TRAVELS WITH TERRY

Globetrotting consulting agronomist Terry Buchen visits many golf courses annually with his digital camera in hand. He shares helpful ideas relating to maintenance equipment from the golf course superintendents he visits — as well as a few ideas of his own — with timely photos and captions that explore the changing world of golf course management.

Collar delineations

I was going over some of my more than 44,000 photos taken over the years and came across two variations for delineating collar mowing widths. The walk-behind version uses an old-style Fox Valley Paint gun, adding a 1-inch by 36-inch by ¼-inch piece of aluminum, with an additional 12-inch-long piece of aluminum with a second wheel attached. The second version, mounted on a Club Car turf vehicle for marking wider collars, uses the same type of equipment, with the long piece of aluminum secured with a 1-inch piece of flat steel held in place on the floor with a “C” clamp. An orange rope hangs vertically along the edge of the putting surface. Each took about 30 minutes to assemble. The golf course was closed years ago to become a housing development.




Enlarged mower trailer

This 2005 Toro TransPro 100 Trailer’s bed was extended using 21-inch bedknives from several Toro models along with 2-inch by 2-inch angle iron for the bottom support rails. The extension measures approximately 21 inches long by 28 inches wide by 7 ? inches deep and all parts were welded in place. The hitch did not require modification. The “tire pockets” were placed with a cutoff wheel in an “H” pattern. Two Honda push-type rotary mowers, with different size wheels, easily fit into the wheel wells, and bungee cords are not required to hold the mowers in place. Most parts were in stock/recycled, about $20 was spent for angle iron and it took around two hours to build. Skip Rose, equipment manager at the Glenwild Golf Club and Spa in Park City, Utah, is excellent at modifying maintenance equipment. Longtime superintendent Mike Valiant, CGCS, was just offered the director of agronomy position at the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana. Tom Fazio is the club’s architect.

Terry Buchen, CGCS, MG, is president of Golf Agronomy International. He’s a 51-year, life member of the GCSAA. He can be reached at 757-561-7777 or terrybuchen@earthlink.net.

Read Next

What is your LIV?

July 2022
Explore the July 2022 Issue

Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.