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Sup’s On: The State of the Mowers Address

The longer you run your vehicle, the more likely you are to need repairs and the higher the cost of those repairs. At some point, it may cost you more money to keep the vehicle running than it is worth. This is where having an equipment replacement plan is key to the smooth operation of your golf course.

Erb Turf Equipment

COVID, Supply Shortage, Backordered, not Available, Delayed, Labor Shortage, etc.... who else is tired of hearing these words???? I know I am, and I am sure most of you are too. The simple fact is, we still have to live with and deal with these words in most of our daily tasks, and especially in the golf course maintenance equipment world.

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tim Schwierjohn and I am a golf and turf equipment salesmen for the local John Deere Golf dealer, Erb Turf Equipment. I am definitely no stranger to golf. I began playing golf with my parents when I was about 10 years old. My first job at 16 years old was on the grounds crew of our local course. I later find my way into the golf maintenance world as an assistant superintendent for 4 years, Golf Superintendent for 10 years, and I have now been selling golf maintenance equipment to my friends and colleagues for 6 years and counting. I understand which pieces of equipment are needed to accomplish certain tasks on the golf course and produce the desired conditions, and now I know some of the process of how and where those machines are designed and manufactured.

Amount of use on typical golf course maintenance equipment: We all know every machine has a typical lifetime where it functions properly with routine maintenance. As that machine gets older, more things start to break and fail, causing more and higher dollar repairs. In our region of the country, most golf course mowers accumulate on average 400600 hours of use each year. That amount of use relates to approximately 28,000-42,000 miles on a vehicle. In my experience as a driver, I would say a vehicle is usually free of major repairs for 100,000-150,000 miles. The same goes for mowing equipment.... usually 1500-2500 hours with routine maintenance (fluid changes such as oil, hydraulic fluid, engine coolant, tire rotations, brake adjustments, etc....) just like your vehicle.

Each golf course will have its own unique list of essential equipment depending on its number of golf holes, budget, number of employees, course design, amount of bunkers and water hazards, elevation and steepness of the terrain, and lastly player and course expectations. Some golf courses like to utilize equipment for 4 or 5 years and then trade it back in on new equipment so they can keep the total hours low and free of major repairs. Whereas some courses are only fortunate enough to buy a new piece of equipment once every couple years. These golf courses are also the ones who like to purchase that same used piece of equipment with low hours on it. Lastly, there are other courses that can only afford to buy high hour used equipment and they use it for as many years as the machine will allow. This usually ends up costing quite a bit in repair costs due to the older age and very high use of the machine.

So, how did covid effect these decisions? As we all know, golf rounds greatly increased during covid. We also know that factories and business across the world were slowed and sometimes stopped for periods of time during covid. Most people kept working and earning a paycheck, but there wasn’t much to do for people such as entertainment or vacation spots so people decided to spend their money on other things like cars, home improvements, outdoor recreation equipment, etc.... which eventually caused supply shortages. Once all the inventory that was on the shelves and in warehouses was gone, there wasn’t enough new inventory getting made to replenish what was being sold across the world. This was exactly the same case in golf maintenance. The factories couldn’t get enough steel, gas and diesel engines, rubber, plastic, polymers, wiring supplies, etc.... to build the number of machines that were being ordered. This caused a delay in receiving the machines after they were ordered. What used to take a dealership a couple weeks to deliver, now takes 12 months.... sometimes even longer like 24 months or more. This doesn’t just affect new golf maintenance machines. Remember when I wrote earlier that some golf courses buy used equipment? Well, the courses that trade in their equipment every 4-5 years can’t do that because they can’t get their new equipment. This has caused a huge bottle neck in the equipment world. What does this mean?

It is more important now that every golf course has an equipment replacement plan in place, and they update that plan every couple years. Since it takes 12 or more months to receive equipment after an order is placed, the management needs to start looking at their needs and the prices of that equipment at least 4-6 months prior to the order. If they don’t or can’t make those decisions at that time, they will be forced to wait for the equipment. Sometimes that isn’t a big deal, but sometimes if a course is leasing that equipment, those dates can’t be missed. When that lease matures, technically the bank or finance company owns that equipment. If the golf course doesn’t have their new equipment, they then have to work with the finance company and dealership to either extend that lease, rent that equipment from the leasing company, or are forced to buy that used equipment at the current market value. The supply shortages do not just apply to new equipment either. Replacement parts are also much harder to get. You may have had to buy a used machine or just keep your current machine, but now you can’t get parts to fix it when it breaks down. It is not making life any easier for the Golf Course Superintendent or Equipment Technician.

It is a different world we live in now, and we are all getting used to it. It has become the “New Normal” in regards to not having everything at our disposal all the time, but it is the reality. People that have been in this business way longer than me are thinking that things will start to get better in 2024, but it still looks like there is a long way to go to get back to pre-covid times. The best we can do is be patient and understand that some things may not be available, some things are just out of our control, and some conditions may not be exactly the way we like them, but we all still get to enjoy this great game and the beautiful stage it is played on.

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