Back-to-back exhibitions in Orlando for the Golf Industry Show and Club Managers Association of America helped superintendents and managers get up to speed on the newest innovations for their operations.
Even with much of the country enjoying unseasonably mild winters, course superintendents and club managers welcomed the opportunity to get away to sunny Florida during the first full week of February, when the Golf Industry Show (GIS) and Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) World Conference were held back-to-back (with several days of overlap) in Orlando.
While it was difficult to resist staying outside as much as possible to soak up rays during a temperate and sun-filled week, more than 13,000 attendees crowded the GIS show floor and several thousand more walked the aisles of the Club Business Expo that was part of the CMAA conference. In addition to trying out GolfBoards and other attention-getting products, here are highlights of what some of the industry’s leading suppliers introduced and featured at the shows:
Toro drew a lot of attention by displaying a prototype and offering virtual-reality “driving” experiences for its new “revolutionary turf maintenance machine,“ and the company launched a contest asking turf professionals to help give the new vehicle (which for now is “code-named” Project Delta) a permanent name.
The new vehicle is designed as a hybrid that combines a heavy-duty utility vehicle with tractor capability that can be turf-friendly while carrying out especially difficult and cumbersome maintenance tasks.
More information on the vehicle’s features can be found at www.commercial.toro.com/NameIt, where Toro also invites submissions for the naming contest. Entries will be accepted through April 30, 2017. The grand-prize winner of the contest will receive a trip, including airfare, three nights’ lodging, a show admission pass, and a $500 Visa gift card, to either the Golf Industry Show on February 3-8, 2018, in San Antonio, Texas, or the Sports Turf Managers Association Conference on January 16-19, 2018, in Fort Worth, Texas. The winner will also have the unique opportunity to help Toro launch the new machine.
Other announcements made by Toro at the Orlando shows included:
• An upgrade of ExcelaRate™ control software that regulates the spraying application for the Multi Pro® 5800 line of sprayers, including the Multi Pro 5800 with GeoLink™.
• Introduction of the new GreensPro® 1260 greens roller, as a comprehensive upgrade to the GreensPro 1240.
• Introduction of the Multi Pro® 1750 sprayer with GeoLink™ technology, a GPS spraying solution.
• A complete range of attachments to increase the overall versatility of the Sand Pro mechanical bunker grooming line, including the Quick Attach System™ Flex Tooth Rake for the Toro Sand Pro 3040 and 5040.
• An upgrade to the Lynx® central control system that provides remote control of irrigation systems, marking the 12th iteration since the launch of Lynx in May 2010. The latest upgrade to the current version of Lynx focuses primarily on enhanced sensor inputs for the Lynx Smart Satellite (see below), as well as compatibility with the new Lynx Dash interface.
Lynx Dash is a comprehensive dashboard that provides enhanced information to superintendents and grounds crews to help them make quicker decisions regarding their irrigation practices. Lynx Dash pulls in real-time weather information from a third-party weather provider and provides enhanced diagnostic information about current site conditions.
• Toro also introduced the Lynx Smart Satellite, an all-new golf course irrigation controller designed for enhanced performance and greater reliability, and the all-new INFINITY® STEALTH™ Series Kit, the newest addition to the feature-rich INFINITY® Series golf sprinkler. The STEALTH Series Kit offers an innovative solution that improves playing conditions by enabling turfgrass to grow above the sprinkler head, creating a seamless and continuous area of turf that eliminates sprinkler interference and trip hazards during gameplay.
The STEALTH Series Kit quickly attaches to any INFINITY Series sprinkler, enabling installation below grade while promoting turf growth directly atop the sprinkler. Additionally, the STEALTH Series Kit allows grass and root growth through a turf cup design that encourages water drainage to prevent root rot. With 1.5 inches of room to grow, roots are able to retain optimum turfgrass health.
The Yamaha Golf-Car Company featured its YamaTrack GPS asset management system in its Orlando exhibits, along with its Drive2 model golf cars.
Yamaha also treated GIS booth visitors to a surround-sound movie experience in a special theater that (quietly) demonstrated the performance of its new QuieTech EFI model car, which boasts the lowest decibel output of any gas car and features the industry’s first-ever rear suspension on a golf car. At 45 miles per gallon, the QuieTech EFI also performs with fewer hydrocarbon emissions than competing gas cars.
John Deere officially launched the new John Deere 8900A PrecisionCut Large Area Reel Mower, the latest addition to its A Model family of fairway, rough and trim-and-surrounds mowers. Deere also provided details to booth visitors about its new partnership with OnGolf, a golf course performance optimization software company, for the introduction of OnLink, a Cloud-based golf course management platform for collecting data and managing equipment, labor, water usage, chemicals and nutrients, and playing conditions.
E-Z-GO®, a Textron Specialized Vehicles business, highlighted its recent introduction of its ELiTE Series lithium golf cars as a fleet offering Activated by Samsung SDI lithium technology, ELiTE vehicles offer zero-maintenance batteries with a five-year, unlimited amp-hour warranty and increased energy efficiency.
The new ELiTE Series vehicles are powered by hundreds of Samsung SDI lithium cells that are loaded into a single battery pack. The battery pack is controlled by an advanced Battery Management System that monitors efficiency, temperature, state of charge and the health of the batteries. The batteries don’t require watering, terminal post checkups and cleaning like traditional lead-acid batteries. Charging time is also significantly reduced, and ELiTE vehicles also allow courses to “opportunity charge” (plugging vehicles in for quick charging sessions between rounds that can rapidly restore significant levels of energy to the battery system, as opposed to the lengthy recharge cycles required by lead-acid batteries).
The batteries in ELiTE vehicles are also half the size and a fraction of the weight of lead-acid batteries, reducing turf damage and soil compaction due to vehicle weight.
The exclusive ELiTE lithium technology will be available in these 2017 E-Z-GO models: RXV® ELiTE, Freedom® RXV ELiTE, Freedom RXV 2+2 ELiTE, TXT® ELiTE, Freedom TXT ELiTE and Freedom TXT 2+2 ELiTE.
Other Textron Specialized Vehicles businesses sharing exhibit space with E-Z-GO at the Orlando shows included Cushman, which displayed its utility and food-and-beverage vehicles, and Jacobsen, which displayed its full line of fairway mowers and walking and riding greens mowers, along with utility vehicles, sprayers and aerators.
Club Car featured its new Onward™ Personal Transportation Vehicle, a highly customizable vehicle specifically designed for use in master-planned communities and family-oriented club and resort properties. “The Onward,” which has a maximum speed of 20 mph, is available with gasoline or electric powertrains and in two- or four-passenger models. A lifted suspension model is also available for the four-passenger version that adds an additional four to five inches of ground clearance and has a two-inch-wider track width and two-inch-longer wheelbase than competitive lift kits, to enhance stability and ride quality.
All Onward vehicles are built with family safety in mind and come with a wide range of standard safety equipment, including LED front headlights with a focused field of view, front LED accent lights, precisely angled turn signals that can be seen from a 90-degree angle, brake lights and side reflectors, and a horn. Three sizes of tires are available to best match the terrain where the vehicle will be used.
The Onward’s gasoline models are powered by the industry’s only automotive-style, single-cylinder overhead cam engine with electronic fuel ejection, and the electric models come with smart on-board chargers that issue alerts to prevent common user errors. Optional on-board chargers and reel retractors are also available, to allow for “opportunity charging” at any 110-volt outlet.
All Onward models are built on the industry’s only rustproof, corrosion-resistant aluminum frame, making them ideal for salty coastal environments.
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