Our New Rough Mowing Equipment

This is the new rough mowing equipment we just purchased this month. The machine is a Toro 4500D rotary mower that we will use to mow all of our rough. The machine is the latest technology in rotary mowing and will serve Desert Island for many years to come. The benefits of this type of mower are many and you will see an instant benefit of better playing conditions throughout the rough. The operator Jose Madrigal is doing a fine job of mowing the back of the number two green. This machine will reduce mowing costs in the rough, run more efficient with the new Kubota diesel engine and produce less emissions. This is the type of machine we will continue to purchase in upgrading our mowing fleet. These machines reduce labor costs, reduce emissions and produce the high standard in turf maintenance we are striving for at Desert Island Golf Maintenance.

Traffic Control

The compaction on the golf course around the world is one of the biggest detrements to good turf quality.
The compaction that I am focusing on with this blog is that created by maintenence vehicles and golf cars. The cart paths system on many of the new projects is continuous from the first tee continuing around the entire property. These complete paths solve many maintenance issues vs a tee and green only cart path system. The ingress and egress to the path becomes a challenge and the program we have in place at DIGCC is one of the best I have seen anywhere. I can't claim this as my idea as I saw it first here in the desert and my club president has it at Valhalla, his home club in Kentucky.
Traffic control for golf maintenance vehicles, golf cars and golfers is one of our biggest turf maintenance challenges. The use of some form of a traffic control program is a must on the golf course to insure good quality consistent turf throughout the golf course. These areas that are impacted by the concentrated traffic are in the most important areas on the golf course, the green and tee areas.

The traffic control program we have at DIGCC is one stake at the tee end of the hole and another at the green end of the hole. The idea is for all traffic to concentrate at the stake, the setup guy will move these as needed i.e. three times per week. This program can eliminate the need for any other stakes or rope that is unsightly and costly to keep up. The key to the program requires the golfers and the employees to follow the program. The education of the crew and golfers like all our programs is the challenge. I have had it in place for a year now and we are seeing very good results.

USGA: Articles and Resources

USGA: Articles and Resources

USGA: Management

USGA: Management