Since the 1980s, Jacobsen has been hosting the Future Turf Managers' program, an annual educational event for college seniors in several of the world’s top turfgrass programs. This year, Dan Strey from Iowa State University (ISU) attended the exclusive seminar and received a valuable education about Jacobsen's top-of-the-line equipment. "Most may think that Jacobsen equipment is mass produced, but in truth, each machine is hand assembled by a single individual", said Strey. "The once forgotten manufacturing and assembly trait of America is still instilled within this company." While this fact stands out as an impressive feat, due to the egregious amount of time and effort it takes to put together such a detailed piece of equipment, Jacobsen's focus on Frequency of Clip (F.O.C.) is equally important.
F.O.C is the rate at which the reel/blades in a mower rotate to cut the grass. Jacobsen engineers have zeroed in on this concept in its new walk-behind greens mower, allowing the user to set the F.O.C. independent of the speed the operator is walking. For example, if the operator slows down while running the machine, the number of clips per inches actually increases, which results in a smoother finish and faster green.
During the Seminar, Strey also visited a few golf courses and sports fields that might quite an impression on the ISU Senior. On his tour of Sage Valley Golf Club, Strey claimed that "the course was in perfect condition and I kid you not, there wasn’t a grass blade out of place. I’ve worked and been at a couple of top 100 courses, but this ranks at the top of the list."
His visit to the South Carolina Gamecocks new forty million dollar stadium was also exceptionally impressive. “This was a rather new experience for someone like myself,” said Strey. The Gamecocks Sports Turf Manager, Clark Cox “was in the middle of converting his fields from Ryegrass to Bermuda grass.”
For Strey, the trip to Jacobsen’s North Carolina headquarters was a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” We know that the knowledge and experience he gained from the program will help in the turf industry for many years to come.
For more information about Luber Brothers, please visit www.luber.com. To contact us, please e-mail to sales@luber.com or call (972) 313-2020.
