versatile solution

e-walk helps solve playability and turf health issues for two canadian courses

Jacobsen’s® E-Walk™ all-electric walking greens mower is the solution to issues faced by two Ontario, Canada, superintendents.

Interestingly, the challenges they face are entirely different. One superintendent is charged with reconditioning old, pushup greens, while the other wants consistency on newer USGA-spec’d greens.

Goal is playability
When David Kuypers arrived at Cutten Club Golf & Tennis in Guelph, just west of Toronto, less than two years ago he was told by club members to provide a higher level of conditioning.

This course was built 75 years ago. The greens are a push-up style mixture of Poa annua and bentgrass. They have some severe slopes and undulations, in some cases 3 percent or more. The staff struggles with hole locations on some greens. Also, there were significant turf health issues.

The goal at Cutten Club is to create the smoothest, truest surface possible on the greens. Kuypers chose the E-Walk with an 11-blade reel for the mower’s ability to set reel speed independent of walk speed for the ideal clip frequency.

“Every time you make a pass on a green you’ll miss some blades,” Kuypers says. “That’s one reason some courses double cut. The longer the turf is on that first pass, the more you’ll miss, and the more impact that miss will have on ball roll. The more leaf tissue you try to cut off on any given day, the less clean the cut will be. We use five E-Walks because they stand up the grass better and provide a great quality-of-cut in one pass. If we can get a good, clean cut on a healthy, dense stand, speed takes care of itself. We want a smooth, healthy, clean surface.”

Noise ordinances were not a factor in the purchase decision, although Kuypers says it’s a big plus not to have the potential for gas, grease or oil leaks when going across the greens.

“I like the E-Walk’s ground following ability, and the option to move the battery,” he adds. “On a smooth surface, this mower travels straight on its own.”

E-WALK ENHANCEMENTS Jacobsen recently announced improvements to the industry’s only all-electric walking greens mower, the E-Walk. Three enhancements improve the functionality of the machine, its durability and ease-of-use for operators. • A redesigned electronic control unit drastically simplifies the functionality options on the E-Walk. Superintendents can adjust the settings for reel speeds and mow speeds on the fly by choosing from simple menu options on an easy-to- read LCD screen. • A new D-handle design specific to the Jacobsen In-Command control system has also been added. Adding the In-Command control system to the E-Walk gives Jacobsen a consistent operator platform across nearly all Jacobsen walking greens mowers, making them easier to learn and operate. • Within the base unit, both motors that power the reels and drive the traction system have been redesigned to be more durable. Each features enhanced weather sealing and more efficient heat dissipation, allowing the mower to work harder and longer without sacrificing quality-of-cut or performance.

Improve turf health
The initial goal was to improve turf health for a consistent, dense stand. Besides cutting with the E-Walk, the staff verticuts and brushes to keep the grass upright for a true surface.

“If I want to affect green speed, changing the height-of-cut is the last thing I want to do,” Kuypers says. “We set the E-Walks at 0.145 inch for an effective height-of-cut of 0.125 inch. We set our older PGMs at 0.135 inch to achieve that.”

Kuypers tries not to alter green speed from day to day.

“Maybe the ball isn’t rolling as fast some days, but golfers should be able to adjust and make a putt because the greens are consistent and true,” he says. “We try to listen to the members. On any given day we get an equal number of comments about whether they’re fast or slow. But, if we get a lot of hole location complaints, we know our greens are OK.”

Balanced fertility program
Kuypers’ fertility program is designed to achieve a balance between playability and healthy turf. He does monthly soil testing, looking at nutrient levels, pH, organic matter and exchange capacities. Then he does a clipping analysis.

“Nitrogen is the nutrient everyone looks at,” he says. “I pay particular attention to the dry weight percentages of the clippings. For nitrogen, 4 to 6 percent is the textbook range. But to me, 6 percent is excessive; that would be very lush conditions. We keep our greens in a healthy range.”

Playability is another reason Kuypers stays in the lower end of nitrogen fertility.

“If there is a target range,” he says, “we’d rather be on the leaner end for control purposes. We can always add more nitrogen if an issue comes up, such as a low growth rate. However, we can’t stop the grass if it’s growing. Excess growth can be just as much a negative. We use short-residual, low-rate nitrogen in the spray tank. We monitor nitrogen levels weekly to make sure they are adequate. We do a lot of tissue testing and alter our inputs based on the results.”

Change with the times
Superintendent John Cunningham has been involved in golf course maintenance for more than 30 years, and he realizes it’s easy to fall into a rut of doing things the same way. However, in the past six years he’s changed his cultural programs based on changes in the industry.

“Today we maintain fairways like we used to maintain greens,” says Cunningham, who also serves as property manager for The Mandarin Golf & Country Club in Markham, just north of Toronto.

“Golfer expectations have changed and we have to adjust our methods and cultural practices,” he adds. “Our goal is to determine the ideal green speed for our property and membership and then be consistent. It doesn’t matter what’s going on at courses down the road or up the street. We modified our program to better suit the Mandarin membership and make us more consistent on a day-to-day basis. When we approach the member/guest day, for example, we don’t have to dramatically ramp up conditions. We’re going to stay consistent.”

The course opened in 1991 and has bentgrass greens, tees and fairways. The greens were built to USGA specifications and are aerified once a year, in early September. At three-week intervals, they are verticut and topdressed. A big change was switching to the E-Walk.

“Our sales representative put an E-Walk on a green that had already been cut,” Cunningham says. “He set it to the same height-of-cut as the walk mower we were using from another manufacturer. The amount of grass that went into the bucket was phenomenal, and the green had only been cut an hour before. That sold me on the E-Walk.”

Cunningham rarely double cuts. If he does, it’s for the aesthetics of the striping.

“We used to double cut for speed,” he says, “but we don’t have to anymore because the quality-of-cut is there with the E-Walk. We roll the greens every other day with a vibratory roller.”

There have been no battery issues. They are changed after cutting four greens with one-half to one-quarter charge remaining. Cunningham says they could easily cut up to six greens on a single charge.

“We moved the batteries forward to their most aggressive position this year,” he adds. “They were at the halfway position last year. Moving them forward allows us a lower height-of-cut for a faster green speed. But the quality-of-cut is still there.”

The E-Walks have also allowed the staff to back off on topdressing. Cunningham says the mower stands up the grass better for a great quality-of-cut.

“Since we got the four E-Walks last year, we’ve received many comments about the smoothness and trueness of the greens,” he adds. “Members tell us the greens are smooth, consistent and true regardless of their speed, which can be slowed by topdressing. That seems to matter most to members.”