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One of the biggest struggles for a superintendent is hitting high standards for turf while staying within the lines of a budget. When facing down a tough bottom line and looking at equipment, Rick Baker at Baker Vehicle Systems in Macedonia, Ohio, says there’s one thing superintendents need to focus on.
What’s the most important aspect to consider in looking at equipment for value?
I tell a lot of people that when they buy a piece of equipment, they are really purchasing the results that particular piece is providing, whether they’re results through reliability, productivity or the quality of cut. Because greens and even fairways are mowed at such low heights of cut, the quality of cut a machine produces is magnified. When you mow your yard at home at, it doesn’t really matter whether it’s mowed at 3 inches, 3.25 or 2.75. The results are basically the same and are purely aesthetic. A green mowed at 1/8 inches (.125) should be appealing to the eye, but also has to play well, and roll smooth and fast.
What exactly do you mean by “quality of cut”?
The quality of cut a mower provides can take a couple different forms. How consistent is the cut? Is it even? Is the cut clean, or is the grass torn or the cut ragged? Jacobsen cutting units are very forgiving. The factory spec calls for .002 inches of space between the reel and bedknife. Any contact between the two constitutes “over-adjustment” and will lead to premature wear of both the reel and bedknife and, ultimately a dull cutting edge that won’t provide superior results. How cleanly a mower cuts affects the overall health of the turf.
Quality of cut, in my opinion, is at the top of the list because our customers, superintendents, they’re buying a piece of equipment to accomplish something. They’re buying a piece of equipment to reach certain results they’ve defined for themselves.
Give me an example of getting value out of equipment without sacrificing quality of cut.
The LF550 is the flagship of Jacobsen’s fairway mower line. The LF510 offers many of the advantages of the LF550 but in a more affordable package. Perhaps the biggest benefit of the LF510 is that it uses the same exact cutting units that the LF550 does. With today’s budget-conscience golf courses and clubs, the LF510 provides an affordable alternative to the feature-rich LF550 without compromising the cutting performance. Because they both use the same tried and true cutting unit, quality of cut and results aren’t sacrificed.
Jacobsen’s cutting units haven’t changed much through the years for the simple fact that they haven’t needed to. Some minor changes have been made with things like the new “TrueSet” reel/bedknife adjustment feature. But the design and engineering that has made Jacobsen cutting units the leader when it comes to quality of cut is the same today as it was yesterday. We hang our hat on this history and cut performance.