Politics, Religion & Grinding

       This past week we had visit from some of the factory people from Bernhard & Company. They have recently come out with a stand alone unit that you can relief grind a reel mower and this was the focus of the visit. As you might be aware, Bernhard has done very well in the golf business through the years in preaching their spin grinding program. They can point to all of the many top 100 clubs that use their system and the amount of pro tournament events that are hosted by users of the product. Now if there is a few things I have learned over the years it is to avoid in my visits is discussions of politics, religion and I am now starting to believe grinding practices might fall under that umbrella!
       Obviously the manufactures requirements of bringing things back to factory specifications sometimes when there is a quality of cut complaint plays into it but the real thing is giving people what they ask for. Lately I have found some more people who swear it is only one way or the other that works....I know one thing that is true, if you are happy with your turf quality and your Technician is grinding your reels with a hand file then GREAT! It is what works for you. I do know one thing....Sharp reels are good for you turf's health. Using tools like macro scopes & prisms to see how your reels are treating the turf is something if your not doing, I would urge you to start.
       Years ago I was at a golf course where the Superintendent had just been fired after they had had a bad year. The new Superintendent was letting us host a Jim Nedin training event in his shop. As we began to talk about the topic, the Superintendent said lets take a ride out and see the course. As we came up to one of the crew mowing a green, the Super said what do you think? Jim went down to the greens mower and took a handful of clippings. He spreads some out on his hand and took out his hand held microscope. You could see the clipping were torn off and the cut was anything but clean. Jim then took a look at the mower (wasn't even Red..) and found the reel ground down to the spiders. They ended up spending some money immediately replacing reels that were all way out of spec and proceeded to purchase a new set of grinders in the near future. That Superintendent is still there and I do believe it helped him turn things around for the better.

       I will steal one of Jim Nedin's favorite terms in his talks "Happy Grass". If your grass is happy, your members are happy and you are happy! Spin or relief is your grass happy???


Bob Beven of Bernhard & Company at the Dual Master 3000iR Demo Day at Aronimink GC

WJC