The Experience at FarmLinks, a component of FarmLinks, recently expanded its living laboratory to include agronomic training and product demonstrations on its 18-hole, championship golf course. This new program, called the “On the Course Tour,” offers superintendents the chance to see and use cutting-edge products while touring the FarmLinks course. The tour also provides corporate sponsors with a unique opportunity to showcase innovations to an audience of current and new end users who can view, use and experience these products first-hand.
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FarmLinks, the nation’s premier source for “hands-on” course maintenance information, hosts more than 1,200 golf course superintendents and turf professionals each year. And one of the most appealing aspects for these visitors is the opportunity to see new products – in action.
“The On the Course Tour enables us to build on our customized, solutions-oriented program,” stated Erle Fairly, president of FarmLinks. “The Experience is not just for marketing products; we’re creating an environment that provides real-world solutions that superintendents can act upon to improve their courses.”
During each On the Course Tour, Mark Langner, FarmLinks director of agronomy and applied research, takes a group of superintendents on a guided agronomic tour of the course, stopping at selected sites to discuss and/or demonstrate products from FarmLinks’ corporate sponsors.
“This is not like looking at a collection of gadgets and items on display,” explained Langner. “The On the Course Tour allows our guests to fully explore the usefulness and effectiveness of the products we’re currently testing here at FarmLinks. Superintendents can see how everything works and how our course is benefiting from these products. They can also pose problems, ask questions -- and get answers.”
The first corporation to partner with FarmLinks in the new On the Course Tour is TYCROP, a forward-thinking company that’s been prototyping the new program since early May 2006. Since 1985, TYCROP has worked with turfgrass customers to create functional material handling and top dressing equipment designed to ease the pressures of turfgrass maintenance, renovation and construction tasks. Attune to superintendents’ needs, TYCROP’s products are manufactured and tested for optimum performance, simplicity-of-use and ongoing reliability.
Presently on the course at FarmLinks is TYCROP’s PP-180, ProPass broadcast topdresser, and an MH-400, Material Handler. Both of these models are TYCROP’s latest Electronic Hydraulic (EH) versions. The EH versions feature a controller head that can be hand held, mounted in the cab of the tractor (MH-400) or in the work vehicle (PP-180), or remote mounted on a swinging arm from the side of the machine (MH-400), which allows operation from a variety of positions. The controller allows for complete control over all functions of the machine, from operating the main conveyor belt to raising and lowering the hopper (MH-400) and the options/twin spinner. And because the controller is actually a central processing unit (CPU), it has a “last settings” memory and 6 programmable settings. The controller also features Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) technology and allows for future functionality and expandability without having to replace it.
Brad Oliver, vice president of sales and marketing for TYCROP agreed that the “On the Course Tour offers a very unique opportunity for our clients to provide us with real-time feedback, and it gives us the chance to demonstrate the latest innovations in our products in an actual working environment.”
To allow for additional companies to showcase their products and services to the industry’s top professionals, FarmLinks hopes to bring in several more corporate partners to the On the Course program.