The number one challenge facing the golf industry today is labor. It's hard to
find the labor to start with, and then when you find it, it's often unskilled. As
a superintendent, technician, or other trusted supervisor on a golf course or
another turf professional, you're judged on a couple of things on a daily basis.
Number one is the cut quality on the golf course or other turf area. Number
two is the consistency from hole to hole, or consistency of the playing surface.
When a golfer plays a golf course, they expect hole number one to play the same
as hole number 18. How do I do that with the inexperienced operators? How do
I do that with unskilled labor? And how do I make sure my consistency stays the
same from hole to hole? So how do we solve this labor challenge? John Deere
introduces a new series of triplex mowers, the 2700 and
2750 precision cut and E cut hybrid triplex mowers. What these
machines do is give the supervisor which, whether it be the superintendent, the
technician, or another trusted supervisor, more control of their operators
performance than ever before. These innovative machines provide quality of
cut, regardless of operator, and consistency from hole to hole. How do we
do that? Let's take a look. The key to the whole system is the advanced TechControl
display. It's located on the right hand side of the machine. It is
pass code protected, meaning no operator has access to what's inside the TechControl.
All they can see is the operating screen. You as a superintendent,
technician, or trusted supervisor can enter the pass code into the display and
enter a number of operating parameters for your operators. Once those are set,
there's nothing your operator can do to change that. As a superintendent,
technician, or supervisor there's a certain level of care that you would
build into mowing your greens or tees or approaches on a daily basis. Now you can
take the way you mow, and build it in so that your operators mow exactly the same way.
Now let's take a deeper look into the TechControl display. The first
feature within the TechControl display is the ability to set frequency of clip.
We've done this for many years already on our walk behind greens mowers, with a
chain drive to the drum and chain drive to the reel, and as you speed up or slow
down, the reel speeds up or slows down in the same relation, keeping your frequency of clip the same.
With the new 2700 and 2750s, these machines do exactly the same thing.
The supervisor can go into the TechControl display, enter the number of
blades on the reel, the reel speed and also the maximum mowing speed. Once
those are entered, the operator is mowing at your prescribed frequency of clip. If
you set every machine up the same way, every operator is doing exactly the same
thing. What this means for you is the same quality of cut from hole to hole,
and consistency from every area to every area on the golf course. Also, until today
no one could do this on a hydraulic machine. We can do this, regardless if
it's a hybrid or hydraulic machine. Frequency of clip controls the cut
quality on all four models that we have. The frequency of clip is not the only
feature within the TechControl display. We also have many other things that you
as a supervisor could control. The first of which is the engine speed, and what I
mean by that is there's an eco mode built into the display that you can
control that the operators can't change. In eco mode, when the operator engages
the PTO, the engine is going to reduce down to 2,250 RPM. What that does for
you is it's budget-friendly, saves fuel consumption by up to 30%.
For the operator it reduces their sound but up to three decibels depending on model.
What that means it's more quiet, comfortable operation for them.
Regardless of whether you choose a precision cut or an E-cut hybrid triplex
mower, the feature sets between the two are exactly the same,
including eco mode. There are many other supervisory controls built within the
advanced TechControl display that, as a supervisor, only you can control. Some
examples of those include turn speed. You can control how fast your operators turn at the end of the pass.
You can also control their maximum transport speed.
You can also control how quickly the cutting units raise, and also how
quickly they lower to start your pass. You can also control the front to rear
cutting in at timing to improve your productivity. Also you can control
whether cruise control is turned on or off for the operator, as well as load
match. You can enable that setting in there as well. So what this results in is
more control over your operators performance, and if
you set the machines up the same way, you're going to get the same results from
operator to operator throughout the mowing day. Another supervisory control
within the advanced TechControl display is the cleanup pass mode. You have the
ability to go into the display and set a cleanup speed for your operators. Every
operator struggles with mowing on a perimeter cut. Typically, they cheat
inside just a little bit, and over time the greens or tees or whatever you're
mowing gets smaller and smaller over time. With this innovative feature, the
operator hits the button on the TechControl when they're ready to move the
cleanup pass, and it automatically reduces their speed for cleanup. That way, all they
have to focus on is driving the perimeter. They don't have to focus on
feathering the speed, because now they have a new, lower, comfortable speed.
What that leads to is a more crisp, accurate perimeter, and more confidence from your
operators to do a great job. So now let's move to the platform itself. The first
thing you're going to notice is the open platform design. It features a low center
of gravity for more stability, as well as improved traction, and also a brand new
grass catcher system. For the grass catchers themselves, you have the option
to choose yellow or black. The yellow gives the operator benefit to be able to
see how much grass is actually in the catcher, especially when mowing early in
the morning, or late in the evening. Also, as a supervisor, you can see the level of
grass from the outside, and give education to your operators on when to
actually dump the grass catchers. The grass catchers themselves are a one-hand
remove and a one hand install, but we also have an innovative hook design on
the side of each grass catcher that helps keep the catchers on during
transport. One of the challenges of an open platform design is getting to the
center cutting unit for removal to put on a grinder, or also for adjustments.
What we've done to solve this problem is we have a no tool, removable foot
platform that all you have to do is pull a pin, slot out the foot platform, and it
has its own storage location so you can make those adjustments. The areas in
which triplex mowers are used often have a lot of undulations, and for that reason
an excellent contour following system is a must. The 2700 and
2750 precision cut and E-cut hybrid triplex mowers have a contour following
system that consists of ball joints, sealed bearings, and composite bushings, that are
maintenance free. Also with that system you get 21 degrees
of upward movement, 21 degrees of downward movement, for a total of 42
degrees; 36 total degrees of side to side steering and also 36 degrees of roll
angle. And what that means for you is better cut quality and more consistency
across a wide range of undulations and tight mowing perimeters.
The operator station on these machines is extremely comfortable. It all starts with a command
arm on the right hand side, putting all the controls within the operator's
fingertips. Also, we have a tilt steering wheel, as well as a tilt steering column
adjustment for more comfort. We have two different seat options; a standard seat
that has a fore and aft adjustment, as well as a deluxe II that also has the
fore and aft adjustment, a lumbar adjustment, a backrest tilt, and also a
weight adjustment to cater to each individual operator's weight. And behind
the operator station, we have our engines. We have two different options within
this range. If you get a 2700 precision cut or E-cut hybrid, the 00 means
it's a gas engine. On these machines, it's an electronically controlled EFI
coal or gas engine. What that means is, no more choke and no more hand throttle. It's also air-cooled.
The other option we have is our diesel engine. That's a
2750; the 50 means it's a diesel machine. This one is also electronically
controlled, no hand throttle and features a liquid-cooled three cylinder diesel engine.
We have a lot of other options available for the 2700 and 2750
triplex mowers as well. Some of those include an LED light
kit which gives you two front-facing LEDs, one rearward-facing LED, and also a
grass catcher strip located underneath the seat. This gives you 360 degrees of
lighting for mowing either early in the morning or late in the evening. We also
have a storage kit mounted to the right hand side of the machine. You can use
this for general storage, or it's also designed to hold a cup cutter if you
carry your cup cutter with you when you go to mow your greens. We also have a
do whip holder kit available as well for this machine, and if you need more
traction on some of the slopes on your golf course, we also have a three wheel
drive system available as well. It's called the Grip All Wheel Drive System.
With this system does, is it gives fluid or flow to all three wheels at the same
time, maintaining traction. Labor is the biggest challenge facing
the golf industry today, and we get John Deere totally understand that. We
understand it's tough to find operators, and we find those operators they're
often unskilled .We want to help you with that challenge to maintain your cut
quality. We want to help you with that challenge to keep your cut quality
looking like it's been mowed by walk behind greens mower. We want to help you
with that consistency from hole to hole. That's the reason that we're introducing
the 2700 and 2750 precision cut and E-cut hybrid
triplex mowers. With the event innovative TechControl display, and advanced
supervisory controls, what you're going to get is cut quality and consistency
from hole to hole, regardless of operator. This complete lineup is our next
evolution in John Deere's precision turf journey.