A first look via the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition

We travel across the pond not just for the cask ales, but because we want to see the new stuff now.

It was my second trip to the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition in Harrogate, England, so while I wasn’t as wide-eyed as I was my first time attending the show, I still was impressed to see equipment that hasn’t yet been out in the open in the U.S.

“Productivity” was the word of the day, with the quest for increased productivity the reoccurring theme in three of the booth visits we made. All three experts interviewed in this story were also on hand in San Diego to give Golf Industry Show attendees an in-person tour of the equipment.

If you didn’t make it to the GIS in person to see this equipment up close, don’t worry. Along with the interviews below, we also took video of each item for an exclusive Golfdom TV video tour.

Jacobsen LF577

The new Jacobsen LF577 is simple: add two more mowing units — from five to seven — and it’s better, right? Like in This is Spinal Tap, this new mower now goes to 11.

Not so simple, says Lee Kristensen, product manager. “Some good thought has gone into this,” he says. “It’s not as straightforward as putting on extra mowers. We’ve gone in and reworked areas of the chassis to make it easy to maintain, and it’s reinforced to carry the extra weight.”

The additional mowers have given the fairway mower a 38-percent wider cutting width. It’s Tier 4 Final with a 139-inch cutting width and offers the same benefits as other mowers in the LM line, Kristensen says, like steel piping and a hood that allows mechanics easy access to the engine.

“Out in the field, everyone is talking about more productivity,” Kristensen says. “Courses are losing staff. This mower gives them back productivity by allowing them to cut more grass.”

Listen to the audio clip for more product details:

John Deere 9009A Terrain Cut

Productivity was the buzzword over at the John Deere booth as well, where Tracy Lanier, product manager, was showing off the 9009A Terrain Cut mower for the first time. The rough mower has five 27-inch decks, cuts a 9-foot wide swath and specializes in following contours and clipping dispersal.

“A lot of new design went into the 27-inch decks as far as air flow coming out the back of the deck to help with clipping dispersal,” Lanier says. “It’s a big thing to be able to disperse the clippings properly, so a lot of air flow measurements were done in development to get a nice, even metering. A lot of our customers have keyed in on that as being a good benefit.”

The mower is in production now, and the first ones were available right before the Golf Industry Show. The 9009A has all the features of the A models of mowers that Deere first released in 2014, like internal wet-disc brakes, 4-wheel drive, easy maneuverability and contour following.

“It’s a ground-up design for us, so it’s brand new but it is similar to our A models, so it has familiar controls,” Lanier says.

Listen to the audio clip for more product details:

Turfco Widespin 1550

We got a productivity bingo before leaving the BTME show. The third reference came from Scott Kincaid, executive vice president of Turfco.

“A lot of what we focus on is how to make superintendents and course managers more productive,” Kincaid said. “Being able to save their preferred settings, you save them once and you don’t have to do it again. For the first time ever, you can make a green application, drive off and do a completely different application on your approach without having to get off the truck.”

The Widespin 1550 features a larger hopper, making it easier to load while spilling less material. It also has a rate calculator that is useful for budgeting. Kincaid says the Widespin fits on all common maintenance vehicles — Toro, John Deere and the new Jacobsen Trucksters.

Listen to the audio clip for more product details:

Not quite ready: The new Syngenta App

One item you probably didn’t see at the GIS is the new Syngenta Greencast Turf App. At the Syngenta booth, Golf Market Manager Austen Sutton gave us a preview of the app and what it can do.

Sutton says the app still is a few months away from being formally introduced to the U.S. market, and for now is exclusive to Europe. American users can look forward to a useful app that simplifies spray application recordkeeping and improves the efficiency of spray applications. The app can be customized to the individual course, with information like turf areas, sprayer details and operator, and saved to the course’s records. To learn more about the app and see a demo, visit www.greencast.co.uk.

Media: Golfdom