Jacobsen LF1880 Working Well At Kings Hill
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NESTLING AGAINST the sought after housing of the Kings Hill estate, Kings Hill golf club has literally hundreds of critical eyes looking over its greens, tees and fairways. This past six months, the locals have been in for an added treat. The fairways are now mown year round to ensure they are an aesthetic delight.
Situated on the site of former RAF West Malling, Kings Hill golf club benefits from a free draining sandstone soil, this incidentally being a key reason why it was originally chosen as an airfield back in the 1930s. Heavy Wealden clays are predominant in this area of Kent.
It is this free draining nature of the sandstone soils upon which it is based that now benefits the golf club.
Playable year round, it is well placed to serve strong local demand, nestling as it does in the midst of the recently built, and exclusive, Kings Hill housing development.
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PAT ON THE BACK
The golf course was started in 1995, following Kent County Council releasing the former aerodrome site for development. Opening its clubhouse doors to new members in October 1996, Kings Hill may still be maturing, but you would not know it from the condition of the greens, tees and fairways. If the condition of the latter in January 2005 is anything to go by, the club’s greens staff deserve a big pat on the back.
It is here where the clubs mowing policy brings in the subject of this article, the Jacobsen LF 1880 mower. Although well established in the USA, this super light model was introduced into the UK in late 2003, Kings Hill being among its first UK customers, taking delivery of two machines in June 2004.
Since the fairways were first established, the club had been using a Toro 4500 mower to cover what amounts to just under 18ha of fairway. Reliable and productive, the 4500 proved to be the ideal choice for the club as the fairways became established, its robust reels delivering a good quality cut with the added advantage of tolerance to the odd stone and debris that will always find its way to the surface on newly established turf.
YEAR-ROUND MOWING
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Fast forward to 2004, and it was decided that the time had come to look for a lighter fairway machine to tackle the fairways. Thanks to the free draining nature of the course, year round mowing was seen as not only possible but advantageous; the occasional winter mow can really give the fairways a spring like appearance.
“Our Toro 4500 has served us well, and will be retained for use on our practice ground,” says greenkeeper Dan McGrath.
“We have a Toro 455 rotary for the semi-roughs, but the 4500 may also be used to mow certain areas here. It is a good mower, but too heavy for our now established fairways.”
Dan goes on to explain that Jacobsen LTF 1880 mowers have a considerably lighter footprint. This enables them to mow when the Toro would have to remain tucked up in the shed. The switch to two lightweight fairway machines now means the fairways can be mown to a little and often regime, with in season mowing taking place three times a week.
“We also chose the Jacobsen mowers because they turn cleanly,” adds Dan. “This is important at any time of year, but has added significance when mowing in damper conditions. We also specified groomers reels.
These enable us to use both machines to vertically mow the approaches, an operation that we previously had to do separately.”
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WINTER MOWS
With regard to operation, the two mowers have performed well in their first six months, and had clocked just under 350 hours each by mid-January. By that time, one of the mowers had done several winter mows. This was more to tidy the fairways appearance than actually cut grass; the reels are set at 18mm for winter, 15mm for summer.
Although both models are fitted with the selectable four-wheel drive option, this feature is not needed for most mowing. Dan suggests the club’s decision to choose it, however, is sound as one or two slopes on a couple of the fairways can become slippery when wet.
Why risk turf damage when flicking a button brings in added traction? With regard to operator likes and dislikes, it is all plusses for the two Jacobsen mowers. Offering superior visibility to the Toro 4500, with its midmounted outer gangs, the two ‘Jakes’are smooth running, quiet and comfortable. Add light steering and easy to reach controls, and Dan suggests a typical four hour mowing stint is no problem.
MAINTAINING ‘THE KIT’
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Kings Hill has a full-time compliment of eight greenkeepers, the club preferring not to give individual job titles. It also boasts another vital member of staff, course mechanic, Jon Paul Brinkman. Former assistant to the head mechanic at Bel Air golf club in Los Angeles, Jon Paul joined Kings Hill in October 2002.
“We do the bulk of our maintenance in-house,” says Jon Paul.“Aroutine grease on the Jacobsen mowers takes perhaps half an hour, with more in depth service taking closer to an hour. There are 100 grease points on these mowers, with 50 hour
intervals for those on the axles and reels and 100 hours for the remainder.”
Maintenance levels for these two light fairway mowers is not seen as excessive, but both Dan and Jon Paul suggest users need to be aware that the reels are considerably lighter than on a more traditional fairway model. A stone that would barely be noticed by the Toro will be more liable to damage the reels of an LF 1880.
“This is not meant as a criticism,” adds Jon Paul.
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“We just need to be aware that these are light mowers and that the operator needs to be extra careful.”
“It takes perhaps a morning to regrind all five units” he says. “I prefer to do this job little and often, and avoid backlapping. But the Jacobsen system makes doing a good backlap straightforward. The reel speed can be adjusted right down so that a little grinding paste can be applied and the job done gently.”
SPREADING THE WORKLOAD
With a working width of a modest 200cm, or around 80 inches in old money, the output of the LF models is short of the wider Toro 4500. Hence the choice of two machines to spread the workload. A valuable bonus is one machine would be able to tackle the whole course if necessary by upping the summer fairway mowing routine from its current Monday, Wednesday and Friday routine.
“We have run Jacobsen equipment at Kings Hill before, and have no problems with machine reliability.
The back-up we receive from our local dealer, Ernest Doe, is also good,” says Jon Paul.
Dan takes up this point, saying the club buy by individual machines, and do not have fixed manufacturer or dealer loyalty. “Take a look at our machinery inventory,” he says.
“John Deere, Toro, Jacobsen, Saxon and Kubota are all represented. We look solely at the equipment and what a given machine will do for us in terms of quality of finish and ease of use on our site.”
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EARLY DAYS YET
So what about equipment replacement policies at the club? Dan suggests they do not have a fixed view in this respect, and with the Jacobsen fairway mowers they will see how they perform over the next summer to get an idea of potential operating costs. Some machines will be turned around every four, five or seven years. Others, like the Toro 4500, are kept longer, the latter’s reduced workload possibly seeing it having a further extended run with the club.
It is still early days for the Jacobsen LF 1880s at Kings Hill, but their performance to date has met all demands and the all important quality of cut cannot be faulted. Kings Hill does have the advantage of a well qualified mechanic to keep the two machines in good order, and the necessary disciplines to ensure the mowers are operated correctly. This is an important point to consider. A super light fairway mower is only the right choice when there is the support to keep it running as it should.
THIS USER VERDICT
Light and versatile fairway mower. Comfortable with good visibility. High quality cut. Verticut set-up straightforward. Light unit will not tolerate abuse.
ENGINE
Model – Kubota D1105E 3-cylinder, liquid-cooled diesel, sealed cooling system, 40-amp alternator Horsepower – 19.39kw (26hp) @ 3600rpm AirFilter – Dry type with service indicator Displacement – 1898cc Fuel Capacity 45.42 litre (10 gallons)
POWER UNIT
Reel Drive – Tandem gear pump with 2 solenoidcontrolled spool-type valves; gear-type hydraulic motors mounted on each reel; pressure-compensated backlapping standard Steering – Rear-wheel, hydrostatic power steering Lift System – Electro-hydraulic system with doubleacting cylinders; lift to cross-cut position only; touchlift joystick Hydraulic System – 30.28 litre (6.6 gal) capacity; Greens Care biodegradeable hydraulic fluid; oil monitor with low-oil audible alarm standard Tyres – (Front) 24 x 13.00-12 tubeless Goodyear Softrac II Tierra Tyres (Rear) 18 x 9.50-8 tubeless ribtread Brakes – (Service) Dynamic, through-traction system (Parking) (2) front disc Speed – Mowing: 9.7km/h (0-6mph) Transport: 9.7km/h (0-6mph) Reverse: 6.4km/h (0-4mph) Frame – Welded, tubular construction Seat – High-back, standard suspension with armrests Headlights – (2) standard
CUTTING UNITS
Number – 5 Width – 45cm (18″) Weight Transfer – Spring-biased to rear roller Reel Diameter – 12.5cm (5″) Height of Cut – 8mm to 18mm (0.3 to 0.7″) up to 15/16″ with Hi-Cut) using low-profile, heavy bedknife Reel Options – 11 blade, using greens mower section 8 blade, using fairway mower section Reel Speed – Approximately 2000rpm RearRoller – 5cm (2″) diameter heavy-duty smooth (shortened to minimise overlap striping); roller scraper standard Front RollerOptions – 7.5cm (3″) diameter; grooved steel roller, 5cm (2″) diameter groomer-type, grooved front rollers, or 5cm (2″) diameter smooth front roller
DIMENSIONS
Width of Cut – 200cm (80″) Mowing Width – 220cm (88″) TransportWidth – 220cm (88″) Overall Height – Approximately 140cm (56″) to top of steering wheel Overall Length – 265cm (106″) with catchers on Weight – 4WD 996kg (2200lb) with minimum fuel in tank and mowers raised
DID YOU KNOW?
WESTMALLING AERODROME began as a private landing ground in 1930, housing the Maidstone School of Flying. In July 1932 the name was changed to the Maidstone Airport, and over the years the aerodrome became well known with visits from Alan Cobham and Amy Johnson.
Opened as RAF West Malling in June 1940 the upgraded site was used as an advanced aerodrome for both Kenley and Biggin Hill.
It was initially home to No.26 (Army Cooperation) Squadron flying Westland Lysander reconnaissance aircraft. No. 141 Squadron, equipped with the Boulton Paul Defiant, arrived at West Malling a few weeks later. Heavy losses saw this squadron virtually wiped out, the unit being posted back to its former home of Prestwick.
Following a bombing raid in late 1940, West Malling saw a change of use, and was home to night fighters.
Later in the war, 322 squadron made its home at the aerodrome. Flying Spitfire Mk XIVs, the task was to intercept VI or ‘doodlebug’flying bombs. These could not be shot down, as the resultant explosion would destroy the attacking aircraft.
Instead, the pilots would fly almost wing tip to wing tip with the VI, the turbulent airflow between the two wings causing the Vl
to keel over and crash before hitting its target. Records suggest this technique was a key to destroying 280 VIs.
For more information on the range of products from Ransomes jacobsen visit www.ransomesjacobsen.com
