Superintendent's Forum

Why did you switch to the magsystem?

Randy Staubli • Lake Ripley Country Club • Cambridge, Wisconsin

After years of triplex mowing greens, last year Staubli switched to Jacobsen walking greens mowers and outfitted them with MAGKnives™.

“I was introduced to the MAGSystem™ a couple of years ago at a seminar sponsored by our local Jacobsen dealer,” he says. “I was really impressed with how easily and quickly the MAGKnife popped on and off; they’re awesome. We do a lot of sand topdressing and it’s important that bedknives can be taken off easily and quickly. We change them out in less than 10 minutes and the mower is back out cutting.”

Staubli says the quality-of-cut is phenomenal.

“With 4-inch diameter reels, we have a higher clip rate,” he explains, “and with the combination of 11-blade reels and MAGKnives, the quality is outstanding.”

The MAGKnives on the three walk mowers are removed every few weeks to clean the backing.

“Debris hasn’t been much of an issue, and we topdress every two weeks,” Staubli says. “Saving time is a big feature of the MAGKnives. With a triplex, sometimes it took an hour and a half to change bedknives. We can do all our mowers in less than 30 minutes with the MAGKnife. The MAGSystem is really slick.”

 

Nic Bell • Point Mallard Golf Course • Decatur, Alabama

Last year, Floyd was named facilities and operations manager for the City of Decatur, Alabama, which includes an 18-hole public golf course at Point Mallard Park. He spent his entire career in golf course maintenance, and was a superintendent in Georgia and Florida.

To cut highly-maintained turf, the staff uses three Jacobsen LF-3800s™ and two Tri-King 1900s™ equipped with MAGKnife bedknives.

“For us, the MAGKnives are a good thing,” Floyd says. “With the MAGSystem, if anyone cutting with a reel mower has a problem, he can pop off a bedknife, put on a new one and keep going. He doesn’t have to drive back to the shop, and we don’t have to send out a mechanic. He can handle it on his own, and that saves us a lot of time. The magnets are strong enough that the MAGKnife doesn’t pop off easily.”

Floyd prefers to rotate bedknives as frequently as possible.

“From a reel grinding standpoint,” he says, “the MAGKnife is a benefit because with traditional bedknives we spend so much time with a hammer and screwdriver trying to bang off the old screws. Then we have to buy a new bag of screws, and that takes time and can be costly. It’s a lot easier to just pop off a MAGKnife and grind.”

Quality-of-cut is not an issue.

“We want our surfaces looking good,” Floyd says, “and the MAGSystem helps us meet that goal. “Because we can just pop them on and off, an operator doesn’t have to bring in the reel and go through all the trouble of taking off screws. And if a bedknife hits an object and pops off, it doesn’t damage the reel. We haven’t had many issues because the magnets are so strong.”

 

Mike Mongon • Fairview Country Club • Greenwich, Connecticut

Mongon wasn’t satisfied with the large fairway mowers he was using, and after a three-day demo that included products from all manufacturers, he chose Jacobsen’s SLF-1880™.

“With 8-blade reels, the SLF-1880 has a thinner stripe, reminiscent of a triplex,” he says. “This mower is lightweight and maneuverable, and there are no traction issues.”

Last year the SLF-1880s were equipped with MAGKnife bedknives.

“I like what I see,” Mongon says. “We’re on a regular topdressing program, and the MAGKnives really fit in because they’re so easy to change out.”

Greens at Fairview are cut with six Jacobsen E-Walk™ all-electric walk mowers. Mongon is looking seriously at equipping them with the MAGSystem.

“With our light topdressing program, the MAGSystem would give us a real advantage,” he says. “During tournaments, when we like a lower height-of-cut, we could switch to the ultra-thin tournament bedknife Jacobsen will be introducing. Then we could easily switch back to the standard MAGKnife bedknife for member play.”