Mowing is the single most important maintenance procedure that is conducted on amenity turf. With this in mind, it follows that mowers should be kept in good order. A well-serviced mower will have a longer, more effective life and a mower with a sharpcutting unit will produce healthier turf. 'Cleanness of cut' can have a dramatic effect on turf health. Turf cut with a blunt mower will have reduced resistance to stresses such as drought, cold, heat, wear from play and turfgrass disease. The visual quality of the turf will also suffer -for example, badly cut turf often displays a white sheen. On close inspection this can be seen to be the result of 'ripped' or 'ragged' leaf blades, rather than being cut cleanly the leaf blade has been 'ripped' as grass becomes caught between the reel (cylinder) and bedknife (bottom blade). When the cutting unit is not sharp, the leaf blades are pulled and torn rather than simply being cut on contact. This can be compared to the finished edge on a piece of paper thathas been ripped by hand rather than cut with a pair of sharp scissors. Playing quality such as ball roll and bounce can also deteriorate as the health of the turf suffers. However, a mower with a sharp cutting unit will cut the leaf blades 'cleanly', the turf will look good, be more resistant to the stresses that are imposed on it and maintain good playing quality.
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