Can I use a regular push mower as my putting green mower?I'm afraid the short answer is no, a regular push mower cannot double as a putting green mower. I use an American Lawn MowerCompany push mower with a 5 blade reel (number of twisted cutting blades on the cutting cylinder) on my lawn at home, and after testing I have found the lowest true height you can go with this type of mower is around 13/16 of an inch, way above the 3/16 minimum you need to get down to. And even at that height I start to get a washboard effect from the low clip rate of these mowers, ideally they are not designed to go below 1 inch of cut. But don't despair; there exist options to getting cheaper mowers, though nothing that will approximate the price of a simple lawn mower. Before that, I just want to explain clip rate, so you understand why it is an important aspect of green mower. Basically a reel mower works like a series of knives that run across the bedknife. The bedknife is there to set up the angle of the blade of grass to be cut. The number of times that reel blade crosses a section of bedknife (cuts the turf) while the mower travels the distance of a foot, is the clip rate. In other words, the higher the clip rate, the more often the turf gets cut in the foot distance the mower is run. Now if you are cutting long turf, you don't have to cut as often to get good results, but when you are cutting at heights of 3/16 of an inch, the blade had better be cutting turf at every 1/8 of an inch or so of forward movement. That is the reason regular lawn reel mowers have only 5 blades, while professional green mowers have 11 and the reel spins much faster. Now, on to options for purchasing a putting green mower: If you don’t want to pay the $6,000 dollars plus for a new Toro, Jacobsen or John Deere professional golf course putting green mower, there are a few other options. There are companies specializing in the home putting green market such as Hudson Star; a Google search will turn up a few different options. These mowers start around $1,800 for the push type, and $2,600 for the electric drive. While I haven’t seen one in person, they seem to be closely modeled after the mowers that were on use 50 years ago, which would be perfect for the average back yard putting green.
If that is still too pricey, the other option is simply buying used mowers from golf courses. You can contact local courses near you to see if they are changing any out in the near future (for the intensive golf course use, they often change mowers every 3 to 5 years). A used putting green mower can often go for $600 and up depending on age and condition. What is the catch? These mowers are used usually 6 to 10 years old, and you would have to be able to do any mechanical repairs and maintenance yourself. Again, get to know the mechanic at your local golf course and he may be willing to do that for you in his spare time. Since a home putting green does not require the intensive use of 7 days a week, 3 hours a day of cutting, it could work out very well. Another place to look for used professional mowers is the internet, professional superintendent sites such as Turfnet.com has a used equipment list or even more general sites such as Ebay will list putting green mowers for sale.
Contact me for more information on diferent types of putting green mowers or for help in finding one.
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