How To Make Your Lawn Look Like a Golf Course

But how do you earn that dad joke? It’ll take some time and effort, but it’s very doable. 

There are four main factors that go into giving your lawn that lush, golf-course look. 

1. Mow your lawn properly.

Often, people take shortcuts when it comes to mowing their lawn.

Maybe you cut it shorter than you should to buy a few extra days time before you have to cut it again. But when the grass blades are too short, they can’t catch enough sun to stay green, and you can find yourself with more weeds.

Maybe you follow the same mowing pattern every time, which prevents the grass from growing straight up. Or maybe you don’t bother sharpening your mower blades, which can cause jagged edges in your grass and can let disease creep in. 

Our mowing best practices:

• Set your mower blades to 3.5 to 4.5 inches for the ideal mower height.
• Use a different pattern each time you mow to keep the grass blades straight.
• Sharpen your mower blades every 20 to 25 hours of use for a healthier lawn. 

2. Apply the right fertilizer (at the right times).

Many people don’t give fertilizing enough thought and it winds up harming their lawn more than helping it. They may fertilize too often, not enough or at the wrong times. Or they may use too much, which can hinder root growth and burn the lawn.

Our fertilizing best practices:

• Fertilize four to six times a year, ideally in early spring, late spring, late summer and the fall, before it snows — and use a spreader to make sure it’s evenly distributed.
• Find the right fertilizer for your lawn. We recommend testing your soil with a kit. The results will tell you which N-P-K fertilizer levels are right for your lawn. N-P-K stands for the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium levels, and they’re the numbers you’ll see on any bag of fertilizer. We’re happy to test your soil for you if we work on your property.

3. Use the right amount of water (and consider irrigation).

One of the biggest lawn care mistakes people make is over-watering. Even grass can drown, and with drowned grass roots, you can wind up with weeds. Luckily, this is one of the simplest lawn care problem to fix. 

Our watering best practices:

• If you’re watering manually, water just once a week for 90 to 120 minutes. When your roots have a good, deep soak once a week, they grow longer and your grass becomes more durable.
• Consider installing an irrigation system, which can reduce your costs in the long run and can be better for the environment because it uses just the right amount of water and spreads it evenly. Smart irrigation systems can even monitor the weather or moisture level of your soil. 

4. Stop the weeds dead in their tracks.

You don’t want weeds on your lawn. They can rob your lawn of nutrients and sunlight, contribute to insect infestation and they’re just plain ugly! We’ve already seen that overwatering and cutting your grass too short can contribute to weed growth. 

Our weed control best practices:

• Prevent weeds through proper mowing, watering, fertilizing and overseeding. It’s best to use your hands or a tool to pull any weeds you find and use herbicides as a last resort.
• If you do use herbicides, make sure it’s a selective herbicide that will only kill weeds, rather than any plant it comes into contact with. Of course, we’re happy to help you with any weed issues you have. 

Don’t want to do it yourself? Leave it to the professionals.

The above tips are sure to help you grow a lawn that looks like a golf course green. Keep in mind that these are just the basics. More advanced tactics like overseeding, aeration and dethatching are also important — but we’ll cover those in another blog post.

As always, the team at Brandon Rushing is happy to help. See our lawn care programs or get a free quote with our online pricing tool.