technology drive

e-walk and slf-1880 dramatically improve conditions at new england course

At some point, golf courses with a rich history will pay for that tradition. Just ask Larry Pakkala, CGCS, property manager for Woodway Country Club, Darien, Connecticut.

“Our biggest maintenance challenge is our older push-up soil greens,” he says. “We’re known for the subtleties of our greens and are trying to modify them by aerifying three times a year and topdressing regularly. We’ve been doing this for three years and the greens have greatly improved. We have much better surface drainage. At first members didn’t like this program because of the disruption, but we’ve done a good job educating them. They see the difference.”

Woodway was founded in 1916. The course was designed by Willie Park Jr., architect of Olympia Fields Country Club in Chicago, site of two U.S. Opens. The large, family-oriented club has tennis courts, a swimming pool and a five-acre beach club on Long Island Sound.

“Our general manager calls us a resort, not a country club, although golf is the main entity,” says Pakkala, a 22-year veteran of the club. “We try to maintain our greens at 10 to 10.5 feet for daily member play and up to 12 feet for tournaments.”

Woodway had been using Jacobsen’s Greens King 522 and was very happy with this walking greens mower — until the all-electric E-Walk was introduced.

Woodway no longer grooms fairways because the SLF-1880 cuts tightly and eliminates grain.

“I’m interested in all electric equipment for the environment and noise issues,” Pakkala. “They’re more efficient and don’t require much maintenance. However, the main reason we got the E-Walk is for the clip rate, which is 350 rpm faster than a gas engine. We get a smoother cut for a truer putting surface. The quality of cut was very evident from the first time we used them.”

The E-Walk is unique among walking greens mowers because the clip frequency is independent of walk speed. Pakkala also likes the ability to move the E-Walk’s battery forward or backward to adjust weight on the front roller.

“We can get more aggressive when the weather is cooler and grass is growing more actively,” he says. “Then, in summer, we back off and put on solid rollers. The E-Walk still performs very well when we raise the cutting height to take stress off the plant. We’re not sacrificing quality.”

This is Woodway’s first season with the E-Walk. The club has six mowers with 11-blade reels. Each machine has two batteries.

“We like to double cut every day,” Pakkala says. “Batteries are assigned to each mower, and we rotate them so they get used for the best performance. We’ve had good success with this system.”

Specify SLF-1880 with rear roller brushes

The new technology bug also bit Pakkala with Jacobsen’s introduction of the SLF-1880 super-light fairway mower.

Woodway chose the E-Walk for its clip rate, which is 350 rpm faster than a gas engine. Greens get a smoother cut for a truer putting surface.

 

“We had some grain in our bentgrass fairways,” he says, “and in the early 1990s we went with Jacobsen’s LF Series fairway mowers. They were the only company with a grooming attachment. Unfortunately, after a time grooming led to a resurgence of Poa annua. Opening up the canopy to make the grass stand more upright let in more light and allowed the Poa to make inroads against the bentgrass that used to crowd it out because it was lying over and crawling. Today I don’t groom at all; my program is the SLF-1880s. I found a mower that allows me to cut so tight that we don’t have any grain. The quality of cut is exemplary."

The 5-gang fairway mowers are specified with rear roller brushes.

“There is no clipping drop on the fairways whatsoever,” Pakkala says. “Even in the wettest conditions, when we’ve finished mowing, the fairways are clean and spotless. The SLF-1880 is the best fairway unit in this area. I’ve never seen a better cut in my life, and I’ve been in the business 30 years. I’ve used other mowers and their cut does not compare. I dare anyone to say they can make a mower cut better than the SLF-1880.”

Woodway has four machines with 8-blade reels. Productivity is another benefit of this mower.

“We mow our fairways in less than three hours,” Pakkala says. “I’ve never been able to accomplish that. The SLF-1880 moves faster and still gives me a quality cut because the 18-inch reels get down on all the little dips, nooks and crannies. If I was in the business to outfit golf courses with equipment, I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t be cutting with anything but the SLF-1880 if they wanted the best quality cut. I’m not biased. I’ve used other equipment, and have gone over to Jacobsen because its quality is better.”