Golf course tractors and mowing

ASEguy · Jun 20, 2013

I have been helping with the mowing at a local golf course and can tell you I have a whole new respect for people that mow on steep slopes. I have been using a John Deere HST in 4x4 with the fattest rear tires I have ever seen. I swore it felt like it was going to tip, but they said it would slide first. Slid it did for more feet than I like. They "control slide" down some slopes and just said "You'll get used to it." Their other mower is a Toro 4500D in 4x4 and is a beast. It's a five gang mower that I think would stick to an 89 degree slope. When I dream about mowers at night, the Toro is the one. They told me the Toro was a $65,000 mower. I believe them and probably should pay them to cut with it. They also have greens mowers that are reel mowers. They run the blades backwards and use a lapping compound to sharpen them until they will slice off regular paper folded once, and then they set the cutting depth with a dial indicator. Interesting couple of weeks. Be careful. Gerard

Anonymous-0 · Jun 20, 2013

very interesting - thanks for sharing

El Toro · Jun 20, 2013

I had two reel mowers for mowing my lawn back in the early 1960's. I used a strip of newspaper when setting the reel clearance. Our daughter would run one of the mowers. Most of my neighbors had riding rotary mowers and had to walk along the side of the mower when the ground was very wet. We mowed even if was wet. I was working 7 days a week too. My brother bought a rotary mower in 1955 shortly after his discharge from the Air Force. Hal

Chip812 · Jun 20, 2013

Green's crew at a golf course was my first job. Those were the days. $2.30/hour (minimum wage at the time).

wisbaker · Jun 20, 2013

Put my self through College taking care of a golf course's equipment. I was backlapping mowers and using a dial indicator to set height 30 years ago. If you get reel mowers real sharp they'll cut paper but the reel won't touch the knife. Most of the time I had to settle for a gentle brush between the reel and knife. The thickness of the bead knife was my limiting factor on how low we could cut. By the first day of summer the bed knifes were usually worn thin enough we could go below 1/8"

Anonymous-0 · Jun 21, 2013

My dad sold commercial turf equipment for 40 years, was on the board of directors and taught reel sharpening for the turfgrass program at Fairview college. Many golf courses would only let him sharpen their reels. It's a lot easier now with automatic spin grinders but to set the bedknife to the reel, a strip of newspaper should cut like the most expensive scissors you could ever buy across the whole length of the reel.

Golf course machines are a specialty and the price reflects it. A better golf course needs well over a million dollars in equipment to be properly equipped. I think a riding greens mower starts at about $25,000! Walk behinds can cost around $4000!

Golf course tractors and mowing

ASEguy

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Anonymous-0

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El Toro

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Chip812

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wisbaker

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Anonymous-0

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