Don Mahaffey's 7 tips for successful gang mowing

Don Mahaffey's 7 tips for successful gang mowing

1. Send out a trim mower to edge out features and fairway perimeters. The gang unit will work a lot faster if he’s not trying to mow a perfect edge and the trim mower will help to keep a “high-end” look.

2. Treat the gang units like every other cutting unit. For some reason people think a gang cutting unit is indestructible or can’t go dull. Big reel, small reel, powered or not, they gotta be sharp and well adjusted. No short cuts here.

3. Don’t irrigate the night before you mow.

4. Get the right unit for the application. You can’t mow fairways with a 5 blade unit. 11-blade units are rare so you’ll probably have to buy the reels and install yourself. But you can get an excellent cut with the right unit.

5. Keep the turf lean and don’t let it get puffy. This goes for all mowing, but especially so for gang units because of their weight. They’ll take big ugly bites out of thatchy turf. If that happens, It’s not the mower, it’s your grass.

6. Alter directions just like you would with any other mowing equipment.

7. Use some of the money you save gang mowing to throw a few more crew parties.