Represent!

I am thrilled to announce that moving forward I will be representing SIP Corporation in Georgia as the owner of
SIP Direct GA, LLC. I am not leaving Atlanta Athletic Club; I am fortunate to have an employer who  knows my commitment to excellence in the equipment maintenance facility, and who also supports me in this endeavor. I am excited for the opportunity to represent what I truly feel are the best grinders in the business. I could never represent a product that I didn't believe in 100%. Over the past ten years SIP grinders have proven to me time and again how superior they are to other brands. 

I have purchased around a dozen SIP grinders over the course of my career, at facilities ranging from 18 hole private clubs to 90 hole resorts, and I believe they have been integral to my success as an equipment manager. I take great pride in the quality of cut and after cut appearance from the equipment under my care. In fact, I believe my reputation with cutting units has been largely responsible for my career advancement within the golf industry.

Along with the design of the machines, one reason I like SIP grinders so much is the owner of the company, Mark Pilger. Mark is an engineer. Mark is focused on solving problems and improving processes. Mark listens. When I told Mark that I wanted a method of mounting bedknives in the Ideal grinder which referenced the pivot bolt location horizontally, he invented the pin alignment system - in two weeks. Mark then took that idea further and developed the V-mount system, which aligns the bed bar both horizontally and vertically, indexing the knife from it's mounting position, which I feel has truly revolutionized the way bedknives are ground. What used to take me ten to fifteen minutes I can now do in three to five, with better consistency. Saving five to ten minutes once isn't a big deal, but when you multiply that savings by the number of knives we grind, it adds up quickly.

Prior to the Golf Industry Show in San Antonio I began producing cutting unit maintenance videos, and in my videos I want to share the importance of the different aspects of cutting unit maintenance - how all the different parts of the puzzle come together to achieve excellent results. Mark used one of my videos in his booth at the show, and I think several people said I could be an SIP salesman - Mark and I started talking about my representing SIP shortly after we got home.

If you are in Georgia and would like information about the best reel and bedknife grinding equipment available, please give me a call at (561) 512-4632.

Regards,

What a Relief!

I wound up having a great month of February, starting with an excellent visit to San Antonio, TX for the Golf Industry Show and Education Conference. It was my first time in San Antonio (as an adult - I vaguely remember a stop at The Alamo when I was a small boy) and the conference center there is beautiful, but the trade show area was cramped and the floor plan seemed jumbled - it was hard to get a feel of the layout. I had the honor of moderating a discussion panel which featured presentations on Tier IV emissions technology and lubricant technology, and I also gave a presentation on the show floor about implementing computer based fleet management. I will be repeating the presentation on the 21st of this month as a webinar on the GCSAA website, so go register if you would like to check it out.

We had another early green-up here in Atlanta in February, so another early first todressing on the greens, and other related spring activities. I was finally able to get another video done, this time on relief grinding on the Peerless 7000. The video wound up being longer than I like at around 47 minutes, but hopefully it will help folks understand the importance of relief grinding to the operation overall, and get an idea of how easy it is to do with a Peerless.

When I first started in this business back in 1993, and for some years after, I was of the opinion that relief grinding didn't matter, because "the front side of the reel blade does the work - who cares how thick it is?". Then I had the chance to compare a fresh reel compared to one with no relief and track bedknife wear - it was obvious. Then I added hard bedknives to the mix and my grinding frequency dropped  dramatically. I am now grinding half as often as before.

Regards,