Replacement Ball Picker Vehicle
A few years ago, I wrote about a 2000 Toro Reelmaster 5200D Fairway Mower that had the five-mower mechanicals removed and was then used to push a ball picker for the driving range at the Stone Creek Golf Club in Oregon City, Oregon. It has since been replaced, after 10 years of good service, with a 2021 Kubota RXV900D 4x4 Turf Vehicle — $16,500 — which has been modified in-house. The rear screen and roll bar were factory installed. The front windshield frame, doors and roof panels bolt into the existing holes on the vehicle. The doors are on lift-hinges so they can be easily removed when it is used for golf maintenance tasks. The screens were fabricated with ¾-inch expanded metal and the roof panel is covered with sheet metal for rain protection. The Lexan windshield can withstand impact from golf balls. The ball picker attachment was made from a 2-inch hitch with a 3⁄8-inch steel frame to receive the picker head. It cost about $1,000 for parts and materials and it took about two weeks of fabrication and installation, working around other daily jobs. Equipment manager Steve Mathre and superintendent Richard Rosenberry really like to recycle and modify equipment. Peter Jacobsen and Jim Hardy designed the course.
Equipment Manager’s Tool Rack
The Jumeirah Golf Estates, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, hosts the European Tour’s season-ending 2022 DP World Tour Championship on its Greg Norman-designed Earth Course. When the Earth and Fire courses were being built, the equipment manager built this tool rack mounted on the metal temporary maintenance building wall. Instead of using pegboard that is commonly used in the United States, small holes were drilled into the particle-board type material and then “L” shaped metal hooks were placed to hang each tool type. The tool rack was subsequently moved to the permanent maintenance building because it was so efficient to see and grab tools without delay. The cost was less than $100 (in U.S. currency) and it took less than four hours to build and mount the tools. Hamish McKendrick was the senior agronomy manager at the time.
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