Travels with Terry (Equipment ideas)

Globetrotting consulting agronomist Terry Buchen visits many golf courses annually with his digital camera in hand. He will share 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.

Ramp it up

A Salsco greens roller comes standard equipped with a transport trailer, which also can be used to transport walk-behind greensmowers. Scott Kroll, golf course superintendent, and Brian Gunning, assistant superintendent, at the Sunnybrook Golf Club in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., modified the transport trailer to haul walk-behind mowers.

The wire-mesh trailer floor and ramp were covered with 3/4-inch-thick, construction-grade plywood sheets held in place with four 5/8-inch-diameter carriage bolts, flat and lock washers, and nuts. On either side of the ramp, notches were cut into the plywood so the ramp could be closed completely and latched vertically.

Before the plywood floors were installed, the 1/4-inch-thick rubber strips, which provide additional traction for the greens roller when entering and exiting the trailer, were removed. Eighteen-inch-long-by-6-inch-wide 1/4-inch-thick rubber strips were installed to act as a bumper by softening the impact of the walk-behind mowers front rollers against the trailer safety railing. The rubber strips were screwed into railing supports with two 3/16-inch-diameter hex-head screws and 3/4-inch-diameter flat washers.

The 4-foot-by-8-foot sheets of plywood cost about $20 from Lowe’s, the mounting hardware cost about $10, and the labor time took about an hour and a half.

Mix it up

What started out as a 1,600-gallon fertigation system tank was converted to a premix tank for chemicals and granular fertilizers. To customize the premixing operation, Eric D. Spurlock, Manakin Course superintendent, and John Haley, director of golf course operations at the Hermitage Country Club in Manakin-Sabot, Va., installed a separate stand-alone Banjo inductor manifold system with a 15-gallon storage tank.

Granular fertilizers, such as ammonium sulfate, are added through the 15-gallon inductor tank. Then, valves are opened and closed on the manifold, and the inductor acts as a toilet bowl that sucks the products through and breaks them down in the process, adding them into the 1,600-gallon storage tank. About 375 pounds of ammonium sulfate are mixed into about 600 gallons of water, which takes about 20 minutes. One control valve agitates the mixture, and another keeps the flow from being restricted into the large tank when it’s in use. The agitator is used constantly as the sprayer applies chemicals or fertilizers to keep them in suspension.

The storage tank was on hand already. The 5-horsepower, 220-volt motor and 2-inch-diameter, centrifugal flooded-suction pump were slightly used. The hose, fittings and agitator assembly were purchased new and cost about $1,500. The inductor manifold system cost $375. The 15-gallon inductor tank, stand, wye strainer and fittings cost $250.

An electrical contractor hooked it all up in about two and half to three hours. GCI

Terry Buchen, CGCS, MG, is president of Golf Agronomy International. He’s a 38-year, life member of the GCSAA. He can be reached at terrybuchen@earthlink.net.