Back Combing

The use of a mower with comb attachments, a tractor mounted brush, or similar, in combing or brushing a fairway from the green towards the tee; this being in the opposite direction of play. The aim is to off-set and counter the regular flattening of grass in a forward direction of movement from players and also to reduce grain formation from regular mowing patterns from striped or band mowing of fairways. This can be relatively time-consuming as the return trip to the green is carried out with the comb / brush implement raised to ensure 100% of the fairway is combed in one direction only. Where fairways are relatively parallel with each other the opportunity arises to backcomb down an adjacent fairway back to start of another one making efficient use of time.