I guess it does look like a Y, but we always called them "K-turns"! I suspect nearly every ZT driver learns this their first time at the controls... except the stupid ones.
ZT's still tear up a little grass when going around sweeping turns, such as curved gardens or driveways, you'll always have tear-out and thinning where the inner rear wheel travels. Altering your tire track (eg. leaving a foot unmowed every second time) is one way to battle that, along with the soil depression that always occurs in these areas if you follow the same tire track every time. That only affects perimeter.
Most do 1 or 2 perimeter passes before striping the field. Have at least 2, preferably more, different directions used for your striping. I alternate my mowings, E-W, then N-S, then NE-SW, then NW-SE, for four different patterns before I have to repeat. It really helps to avoid creating consistent soil depressions, and moves the small amount of tear-out that happens even when doing fast K-turns on anything but the dryest soil.
