New Fairway Mowers are Awesome

With careful consideration, we purchased two new fairway mowers this year to replace machines past their useful life.  Fortunately, when looking at machines that were 10 years newer, we were able to take advantage of some really cool upgrades in technology.  Despite the great deal we got on the two used units, whenever someone cheap like me spends $90K, the buyers remorse sets in pretty quickly.  However, now that the grass is growing a little and I have been able to see these things perform, I couldn't be happier.  There is no question that these machines will help us do our job better, more efficiently, and with tangible benefits that the members can see for themselves.

First of all, the new machines use electricity to power the cutting heads instead of hydraulic oil, eliminating many of the dreaded hoses that can leak and kill grass.  Also, improved precision and ease of adjustment make for a better quality of cut and saves time.  New diesel engines, in conjunction with the electric hybrid technology have proven to merely sip fuel relative to our old units.

Along with the quality of cut, the other obvious benefit of the new units are the rear roller brushes.  As many of you have seen, we normally mow the fairways and leave behind clippings that must be swept up with a drag rope or a blower.  The rear roller brushes serve to break these clippings up before they have a chance to form a clump or pile, saving us a step in our morning routine.  Also, without using the drag rope as often, replaced divots have less of a chance of getting stirred up and increase the chance that they will heal.

Below are a few pics of the results I am seeing.

Here's what a fairway normally looks like after being mowed with our old machines.

Here is the new cutting unit.  The black 'roller' with 'X' brushes between the tire and the cutting head is the brush that breaks up the clippings.

Here's what a fairway looks like after being mowed with the new machines.  No clumps no clippings!  The above pictures were all taken in the same morning under the same conditions.

These new machines will save lots of time cleaning up, like Sam is doing here.