This is a link to a story from the “Tee to Green” Superintendents Magazine on Equipment Managers. Click here to view..
Archive for the 'Tech News' Category
IGCEMA (International Golf Course Equipment Managers Association) just concluded their first Virtual Trade Show. Though it was “Virtual”, it had a lot of the characteristics of a live trade show, booths for vendors, meeting rooms, and seminars.
Some of the booths had digital media from their websites so if you were familiar with that, there wasn’t much new. I’m not quite sure anyone knew just what the take on this would be, what was the best way to set things up and what would work best.
The seminars were in a format that most of the IGCEMA members were used to, using Ivocalize as the web conference tool. Meeting times seemed to be mostly in US time frames which I’m sure will be modified as world wide participation increases.
For me the seminars were the high point although even though they were virtual, being at work wasn’t and making the time to attend was not always possible. The other was seminars are seminars, you still have to be able to capture the attention of the audience. I thought this was an area where the vendors could put a little more effort. Viewing electrical diagrams online, in the afternoon, when it’s hot, is tough. Having video of the equipment or processes would have been an appreciated alternative. This is one of those areas where it’s a learning curve. The vendors have the techs attention, learning how to maintain it in the digital world requires a little effort but it may open some interesting doors.
I hear that the chat function was fun but for most of my visits, it seemed no one else was there. Apparently this was a technical issue that was fixed. Having Audio would be nice.
I’m looking forward to next years. Stephen Tucker, CEO; Mike Kriz, President; and John Patterson, Past President (who helped get it rolling) and all the board members and volunteers did an outstanding job getting this off the ground and even though it had it’s shaky moments, it has many more possibilities.
Nice article on this at TurfNet (click here to view)
The Industry’s first Virtual Trade Show begins next week on May 11, running May 11-13. If you missed New Orleans & San Diego, you might want to catch up on some of the latest equipment developments. You can register for free here.
For those of you who have Red Iron, Carl Osterhaus of Toro is now on Twitter. Carl is in charge of their training and is using this to get info out to techs and companies. From my point of view, in the shop, it’s pretty good. A typical Tweet would be something like, “Version 2 of the Aftercut Appearance Guide is now online at….. “
If we think about it, for years techs have been complaining about, “I never got that service bulletin”. Well now we can and right to our mailbox.. I expect Jac and JD to follow shortly..
So to get this, on Twitter, go to Twitter.com and signup for an account. Then search fro ToroTurf or Carl Osterhaus. Click on “Follow” and make sure you have “device updates On”. This means you’ll get the Tweets, which come as text messages on your cell phone.
A January Meeting at Heritage Springs, FL
In 2002 the Westech Turf Equipment Technicians Association met at Heritage Springs in Pasco County Florida.
Tim Canfield TEM, receiving Certificate of Appreciation.
Superintendent John Hoffman welcoming everyone.
been happening with their projects or areas of responsibility. One of the items is on the course we’re at. Superintendent John Hoffman made sure we knew how welcome we were.
Viewing the crowd from the podium.
which was presented by COLDfire Thermal Cycling. What’s Thermal Cycling? Some of use had tried some edger blades that had been through the process, and we’d heard of someone who had some reels that had been treated, but no one really knew much about it.
Ed Monfort and Mark Veldhuis of COLDfire.
Developer and Engineer Ed Monfort and Assistant Mark Veldhuis show the machine that takes the materials to -300 degrees F to +400 degrees F in cycles to treat the material. Hearing someone else talk about it was one thing, hearing them tell their stories was another.
The seats emptied when asked if we wanted to view the machine.
By realigning the molecules of the material to a unidirectional pattern rather than random (Particulate Reinforcement Dislocation Modification Grain Refinement), the material has less voids in between them. Less space in between means less cracks (dullness) and also less vibration. Less vibration equals more kinetic energy.
A golf club head for example, about an average of 15 yeards (Norwegian yard) more. Aluminum bats, banned for college play. Automotive brake rotors, 20% increase in braking, 300% increase in life. That’s not to mention drill bits, the titanium arms on the Space Shuttle or the Space Station, gun barrels, knives, the runners on the US Bobsleds in the Olympics or tennis racket strings that don’t stretch.
Ed Monfort receiving his Certificate of Appreciation from Westech President, Paul Shortway (click)
With all those wonderful things happening to other items, the subject of reels came up. How about reels that stay sharp three times as long? That was the question. The person who had the test reels wasn’t at the meeting, but the report was he didn’t have to touch them for 2 months. Some of us have lived in or been through Arkansas, “The Show Me State”, and want to see for ourselves. We sent in 3 new 11-blade triplex and 3 walkmower reels as well as 3 Tournament Bedknives to have treated. The bedknives I’m not sure about??? But imagine, reels that stay sharp 3 X’s as long.. I figure it’s worth a shot. Where it would really pay off is with our fairway and rough units.
Some of us weren’t quite sure how this “New Age” metallurgy would go over. As it turned out, the meeting was a huge success. I can’t remember a meeting where people had to wait to get questions answered.