.
On the course where the mixture of grasses favour a higher percentage of poa they looked more uneven as the bents have grown more throughout the day and the poa had hardly grown at all, creating a spotted effect. This is common at the start of the year in mixed species greens as poa needs higher constant soil temperatures to grow. With the weather not been on our side it has made this effect slightly worse. This week when we get all staff back on to the course we will be concentrating on greens smoothness, grooming, brushing, cutting and rolling daily. These pictures are from the 4th green.

Again approx stimp reading of 9'4'' in the morning, this measurement taken in two directions, first reading 8'8'', second reading 9'1'', making an average stimp reading of around 8'10''. This means in terms of pace they have only lost around 6'' of speed throughout the day, however in terms of smoothness they have grown unevenly, causing some untrue rolls. The work we are doing and the rising soil temperatures should help them become more even, however more growth could mean a greater loss of pace by the end of the day.