COURSE NEWS 25th MAY
Robot Mower
Another dry week - there was a light sprinkle of rain overnight Wednesday but not enough to make a difference. Other than the greens, which are currently watered every night, growth is very slow; much of the mowing through the green is done to top off seed stalks and maintain the appearance - not much grass is coming off. Greens are still alternately cut and ironed: this week they were running at 9’ 6” on the stimp meter, despite a significant showing of seed heads. As noted previously, long dry spells produce faster greens.
Routine work this week included cutting the 4” intermediate rough and strimming and tidying the bunkers. We have also sprayed round the trees to keep the grass away from them, and mown the DEFRA tree areas which were becoming overgrown.
The week’s big interest has been a trial with a robot mower - below. We’ve been wary of these as they emerged but their use is becoming widespread enough to demonstrate they are not just the bleeding edge of technology. This machine, with a cut width of 1 metre, was set up on the practice ground on Thursday and left to run overnight, using the bays as a power source. By the time Gavin came in on Friday morning it had cut the area 3 times! This particular machine is fitted with protective ’skirts’ to avoid damaging balls - it just knocks them out of the way. Obviously it is a rotary mower, but Gavin was satisfied with the cut quality, although the skirts limited the minimum cut height to 20 mm. Our fairways are cut to 14 mm but there are other versions of the mower that can cut much shorter. The next trial will be on the first fairway.
It’s not all wonderful, of course: we would need several machines; we have to locate recharge points; and we need literally to walk with the machine to show it the boundaries of each target cut areas, but once it ‘knows’ the ground it can be controlled via a mobile phone app. The cut height is not self-adjusting in use; Eaton has 8 different grass heights, which would be a bit of a head-scratcher for robot mowers, but it’s early days and there is much to learn.
Course Committee
Routine work this week included cutting the 4” intermediate rough and strimming and tidying the bunkers. We have also sprayed round the trees to keep the grass away from them, and mown the DEFRA tree areas which were becoming overgrown.
The week’s big interest has been a trial with a robot mower - below. We’ve been wary of these as they emerged but their use is becoming widespread enough to demonstrate they are not just the bleeding edge of technology. This machine, with a cut width of 1 metre, was set up on the practice ground on Thursday and left to run overnight, using the bays as a power source. By the time Gavin came in on Friday morning it had cut the area 3 times! This particular machine is fitted with protective ’skirts’ to avoid damaging balls - it just knocks them out of the way. Obviously it is a rotary mower, but Gavin was satisfied with the cut quality, although the skirts limited the minimum cut height to 20 mm. Our fairways are cut to 14 mm but there are other versions of the mower that can cut much shorter. The next trial will be on the first fairway.
It’s not all wonderful, of course: we would need several machines; we have to locate recharge points; and we need literally to walk with the machine to show it the boundaries of each target cut areas, but once it ‘knows’ the ground it can be controlled via a mobile phone app. The cut height is not self-adjusting in use; Eaton has 8 different grass heights, which would be a bit of a head-scratcher for robot mowers, but it’s early days and there is much to learn.
Course Committee