Tee Mowing Cancel The title field is required!

1. Ryan Leach

   

   6 posts
   
   1/7/2020 4:01 AM

   Labor is going down and we are looking to streamline tee mowing. It takes about 5 hours to mow them. Guy gets to the tee, removes the tee markers, mows, does the cleanup pass, puts the markers back on square to the fairway. Is anyone using mow over tee markers or have a streamlined process that won't eat up 15+ hours a week?
   We have an idea that splits that time up and hopefully save some time. I would love some feedback. Tees are same HOC and turf type as fairways. On my first round in the am I would take the markers off, the fairway guys would hit the lions share of the tees while the tee mower guy would just do clean ups and put the markers back on. 
       
   

   
   
   
   
2. Chris Nicholas

   

   5 posts
   
   1/8/2020 8:01 AM in reply to Ryan Leach

   It sounds like you are already doing all you can without sacrificing something.
   
   If you used mow over tee blocks what would you save? Are you still going to move them in order to shift wear and tear on the tee? I know it feels better for the guy mowing not to be getting on and off the machine to do tee blocks but I don't know how much time you actually save having someone else moving them.
   
   Can you cut back on the number of mows? Not sure what type of grass you are on but I think its often possible to mow 2 times a week instead of 3.
   

   
   
   
   
3. Dean Chase

   

   3 posts
   
   1/8/2020 12:01 PM

   We cut back from 3x to twice a week last fall due to labor. I don't think anyone noticed. We had to be sure to blow off divots and debris to keep them tidy. I still prefer 3x/wk but I could live with 2 if I didn't have time or labor.

   
   
   
   
4. Paul Double

   

   37 posts
   
   1/9/2020 8:01 AM

   It does sound like you have a decent method in place. We have our cup cutters go out and pull the tee markers ahead of the mowers so that the mowers just pull up and mow and put markers back on. We cut back to 2x a week several years ago and nobody noticed.  I also use Primo, so this reducing how often they have to dump their buckets.
   Paul

   
   
   
   
5. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   1/9/2020 7:01 PM in reply to Ryan Leach

   Ryan,
   
   Having the fairway mower get the bulk of the tee sounds like a pretty good option to me.
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
6. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   1/10/2020 5:01 AM

   At my last place I switched to using Fairway mowers to cut tees. cut time way down. so much so that We started cutting all tees and tee slopes. we would place the tees far enough apart to cut in between them then when we moved the tees to cut where they were at we would move them into cut areas. this enabled my guys to only move them once instead of twice. 
   I have large tees at my new place but I am still considering cutting the slopes here also. I thought it looked much cleaner.

   
   
   
   
7. Ryan Leach

   

   6 posts
   
   1/10/2020 7:01 AM

   Thanks for the inputs. I think we are going to try and use turf paint for the markers (shot of green to cover last days) and mow with fairway mowers. 

   
   
   
   
8. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   1/11/2020 8:01 AM in reply to Ryan Leach

   The only problem I see with this is golfers not knowing where to go when they drive up to the tees.

   
   
   
   
9. Ryan Reimer

   

   3 posts
   
   1/15/2020 7:01 AM

   Maybe you could find a volunteer to come in and move them ahead of the mowers and then put them back in exchange for free golf?

   
   
   
   
10. Dennis Petruzzelli

    

    5 posts
    
    2/12/2020 7:02 AM

    2-12-2020
    
    Hi Ryan -
    
    We had a similar problem when I got to my current property. I decided to put another mower out on tees (2 tl.). A solid pgr program has reduced clippings/growth and has allowed us to easily mow them 2x instead of 3x / week. Tee marker removal is a joint effort between course set-up people/tee divot fillers/fairway mowing personnel. Small budget, but we get creative in improving work efficiencies.
    
    Good Luck.
    
    Dennis Petruzzelli, CGCS
    Oronoque CC
    Stratford, CT
    

    
    
    
    
11. Jon Ferrucio

    

    6 posts
    
    2/18/2020 10:02 AM

    We also cut down our mowing from 3 down to 2 days a week (Tues&Thurs) and rely on a heavy PGR program. Another thing that helped us was removing our broken tee caddys and divot containers on all Tee boxes except for the Par 3's. Not many members noticed and the one's that did appreciated us trying to be more efficient.

    
    
    
    
12. Chris Nicholas

    

    5 posts
    
    2/19/2020 7:02 AM

    We also cut down our mowing from 3 down to 2 days a week
    (Tues&Thurs) and rely on a heavy PGR program. Another thing that
    helped us was removing our broken tee caddys and divot containers on all
    Tee boxes except for the Par 3's. Not many members noticed and the
    one's that did appreciated us trying to be more efficient.

    
    
    Any issues with divot recovery using PGR's on a tee? My course has some small tees and recovery is one of the main reasons PGR's have never been used.
    

    
    
    
    
13. Paul Double

    

    37 posts
    
    2/19/2020 8:02 AM in reply to Chris Nicholas

    We have not seen any issues with divot recovery. When a divot is taken, you are replacing with all new material and seed so the PGR does not  affect this. I have seen areas a little slower to recover where somebody did not take out a full divot and just scratched the turf and this area did recover, just took about an extra week compared to a test tee that did not have PGR applied. We use Divot Recovery Mix from Harrells in our divot boxes.

    
    
    
    
14. Ryan Bruner

    

    4 posts
    
    2/26/2020 7:02 PM in reply to Paul Double

    I have the person that empties my trash cans move the tees as he goes around.  Then tee mower person puts them back on.  Saves a little time
    

    
    
    
    
15. Christopher Thuer

    

    101 posts
    
    3/1/2020 1:03 PM

    My budget has increased less than $50k since I started Feb 25, 2002. Still below $500k. When the Federal minimum increased, 2006?, and every time we have increased the starting wage to be competitive in the entry level labor market, now $11, we have lost 1 position pretty much for every dollar increase. 2002 15 staff. Now 9 during peak season.
    
    One of the first adjustments we did way back then was reduce mowing frequency. We had 3 triplex mowers on Tees, 1 on aps, 1 on intermediate, and 2 on FW (7 people) 3 days per week, M-W-F. We went to 3 mowers on tees M and R, and 2 on fairways, 1 intermediate, 1 aps, T and F. This eliminated the need for 3 people right away and allowed us to continue walk mowing greens. It takes about 4 to 5 hours for 3 mowers on tees, and about 6 to 7 with 2 mowers when we are short staffed.
    
    We have always used growth regulator combos on all of the bent g, t, fw but we did increase the rate a little. There was no noticeable difference in quality or clippings.
    
    As our staff continued to reduce in numbers we quit walk mowing greens.
    

    
    Chris Thuer, CGCS, Bear Slide Golf Club, Cicero, IN