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Oak Hills Country Club, of San Antonio, Texas, is famous for its tight, tree-lined fairways and its long, rich history. Designed by A. W. Tillinghast, architect of the famed Winged Foot and Baltusrol golf clubs as well, Oak Hills first opened in 1922 and has since hosted 24 PGA Tour events and several more Texas Opens.
Golfers around the country know the course for its rolling hills and its imposing oak trees, a trademark that makes the job of Oak Hills superintendent Craig Felton, CGCS, that much more difficult.
“This is a beautiful course with a great history, but it’s a tough place to mow because we have a bunch of roots and difficult terrain to maintain in and around all of the trees,” says Felton, who has been the course’s superintendent for the past four years. “If there’s anything that can really beat up on a mower, you’ll find it here at Oak Hills.”
“Between the roots and the erosion we’re starting to see, any type of reel mower in the rough is out of the question,” he explains. “We need tough mowers that can handle what we need them to do.”
With an expansive amount of rough, that tests even the most durable of machines, Felton and his maintenance crew traded in their fleet of four five-year-old AR-5s for new Jacobsen AR-522 rough-cut rotary mowers in the spring of 2008. The upgrade to newer machines has made a significant impact, according to Felton.
“Because of the power and the cutting decks on these AR-522s, they just eat right through whatever we use them on out here - and that’s saying something,” he says.
Jacobsen’s AR-522 is equipped with a 59-hp engine and delivers the most horsepower per width-of-cut of any mower in its class, a benefit Felton says was key to his decision-making process.
“When you do side by side comparisons with other rough rotaries, there definitely seems to be a power difference with this mower and that is the biggest reason why I decided to go with the AR-522 in the first place,” Felton says. “When it gets hot and wet down here in Texas, we can grow a lot of grass very quickly so we need every bit of that power out here on this course.”
“We mow roughs once a week,” he adds. “It takes us about three days with all four units running and I never have to go over anything twice with these mowers, that’s for sure.”
The mulching capacity of the AR-522’s cutting decks is another feature Felton has enjoyed putting to plenty of use.
“I mulch everything now,” he says. “Before, we only had discharge decks and those would leave lines and clippings, but the mulching leaves a much cleaner look.”
Felton admits that Oak Hills Country Club is a great venue to evaluate how well a machine is built and is a true test of any machine’s durability.
“We’re a rough golf course to mow, and if these mowers can make it out here, they can make it anywhere,” he says. “If a superintendent is dealing with the same kind of rough terrain on his course that we have out here, he’d be smart to look into a couple of AR-522s. They just eat right through the tough stuff and have been great machines for us.”
Additional information about the company, its products and commitment to customer support is available at www.Jacobsen.com.
