Jacobsen, John Deere and Toro are all using the 2016 Golf Industry Show to unveil fairway or rough mowers with wider cutting widths.
We met with representatives from all three companies on the show floor to learn how these new offerings can help superintendents better manage their grass, crews and balance sheets.
Ben Bruce, Jacobsen
“It’s about labor costs and trying to get that down, and trying to do more with less time. Everyone is trying to look at that – and rough. People have a lot of rough on their courses. There’s a lot of area in that. The more you can more mow that efficiently, the better off you are going to be.”
Mike Koppen, John Deere
“We started thinking about it during the downturn. We saw budgets decrease, not just in North America, but throughout the world. And as we talked to customers, they basically told us they had to do more with less, less people and obviously less budget. It starts with and it ends with the customer. We have done a lot of feedback programs where we bring a lot of customers in. That’s one way to do it. Show them prototypes, show them concepts, show them stuff that’s really just in our heads. If you don’t listen to the customer, you are not going to get it right. Our ‘aha’ moment was not only how do we mow more, but how do we mow it better. You don’t want to sacrifice cut quality to do more. You want to do it both at the same time.”
Tony Ferguson, Toro
“The question is: How do they manage shrinking budgets and do more with less? The productivity message is a message that every customer resonates with. If you can do a wider cut with a product like our (Groundsmaster) 5900 or even the 100-inch fairway mowers vs. 80-inch fairway mower, you get more productivity. Save time, less labor, less costly. It just benefits them all the way around, and they are stretching the budgets to do more than have in the past, and they feel sort of pinched. We are providing things that will enable them to do that.”