MLB.com

Turf Designs Tips

Ever wonder how field maintence crews makes those fancy designs and patterns on the field grass? Learn how to make your baseball field look like the pros with tips on turf designs from the Boston Red Sox Director of Grounds David R. Mellor.

By David R. Mellor
Director of Grounds, Boston Red Sox

Safety and playability should be the first priority of all sports turf managers. It takes serious dedication and skill to ensure each playing surface meets the highest standards every day. Once you reach this goal, it is important to continue to offer your participants and the viewing audience the best overall package you can.

There is only one opportunity to grasp the attention of your guest as they see your field when they walk to their seats. The aesthetics of a field play a vital role in making a memorable first impression. Part of a safer sports turf is a vigorous, healthy growing grass strong enough to withstand possible overuse and provide good footing, yet soft and resilient enough to prevent injuries.

A lush, healthy turf is the perfect canvas for creating an artistic image. A beautiful mowing pattern can be the perfect way to express your pride and workmanship. The extra effort you put into your field by mowing a special design will be well worth it. Whether a simple, basic design or a creative, complex design you can use mowing patterns to enhance your overall management program. Always remember to be careful not to harm the grass while doing them. A pattern should not affect how the game is played, only enhance the magic and aura of the facility.

Mowing designs are not as difficult as they seem. The rollers bend the grass blades in the direction you travel. The light and dark lines are created by the light reflecting off the grass. A light colored stripe is made by mowing away from you, a dark stripe by mowing toward you. This will give you the opportunity to explore and learn many simple techniques to produce dazzling mowing designs. Your turf will stand alone as a testament to your commitment to excellence and creativity.

Have a soil test done to determine what your grass needs at each site to become healthier. The healthier your grass, the better your field will play and respond to patterns. Use both Iron (Fe++) and Manganese (Mn) to fine-tune the color of the turf. Both folier and granular applications can be used.

One product is a granular product from Scotts called STEP. It gives a lovely deep green color that helps with the contrasting of stripes. Extra Potassium helps provide both heat and drought tolerance plus durability to handle any possible stress from the patterns. A complete overall sports turf maintenance program of proper fertilization, aeration and irrigation helps a highly used turf to play better, safer and adds to the spectacular appearance of the turf patterns.

Patterns can be created with equipment ranging from reel type mowers, drag mats and sweepers to rotary mowers with rollers. Even a common roller squeegee made for water removal can be used. You can make your own roller to use in the yard by filling a PVC pipe with cement, bolts anchored in the ends, and then attach an old lawn mower handle to it. The weight of the cement in the PVC pipe will add down pressure.

After using your rotary mower you can go back to the roller, increasing the effectiveness of each walking pass over the grass and roll in a beautiful design. Be sure your rotary mower blades are kept razor sharp to ensure a clean cut. Dull blades tear and shred the grass, hurting it and detracting from its beauty.

Agronomically, it is important to change mowing pattern designs to prevent potential problems associated with weak turf and of possible turfgrass disease and improve the turf vigor. This variation will also help ensure a truer ball bounce and roll and prevent a grain or even a ripple that can form in the turf if not changed. This grain/ripple can adversely affect the playability of sports turf by causing the ball to "snake" or zigzag back and forth across the grass, adding to the difficulty of picking up the ball.

This is even more prevalent in warm season grasses but can happen on cool season grasses if you are not careful. The general rule of thumb is to never remove more than 1/3 of the grass blade at a time. This will help keep the grass plant from the shock of being scalped should more of the blade be removed.

Patterns can be used to dress up a healthy turf or even used to hide damaged turf. When a pattern is done well it will add an elegant touch to a well-manicured field but have no effect on the playability of the surface. They can serve as a high impact way to show your professionalism, attention to detail, and that you are willing to go the extra distance to provide a more complete field.

Some patterns are done with different widths of lines -- maybe a double or triple wide line combined with single lines or even thin walk behind lines. To give the pattern extra depth or contrast, disengage the mowing reels and go back over and reroll the lines. Establishing a pattern this way can intensify the contrast of the light and dark green colors and add dimension to an attractive pattern.

The time required to put a pattern on our 100,000 square foot of turf can range from as little as 45 minutes to 3 hours. Certain patterns take longer because of the amount of time involved in being careful with the additional turns that could be necessary for fancy designs.

Developing designs can be a lot of fun. An idea can be sketched out on a computer screen, on paper or even by just a vision in your mind and that you create as you go. Where the patterns are viewed from can affect how well the details are visible. Different angles, logos and numbers can be seen better from above. What works on paper doesn't always work on the turf. Some patterns look better than others and everyone has their preferences.

Each pattern can have its own certain challenges. Correct "banana lines" or mistakes as you go or the problem will only become more noticeable. Some complex patterns can be set up using a tape measure and line strings. Once a pattern is etched in the extra definition will almost make the grass design seem to glow.

I encourage you to try many different designs. The more you create, the more proficient you will become. Always remember, safety first. You don't want to cause any damage when making your works of art.

David Mellor is the Director of Grounds for the Boston Red Sox and author of "Picture Perfect Mowing Techniques for Lawns, Landscapes and Sports," published by Sleeping Bear/Ann Arbor Press. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

More features: