Stanford Ground Maintenance and Golf Course Greenskeeper

Summarizing our interview with the Stanford Ground Maintenance crew, and the Golf Course Maintenance supervisor....

Equipment Maintenance Manager – Stanford Grounds Maintenance

After describing the project, David was doubtful that there was the necessary technology to pull this off.  He would really like to see a demonstration.

David described the several different machines that are used – Stanford Ground and Maintenance (which has oversight for the campus but not the sports fields or the graduate housing area) has 15 different mowers.  Clearly, it would be economical to automate only a subset of these.

David wondered if the maintenance burden would increase with this added technology.

Lead Mower Operator – Stanford Grounds Maintenance

After describing the project, Art thought that the technology would be pretty cool and useful … despite representing a direct replacement of his job.

He noted that there are several areas that an automated machine probably won’t be able to cover.  There are several tight spots, sloped hills, etc. that sometimes take two men to maneuver a push mower in order to cut the grass.  However, there are many large areas, such as the Oval, that would be ideal for an automated machine.

Art wondered about how the machine would handle different grass conditions.  Wet grass can be more difficult to manage.

Supervisor – Stanford Grounds Maintenance

After describing the project, Mary thought that there was high merit to the effort.  She especially liked the idea of not having to manage as many people who may or may not show up for work.

Operators get paid $63 / hour.  Non-operators get $43 / hours.  They are part of a union.

Stanford grounds and maintenance takes care of about 97 acres.  Using automated mowers for the large areas (where riding mowers are used today) would reduce workforce by about 50%.

Another large benefit is a reduction in Worker’s Comp. claims.  Riding in the mowers is generally bad for the back and Stanford has to cover lots of workers comp claims.

Supervisor for Grass Maintenance – Stanford Golf Course

Preciseness of cut is an important part of maintaining a golf course.  This is especially true for maintaining the greens.  For greens, the automated mower would need to carefully identify the region between the green and the apron.  ½” accuracy would be required.  (Later, as we toured the golf course, Ken revised this statement to 1” accuracy).

The golf business tends to be slow to adopt new things.  HOWEVER, Ken believes that automated mowing is going to happen – just a question of when.

Some details about their course:

Driving range is about 10 acres (prime region for automated mowing in Ken’s mind)

Golf course is a typical 100 acre facility.  40 acres of fairway, 30 acres of rough

Fairway – mowed 3 or 4 times a week.  It takes about 8 hours to mow the fairways.  Currently, Stanford Golf Course has two operators mowing the fairways.

Rough – 20 hours to do once – rough is mowed twice a week.  One operator mows the rough all week long – that’s basically his only job.

Greens – about 4 acres (I think) of greens.  4 people cut greens at 3 hours each day for 60 hours per work-week.  On weekends, a riding mower is used and takes 12 hours total.

They have 2 fairway mowers, 1 rough mower, 1 mid-between fairway and rough mower (there is a strip of grass at a different height between the two), 6 push mowers, 2 or 3 tri-blade mowers.  Machinery has about a 10 year life.  They own. Some courses lease.

Ken sees several advantages of having autonomous mowers.  Remove people – for Stanford golf course – upgrading two machines to autonomous mowing of fairway and rough would eliminate 2 people.  Would probably get similar returns (if not better) for greens mowers.

Ken also thinks that autonomous mowing might do a better job – more consistent and reliable cut.  You could also start mowing the rough in the late evening, when the grass is the driest, which would be ideal.

Nighttime mowing is also an interesting prospect .. would need to coordinate with irrigation.

Other activities could include fertilizing and aerating (2 or 3 times a year) and topdressing the fairway with sand.

Things one would have to consider:

The mower would really need to get to its mowing location on its own.  Big waste of manpower to have to bring it there.  This is one reason Ken thinks that PrecisePath won’t really take off.

Machines will need sensors for unanticipated obstacles and a way of paging maintenance staff.

Machines need to be weather proof – harsh environment.

The economics of a 9 versus 18 hole course are different.

$50,000 for a machine isn’t unreasonable.  Ken thinks in terms of a few year payback.