2/25/2013 8:02 PM
We do 60-70,000 rounds per year in South Florida. I never get any negative comments about fairways. They are well defined. The pros can pick them off on long shots and find the lies tight enough on short shots to throw "darts" at the pins. The high handicappers do not complain about tight lies. It has been years since I got a complaint about roughs being too punitive. We have T-419 Roughs and the ball can sit down in there if you are not careful.
I have employees who ride those tractors for the most part 40 hours per week. That is hell-on-earth particularly during the dog-days of summer. I cannot do it anymore and I have employees older than me who can. You have to let them get off and walk around during the day. Buy their means of hydration, attach it to their tractor and make it easy to use. You gotta wear that seatbelt, what happens of you get hit in the head with a ball. All of the sharp cutting stuff is behind you.
I graduated from Lake City (Florida Gateway College) in 1983. I completed my GC Equipment Mechanic's Certification in 1981. My project was a Jacobsen 7-Gang F-10 that sat in a dump for seven years. My challenge was to refurbish this piece of equipment in eight weeks. My first job was to use a chainsaw to remove Brazilian Pepper that had grown up through every open spot. After 8 weeks the unit was fully functional (all new bearings, bushings, bedknives, the original reels had plenty of meat), freshly painted, had all new decals, everything worked, all reels were set at 1.5" and cut one and crimped on on folded newspaper.
These reel units are bulletproof and can be rebuilt forever.