TurfTech

Reel Cart

Published on May 25, 2010 in Tech Tips. 0 Comments Tags: Tech, Tech Tips, Tips.

Over the years I’ve made several different types of reel storage carts but this is what we’ve pretty much settled on. It’s a hand cart that can be used as a dolly in that it has 4 wheels, two that swivel. We get them at Home Depot. They take a bit more floor space but I can move it over to the machine easily to swap out reels. It’s also easier on the back, less lifting required. Last count we had 6 of these and one double rack.. The roller reels are so heavy they are either on a machine or on the floor.

The Atomic Blade Deal

Published on May 24, 2010 in The Militant Mechanic. 0 Comments

this is the Atomic blade. if you buy 1, they are 19.56, of you buy a 5 pack for a 4500, they are 70.86 or 14.72. if you buy a 7 pack for a 4700 they are 127.86 or 18.26 each. I called them up to check and those were the prices. Then explained the costs and ordered 5 – 5 packs.

Stihl the Best

Published on May 23, 2010 in The Militant Mechanic. 2 Comments

I started in turf maintenance in the 80′s with my own lawn care service. During that period I began to appreciate well built equipment. Not that I hadn’t before, but not in this industry. Over the years I’ve tried quite a bit of what’s out there and now that I’ve been in the golf industry 2 decades I’ve settled on certain choices. One of those is our small tools.

We started using Stihl chainsaws in the early 90′s and had other manufactures products for line trimmers, edgers, and hedge trimmers. Over the years we’ve experimented with other makes items. Little by little we’ve phased out what we had and replaced them with Stihl. Most of this was determined by the quality of the product and that they worked well. When they first came out with stick edgers, we bought one, but stayed with what we were using for a few more years. Same with the line trimmers, tried one and then waited.

I didn’t actually wait for them to come out with a new model, just used what I thought was best and finally they had the one we used.. It’s really more of a survival of the fittest. One of the good things about this was we could usually get our parts and most times we could have them shipped UPS. To me, that’s a key. It costs quite a bit for me to drive 45 minutes to their shop, get what we need, then return. Quite a bit more than the UPS charge.

One of the really good things about it was I signed up for a training seminar at their Orlando facility. That was great. I’ve included some pics of their facility as it is the best one I’ve been to.

Here’s one of the reason’s I think they’re doing so well. (besides making great equipment) after the class the Manager came in, introduced himself and asked if there was anything else they could do for us.. I asked about being able to get the parts books, which is one item you usually have to do a little work to get. A few months later I found I was on a mailing list for the Stihl CD. I receive one about every 6 months with updated info. What it does for me is allow me to get the parts I need without having to describe them over the phone or drive in. It speeds it up and saves money. That’s a hard combination to beat.

The “Reel” story about today’s turf Equipment Managers

Published on May 19, 2010 in Tech News. 0 Comments

This is a link to a story from the “Tee to Green” Superintendents Magazine on Equipment Managers. Click here to view..

IGCEMA’s Virtual Trade Show

Published on May 18, 2010 in Tech News. 0 Comments

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)

Bike to Work Week, May 17th to 21st

Published on May 17, 2010 in zBikes. 0 Comments

I’ve been commuting for about 3 years now. It started by accident, my wife bought a bike and I got one to ride with her. Funny how some things work out. Her bike is rarely ridden, I’m starting a collection.. This is my winter bike, a Trek with an Xtracycle Free Radical attachment. I can haul four bags of groceries with it.

I feel fortunate to be able to do this. I know a lot of people in the business and most don’t live very close to where they work. The exercise has been great. I’ll probably be working till I’m 70 and this will help keep me in shape to do that.

It’s definitely a techs kind of bike. The light is powered by a DeWalt 12V battery pack. The rear wheel has been upgraded to a double wall mountain bike rime with a “Fat Frank” tire. That’s for the load carrying capacity. And a drink holder for coffee.. And a disk brake. I was amazed that I could buy a mechanical disk system for less than $50 that works like a charm.

IGCEMA presents Virtual Trade Show

Published on May 8, 2010 in Tech News. 0 Comments

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.

Ladies Day

Published on May 3, 2010 in The Militant Mechanic. 0 Comments

I’m not sure our course is very different from other courses. We’re open 7 days a week, year around. We have no “Maintenance Day”, a day set aside for aerating, topdressing, verticutting, fertilizing, etc.

Most of those agronomic chores we begin on Tuesday, which just happens to be “Lady’s Day”. Why we don’t start some of our practices on Monday, or the Lady’s start on Wednesday, I don’t know. That’s just the way it is here. It seems a shame but at times, the Lady’s groups are viewed more as an inconvenience and an obstacle.

I look at my Mom in this light and what I see amazes me. Here’s a woman, who is barely 5’1” and as she says, “And shrinking”, who on a very good day can drive the ball 150 yards. She’s played at some of the better known and recognized clubs in the country, not that anyone would recognize her, but just because of her enjoyment of the game.

She’s the one who kept entering the ticket lotto for practice day tickets at Augusta, and then took the family there when she got them. (Twice) I’ve seen here walkup to a 6’4” linebacker type and ask if he’d mind letting a “short person” stand in front. Dad and I’d be left in the back while one way or another she’d work her way up to the ropes. At Augusta, we never saw the front nine. Mom had trouble walking. It was tough for her, we stopped regularly for breaks. Still, she managed to see her favorites, truly enjoyed being on the course and appreciated the efforts of the staff.

She’s the one who insists on the Membership in their Country Club, not Dad. She’s the one who goes for lessons, always trying to improve her game, brings him for Sunday Brunch and participates in the social activities. She’s the one who knows practically every employee by name and always has something nice to say to him or her.

Even though she’s been playing golf over forty years she also liked tennis. But shoulder surgery took care of that. Her running days ended with hip surgery. Recently, after triple bypass surgery, within 15 minutes of coming out of anesthesia, she let me know she wouldn’t be able to play golf for 3 months. Nascar would kill to have fans this devoted.

When I see the Lady’s driving out for their shotgun start, I wonder. What have there lives been like? How did they end up here on this day? It would be reasonable to assume that they represent our Grandmothers, Mother’s, Wives, Daughters and Girlfriends. I can surmise that they aren’t out trying to impress some client or cut some kind of deal. Which leaves one with the possibility that they just may be out here, on the day the club allotted, because they enjoy the game of golf.

Oops…

Published on May 3, 2010 in Recycle/Repurpose. 0 Comments

DSCN2185

We get used drums from the resort for disposal. If they’re not clean, we clean them. This batch had one for laundry detergent that had about a gallon left. Since we use detergent to spray on the equipment before washing I wondered if it would work. Not so good. It didn’t take care fo the equipment which is mostly organic residue and unfortunately, it was high sudsing.

What do you do with an extra fuel tank slab??

Published on April 29, 2010 in Recycle/Repurpose. 0 Comments

Sometimes you just wonder how we make it through life.. When the course was built, we installed an above ground fuel tank, 1000 gals. The city made us position it 25 ft away from all electric and put in underground lines going to the pumps. Over the years the pumps had to be replaced and there was a certain amount of maintenance for the lines..

Trying to get the permits to move the tank and use the original configuration, of the pumps on top of the tank, I found that they had thought that we were selling fuel from this, that’s why it had to be setup the way it was.. In any case, we have moved the tank and made it as safe and secure as possible.. We do/did have this 15 X 8 reinforced slab of concrete to deal with though.

Anyone in golf knows that anything no one else wants to do ends up on the desk of the Equipment Manager. And if you ask most, that’s one of the good things about it.. Very few rules and limitations, if you can do, you usually do.. In this case, we blew out the back wall of our trash pit with the front end loader.. So how can you knockout a reinforced wall? It obviously wasn’t reinforced enough for the operator. So we moved the slab to replace the missing wall. I say we but we couldn’t do it.. I could only pickup one corner of the slab with our backhoe. We asked the great folks at Athletic Services if they could do it for us and they did..

Here’s picking it up

Here’s moving it down the road

Here’s flipping it over

Here’s putting it in. And this is almost done..

So now we have a new push wall to help load the trash with. This thing would have been difficult to get rid of or move. Now it’s being put to a great use and at almost no cost to the company..