Electric Equipment Initiative Rolls On

Several years ago we began a program utilizing fully electric equipment on our golf course that we called the Electric Equipment Initiative.  We needed a new mower for the clubhouse grounds recently, so sticking with our philosophy of reducing fuel use and carbon emissions, we purchased the EGO Lithium-ion battery powered mower from The Home Depot.

The EGO mower is a fully electric 21inch self propelled mower powered by a 56 volt lithium-ion rechargeable battery that will run for about one hour and will fully recharge in an hour.  The biggest question we had was, Would the mower have enough power to mow around the entire clubhouse on a single charge?  We are pleased to say that the mower has enough power to do the job and then some.

The EGO mower is great.  It is quiet so we are not disrupting golfers, guests, or clubhouse employees while we are mowing around the clubhouse.  It is lightweight so we really don't even have to use the self propel function if we don't want to.  It continues to help us save fuel, eliminate the possible environmental contamination with oils or fluids and eliminates the emission of harmful carbon emissions.  It looks really cool as well...it has headlights so we can silently mow in the dark if we choose.

The EGO mower, since it doesn't have any fluids or gas in it to spill out, can be stored in almost any position.  The mower folds up easily to about the size of a 50 pound bag of seed and can be stored out of the way, up against a wall to save space.

The purchase of this fully electric push mower brings our electric equipment project "full circle".  After all. it was an electric lawnmower used by Ms. Lori Munkeboe's neighbor early on a weekend morning that got the conversation about utilizing fully electric equipment on our golf course started.  This mower is just another great addition to our fleet and we hope to add more electric elements to our toolbox in the future.

We are excited and honored to be able to detail the history and success of our Electric Equipment Initiative in this month's Golf Course Management magazine in an article "Can You Hear Me Now?" starting on page 46.  I have had the pleasure of telling our story to several organizations across the country over the past several years and I hope this article will be able to reach many more and get them thinking about the advantages of using fully electric equipment to maintain their golf course.  This was a fun article to write and I have to say thanks to everyone who helped me complete this article and get it in print.

If you have any questions about using electric equipment on your course, or possibly, at your home please let me know.  If I can be of any assistance I will gladly answer any questions that I can.

Programmable Frequency of Clip

As many of you know we recently got some new mowers for the greens.  The mowers have allowed us to provide a quality of cut that we have not been able to produce before.  We have been experimenting with the heights of cut to see how low we can go without damaging the putting surface and this past week we have been working with the programmable frequency of clip (FOC) which is exclusive to the Jacobsen Eclipse 322.

 
 
One of the great features that we are enjoying about the new mowers is the programmable frequency of clip.  Frequency of Clip is better explained in this YouTube video Frequency of Clip Animation than I could do. 



Over the past several weeks we have been double cutting the greens (mowing the green twice either in different directions or up and back the same pass) to provide the quality putting surface that we need to provide.  This week we started adjusting the FOC on the mowers to determine which would be the best operation for us to do, double cut the greens at a particular FOC or single cut at a lower FOC while still getting the same quality of cut and removing the proper desired amount of clippings.

FOC 0.07 (left) vs. FOC 0.10 (right)

In a very non-scientific experiment we found by using the programmable FOC that we were able to remove the same amount of clippings and provide the same high quality of cut while reducing our actual time spent mowing the greens, the battery powered used, and the wear and tear on the greens surround.

The photo above shows clippings removed from two greens which are very similar in size, #7 and #18.  They were mowed with the same mower and by the same operator the only difference was #7 was double cut, or mowed in two different directions, with the FOC set at 0.10 and #18 was single cut with the FOC set at 0.07. 

FOC 0.07 (front) vs. FOC 0.10 (back)

As you can tell the amount of clippings removed from the different greens is not substantially different and I can tell you that the quality of cut is no different.  What did change was the amount of time spent mowing the green.  Lowering the FOC from 0.10 to 0.07 slowed the overall forward travel speed of the mower down but did not change the speed at which the reel was turning.  As a result the same amount of grass was removed from the green but took 5 minutes less to single cut the green than it did to double cut the green. 

The programmable FOC gives us the flexibility to change the amount of grass removed from the greens quickly without having to change gears or sprockets or fittings as we would have to on other models.  Saving the additional time and wear and tear on the greens surrounds is another added benefit that is very important to our operation.

We are excited about what other great features we will be able to enjoy with the new mowers and how they will help our guests enjoy the golf course better.

Electric Greensmowers and Greens Rollers Arrive

 What better way to wrap up a great week of operations at the golf course than to take delivery of our new fully electric Jacobsen Eclipse 322 greensmowers and our new fully electric Tru-Turf greens rollers.

 

 Mitch is trying out the new Eclipse mower.  The operation is so quiet all you can hear is the sound of the reels turning.  It has been a long time since we have been able to cut any green grass and the arrival of these greensmowers just adds to that desire.  Really looking forward to a great year and some of the best manicured greens we have ever had.

 

We also took delivery of the new 48 volt Tru Turf Electric greens roller which will help us to provide faster, firmer greens.  The tri-roller smoothing heads and the rubber coated drive roller will help us to roll the greens in almost any direction without the fear of leaving creases or lines in the putting surface.

 

 

Here is another quick video to demonstrate the quietness of the electric equipment. 

 

Only a couple more pieces of equipment to be delivered and some finish up work in the golf course maintenance building by Ooltewah Electric and the Electric Equipment Initiative will be in full swing.