Travels with Terry

Covered Spray Boom

This sprayer boom is used in the maintained rough – which is not winter overseeded – along the fairway edge to control drift when applying a post-emergent herbicide so the chemicals do not drift onto the winter-overseeded fairway. This under-mount covered sprayer boom has four spray nozzles and a rubber shroud bolted to the boom's metal top portion. It is the exact width of the rear tractor wheels on this 2004 John Deere 5205 tractor with turf tires. The 1996 100-gallon Broyhill sprayer was previously mounted on a utility vehicle. The original sprayer framework is welded to a three-point hitch forklift attachment. A PTO pump was acquired and attached to a homemade bracket so it will not turn when the PTO is operating. An additional homemade bracket to hold the manual-operating on/off valve, pressure gauge and pressure regulator is mounted on the ROPS bar for ease of operation by the spray technician. Backpack sprayers with two nozzles are used for the tie-ins. Superintendent Brian Sarvis and equipment technician Pablo Cortes at River Hills Golf & Country Club, Little River, S.C., conceived, designed and built this unique idea for about $800. The sprayer boom was manufactured locally and the remaining work was done in-house and took about five hours to design and build.

Drop Spreader/Seeder Calculation

This Lesco drop spreader/seeder is used for winter overseeding the tie-ins around the bunkers. Jeff G. Greene, irrigation technician, at Arcadian Shores Golf Club, Myrtle Beach, S.C., designed and built this easy and effective way to calculate the application rate for grass seed. Previously, Greene used a 100-square-foot or 1,000-square-foot measurement marked on the concrete floor in the maintenance building where the seed was applied, then swept up with a broom and weighed. Greene came up with a better way. A 6-inch diameter PVC irrigation pipe, with the top portion removed and cardboard and duct tape installed on either end, was fitted to the bottom of the spreader/seeder to the exact width to catch the grass seed. A 100-square-foot or 1,000-square-foot area is measured-out on the turf and the amount of seed is caught in the PVC pipe, weighed and then adjustments are made to the seeding rate as necessary and appropriate. There is an L-shaped metal bracket – installed at the factory – on either side adjacent to the spreader/ seeder mechanism that opens and closes and helps hold the PVC pipe in place along with two bungee cords. The PVC pipe was in the club's inventory. It took about an hour to design and build. Eric Covelli is the golf course superintendent.