Hap has always taken a strong interest in autonomous mowing technology.
This morning, a representative of the company brought this 'Firefly' brand autonomous fairway mower to the Club to do a demonstration. There is no question, this is the future of the business and it will be here before you know it. Actually, for some golf courses, it is already a reality. Since labor is a challenge in many areas in the country, golf courses are looking at ways to alleviate that issue. These units cost substantially more than a traditional fairway mower... as much as $125,000 more, in addition to an annual software subscription fee of about $15,000-$20,000. That can or can't be justified in several ways. I've always viewed this impressive technology like this: If a golf course purchased two autonomous mowing units, and then eliminated two staff positions, the course could recoup the addition expense of purchasing these mowers in as little as three to four years. But if a golf course purchased two units, yet retained the same level of staff and simply redirected that labor to other priorities on the golf course, it's a slightly different story. I ask myself, would those tasks being done by the redirected labor be worth the additional cost of these mowers? As a simple example, let's say instead of mowing fairways, that employee would start taking that same amount of time and start rolling fairway landing areas and approaches rather than mowing fairways. Or, what if that individual was able to take that time and mow the rough out three times per week instead of two times per week? Would the Club's membership appreciate the results of the redirected job tasks if they knew it cost the Club the difference in the mower costs to complete those new tasks? The math is pretty simple and easy to figure out but the answer to these questions would depend entirely upon the type of golf course or Club and what their objectives are. It's interesting to think about.
Regardless, the technology is impressive. The thought of having fairway mowing complete before staff arrives is an attractive scenario. This technology has been in the works for the past 15-plus-years and is slowly becoming mainstream. There are currently autonomous rough mowers available, in addition to practice facility ball pickers and even sprayers. This technology will continue to develop rapidly and along with AI, I can envision an industry in the near future that looks a lot different than it currently is.
As for the actual specs of this mower: It can mow approximately 5 acres of turf in 0ne hour and can mow a 25 acres on one charge. At Highlands CC, we have approximately 23 acres worth of fairways. Therefore, one unit can mow all the fairways at Highlands CC in about 4.5 hours!
