Why I was Ahead - But Criticized Back Then...

NUMBER 1

"You don't mow a golf course with rotary mowers!"

Well, sitting on my balcony over number 10 tee at Isla Del Sol Golf Club in St. Petetsburg, Florida, I watched a John Deere mow the second cut with a 5-gang rotary mower.

The cut was perfect. However, they were 'mulch-mowers' that left no clipping trail like reel-mowers do.

The rotary also knocks (cuts) down any longer (unwanted) growth like tall weeds. Reel mowing just lays tall weeds down and leaves them uncut.

Back in the early 1970s when I wanted to mow my roughs and second cut areas with a rotary gang instead of reels they virtually laughted at me!

NUMBER 2

In 1972 I acquired the first riding greens mower in the business made by the Hahn Corporation. Mowing greens with a riding mower (with three heads) was so revolutionary that superintendents from all around Ontario and even upper New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania made the trip to Peterborough, Ontario just to see the Hahn in action.

The picture above is a different Hahn greens mowweer than mine. The original model (that I had) placed the center mower behind the outside mowers, more or less under the driver.

What was great about the original Hahn machine was that the reels could be individually raised and lowered, and could also be speed-adjusted variably, which comes in handy when using its verticutt and spiker attachments.

Anothe neat use of the tri-plex truck was dragging the top dress screen after sanding the greens.

My Hahn tri-plex greens mower was the earliest model that used flexible drive shafts to drive the reels, which was the only shortcoming for that mower. The shafts wound their way to the reels and would wear out and break often - and replacements were expensive. However, the math was compelling, which made the decision to mow with a rider easy!

Here's the easy mathmatics decision;

I was walk-mowing 3-days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Therefore, you can imagine the greens were a little hairy on Sunday. I was mowing 28-greens (27-holes and a practice green) with two employees - each on an all-day job. So, man hours on the job, including machine cleanup totalled 48-hours.

The Hahn tri-plex could mow all 28-greens in a morning - including cleanup of the machine. Therefore, mowing 3-days used only 12-hours of man-power. However, I did my golfers and my greens a favor and went to a 7-days a week mowing schedule. So, even then, all I was using in man-power was 21-hours.

The machine in 1972 cost $6,000 (Canadian). I leased it and was hundreds ahead every month - even after mowing 7-days a week.

It's 2020 and most golf courses mow with riding greens mowers. It makes sense.

Now I switch tracks wioth my suggestion number three.

SUGGESTION NUMBER 3

I was a teacher of the game from 1958 through 1988. During those years I taught thousands and thousands of men, women, juniors, and seniors how to play golf. I could teach the swing, many playing techniques, etc., but there was one thing I (quietly) emphasized - especially teaching kids.

"Hit the ball as far as you can!"

I said that, quietly above, because golf's purists would not hear of that approach. Teaching golf back then, and still today, harped on fundimentals, grip, stance, etc. However, I took a strategy I picked up from baseball particularly pitching.

Years ago I hear it said that a pitcher needs to have speed first. Then, he can be taught the various pitches to keep batters honest at the plate.

Now I'm not a Rhodes Schollar by any means, but I always figured it easier to hit a ball onto a green and closer the the hole from 125-yards rather than 175-yards. So, if a tee shot was 275-yards rather than 225-yards, being 50-yards closer had to be an advantage.

I told kids to hit golf balls as often as possible and hit the ball as far as you can.

And guess what? Their golf swings developed quite naturally as well. In time I had 5-foot tall kids hitting it well over 225-yards off the tee. Not only did their swings develop naturally (not every kid), they had power with every club - especially short irons. Power got them out of rough easier, etc.

So what just happened?

This guy, already a decent golfer, Bryson DeChambeau, went back to the drawing board and probably made the biggest adjustment in golf's thinkers since Harry Vardon.

Mr. DeChambeau worked on pure power. He went from a decent long hitter of the ball to an absolute cruncher of the ball. He won the US Open with the longest drives of all, but not only that, but his raw power took the sting out of the most penal roughs of any PGA tour stop.

Bryson DeChambeau intentionally put on weight (40-pounds indicated by the annoncers). His warm ups on the tee were minimum 125-mile-an-hour clubhead speeds. His techniques crumbled golf's purists ('old farts') to their knees.

Already there are writers talking 'panic' like this, "Why DeChambeau’s win at the U.S. Open is causing a panic. By Doug Robinson, Columnist Sep 23, 2020, 12:39pm MDT"

Me. I love it.

Bryson DeChambeau did something else that will revolutionize a set of golf clubs - all your irons are the same length! Wow! That totally makes sense. It means, basically, the exact same swing with a 5-iron as a 9-iron.

So. I was right. Hit that ball as far as you can. Then learn how to score.

Mike Kahn, Golfmak, Inc. [email protected]