Travels with Terry (Equipment ideas)

Slice into it

This piece of equipment started as a Roseman three-gang fairway/rough mower that was converted into a fairway slicer in 1969. After the cutting units were removed, a 1-inch-diameter steel rod was installed with 10-inch-diameter, case hardened steel slicing blades spaced 5 inches apart. The slicer has spring-loaded bushings and a collar and roll pin on each end with sealed bearings. The 12-volt electric lift was part of the original Roseman unit. There’s a ¼-inch-diameter metal rod attached to the lift/lower lever the equipment operator can reach from the seat of the tow vehicle to raise and lower the unit while seated. There’s a 12-volt electric cable to power the lift, which is attached with alligator clips to the tow vehicle’s 12-volt battery. 

The fairway slicer usually is used after a heavy rain for better penetration into the soil and so the slits don’t dry out too quickly.

There’s a weight tray that has a 50-pound weight limit on the back slicing unit where steel slabs, each weighing about 10 pounds, penetrate the soil and adjust for proper depth. The front two slicing units don’t need a weight tray because once the units are lowered, the weight of the metal frame helps the slicing blades penetrate the soil.

The blades cut the soil about 2-inches long and 1½-inches deep on 5-inch centers. The transport wheels have about 24 psi of tire pressure. The penetration depth of the front units can be adjusted with the electric lift.
The tow vehicle has an operating speed of about 5 mph. All of the fairways can be sliced in one direction in one day. This is the second set of blades that have been used on this piece of equipment in 36 years.

D. Frank Dobie, superintendent/general manager at The Sharon Golf Club in Sharon Center, Ohio, conceived this idea of recycling and modifying old equipment that has lasted decades and is still running strong.

Rake away

Jeff Sutherland, the superintendent of the Pacific Dunes Course at Bandon (Ore.) Dunes Golf Resort, approached Ken Sjogren, the equipment mechanic, with a broken bunker rake and asked him if he could build a stronger, affordable, more durable bunker rake for golfers’ use. After a couple of adjustments, Sjogren came up with a bunker rake design.

The hardwood handle is about 1 1/8- inch in diameter and is 58 inches long. It’s split about 21 inches from the rake head, and a copper sleeve is attached at the base of the split to help strengthen the handle and keep it from splitting. The ends of the handle are cut by a tenon cutter and then glued or screwed to the rake head with stainless steel screws. The screw holes are predrilled, and the screws are countersunk.

The rake head is made out of Port Orford white cedar and measures 1 1/8- inch by  inch and is 16-, 18-, 20- or 22-inches wide. The head’s teeth are       inch in diameter and measure ¾- to 2-inches long on 1¼-inch centers. The teeth are glued in place. The lightweight cedar wood is strong and weathers well in the Pacific Northwest. The holes in the rake head for the teeth aren’t drilled all the way through – they’re about 7/8-inch long. The teeth dowels are replaceable by using a brad drill, which has a point that can be centered on the old dowel for easy extraction. The rake was conceived, designed and built Sjogren and Sutherland. Troy Russell is director of golf course maintenance at the resort. GCN