Staying Sharp

For those of you who have played golf since last friday, you probably noticed that the greens were topdressed with a little bit of sand.  These relatively regular topdressings (every 2 to 3 weeks during the summer) help keep the playing surface on the greens firm and true, as well as help the small imperfections from ball marks heal up faster.  While sand topdressing is one of the most important practices we do to a putting green to keep it in good shape, putting millions of small pieces of rock on top the turf absolutely trashes our mowing equipment.

While our greens mowers require some regular touch up sharpening a few times a week, after we mow the greens for 2 or 3 days after topdressing they couldn't cut through a warm stick of butter.  At this point, they require some more serious attention.

Unfortunately, our head mechanic has been on permanent vacation since I have been here, so I appointed Andy to the position of Assistant Mechanic, and he in turn appointed me to the position of Jr. Executive Mechanic.  Over the course of the last year Andy has become very proficient with our spin grinder for the reels, and I have become quite handy with the bedknife facer, so together we make a decent team at getting the mowers sharpened up.

For our three walk behind greens mowers, it took us together one full afternoon of grinding and set up to get them back to razor sharp and ready to shave grass at 1/8" until the next time we topdress, then we get to do it all over again....

A nice Tuesday afternoon in the grinding room.... 

Andy throwing sparks