Reel mowers explained: how they cut and why greens use them

If you have ever wondered why a golf green looks and plays so differently from an ordinary lawn, the answer starts with the mower. Greens are cut with a reel mower, and a reel cuts in a fundamentally different way to the rotary machine most people picture when they think of mowing. That difference is the whole reason fine turf can be presented at the height and quality golfers expect, and it is worth understanding if you are responsible for any surface that needs a genuinely fine cut.

Parkland has supplied turf and golf equipment to New Zealand courses since 1988. If you would rather talk it through, call the team on 0800 807 333.

How a reel mower cuts

Instead of a single blade spinning flat and slicing the grass like a rotary, a reel mower has a cylinder of curved blades turning against a fixed bedknife. Grass is trapped between the two and sheared cleanly, exactly like a pair of scissors. That clean shear is everything. A cleanly cut leaf heals faster, browns less at the tip, and can be maintained at very low heights without tearing, which is why a reel can present turf down in the range of a few millimetres where a rotary would butcher it.

On a machine like the Toro Greensmaster eTriFlex, the reels are around 12.7 cm in diameter and hold a bench cutting height as low as roughly 1.6 mm, and can carry 8, 11 or 14 blades depending on how fine a cut you want. That is a level of precision a rotary is simply not built for, and it is covered further in our guide on reel vs rotary mowers.

Why greens and tees are cut with reels

Greens and tees are cut lower and to a higher standard than anywhere else on the course, and a reel is the only tool that can deliver that. The precise, clean cut at very low heights gives a smooth, true, healthy surface that plays and presents the way golfers expect, and the clean shear keeps the plant healthy enough to take that low cut day after day.

A rotary at the same height would tear and stress the turf into a brown, uneven mess within a week. This is not a matter of preference or tradition, it is simply what fine turf demands, which is why every serious course cuts its greens and tees with reels.

Cutting height and green speed

Cutting height is the lever most directly tied to green speed, and reels are what make fine control of it possible. Lower generally means faster, but there is a limit, because cut too low and you stress the plant and invite the very problems that ruin a green. The smart approach that most good courses now take is to hold a slightly more generous height for plant health and recover the pace with regular rolling rather than chasing speed with the mower alone. What matters most for fair play is consistency: the same height, green to green, day to day, so the pace is predictable. A reel mower, well set and sharp, is what makes that consistency achievable.

Parkland supplies the Toro Greensmaster range, from the walk-behind Greensmaster eFlex 1021 to the ride-on Greensmaster eTriFlex 3360, plus Reelmaster fairway mowers. See them on our greens and fairway mowers page, and read how to choose a reel mower when you are buying. Or call the team on 0800 807 333.