Superintendent's Forum

why did you choose the magsystem?

Steve Specht • Sheboygan Town & Country Golf Club • Sheboygan, Wisconsin

The biggest challenge for superintendent Steve Specht at this 27-hole public course is maintaining consistent green
speed. More than a year ago, he added Jacobsen’s MAGKnife to his arsenal. They are used on two Greens King VI greens mowers.

“I like to change bedknives at least once in mid-summer so we have a nice, clean cutting edge,” Specht says. “We use the MAGKnife bedknife, and it is the perfect solution for us because we can change them quickly, make a minor adjustment and within 15 minutes the mowers are ready to go again. If we weren’t using the MAGKnife, we’d have to have a mechanic here pulling off the bedknives and grinding them. They are a labor saving tool. In less than 30 minutes both of our greens mowers are ready to go. The bedknives have nice sharp, clean edges; they’re perfect. With the MAGKnife we have almost no downtime.”

Quality of cut is excellent, and the superintendent appreciates the other advantages of the MAGSystem.

“Even though golf spikes are plastic, they have a metal insert,” Specht says. “If a mower with a MAGKnife hits one, the bedknife moves out of the way and snaps back into place. With a traditional bedknife that object would have damaged the reel.”

When it’s time to put away equipment for winter, the maintenance staff cleans the magnets with a scrub pad and applies a thin coat of anti-seize lubricant.

“The MAGKnives are working beautifully and we’ve had no problems,” Specht says. “They’ve been holding perfectly for us. From what we’ve
seen so far, the MAGKnife is a positive.”

 

James Frank  • Country Club of Buffalo • Buffalo, New York

Frank’s reason for installing MAGKnife bedknives on his Greens King 522 walking greens mowers is simple — superior
quality of cut.

“We usually cut our greens at 1/8 inch,” he says. “I’ve mowed at .105 and .110 with conventional bedknives and have found with the MAGKnife I get faster green speeds at .125. Why is that? It’s quality of cut. With conventional bedknives the bottom of the bedknife is rubbing on the green as it cuts. The lower we went, the quality of cut dropped off and the greens slowed down. With the MAGKnife, the bedknife doesn’t drag across the turf. We’re getting the green speeds we want at a higher height of cut. And, we’re cutting more grass. This makes sense because we have a better quality of cut.”

Frank was amazed that he didn’t have to grind the MAGKnives when he installed them the first time.

“I’ve always been a believer that you have to grind bedknives the first time you use them, but not with the MAGKnife,” he says. “All we did is
make sure the reel was put on a spin grinder. With MAGKnife, the torque on the bedknife against the bedknife shoe is even straight across.
With a screw-type bedknife, torque will never be evenly distributed. No matter how well you torque down each screw, it won’t be uniform.”

Frank also finds MAGKnife bedknives last longer.

“We’re not grinding them as much to get them true,” he says. “Time is also an issue. If I need another mower to cut tees, we can quickly swap bedknives. We just change the cutting height and boom, and that machine is out mowing tees.

“When the super-thin MAGRazor is available we’ll be using them,” Frank continues. “If we can improve the quality of cut at the same
height or lower, we’ll have healthier turf and faster green speeds. As superintendents, that’s what we’re all after. Jacobsen’s MAGSystem
has definitely raised some eyebrows.”

 

Steve Dobish • Lakeshore Municipal Golf Course • Oshkosh, Wisconsin

“Every dollar counts, whether it’s in the pro shop or the maintenance department,” says superintendent Steve Dobish
about this 18-hole municipal course. That philosophy prompted him to install MAGKnife bedknives on his Jacobsen Greens King V and Greens King VI greens mowers.

“My staff consists of one full-time seasonal employee and six part-time seasonal employees,” Dobish says. “Anything I can do to reduce maintenance time translates into savings in my labor budget. It only takes seconds to change the MAGKnives, compared to up to 30 minutes to change our screw-type bedknives.”

Dobish changes bedknives three to four times during the season. He says the quality of cut is actually improved with the MAGSystem.

“Changing out bedknives more often gives us a better quality of cut over the long term,” he explains.