We emailed a bunch of STMA members to ask one question: How many hours did you mow in 2012?

How many hours did you mow last year?

We emailed a bunch of STMA members to ask one question: How many hours did you mow in 2012?


I mow (on game days) the infield and skirts with the walk-behind greens mower, which takes about 45 minutes. On non-game days, I mow the same area with a walk-behind rotary mower. So that translates into: 70 games x 45 minutes = 52.5 hours on game days, and 40 non-game days x 45 minutes = 30 hours on non-game days. I also mow the outfield with the triplex 3-4 times a month. That allows me to get a good read on that turf. My assistant does the rest of the outfield mowing. So that would be 9 months x 4 mowings of 60 minutes each = 36 hours annually on the triplex, for a total of approximately 118.5 annual hours mowing-Keith Winter, head groundskeeper, Fort Wayne TinCaps


Okay, we mow three times a week approximately with pedestrian cylinder mowers (professional), which takes 3 hours, and let’s base this on one professional soccer pitch. We have undersoil heating and lights so we mow through the winter due to the growth we can achieve. The surface usually has a month off for concerts, etc. So, 11 months and approx 12 mowings per month = 36 hours per week x 48 = total 1,728 hours-Phil Sharples, sports turf agronomist, Galatasaray FC, Worcestershire, United Kingdom


At our facility, we have 12 bermuda fields so obviously I don’t do all of this by myself! After doing some quick math, I say we spend approximately 1,100-1,150 hours/year mowing. CRAZY!-Allison Moyer, grounds manager, Collegiate School, Richmond, VA


As a crew, we mowed for roughly 500 hours last year.  We maintain about 92,000 square feet.  I personally probably only mowed for about 50 hours or so seeing as my crew members do most of the mowing.-Chad Laurie, head groundskeeper, Buffalo Bisons


Our annual mowing window in mid-Michigan is 30 weeks. We mow 16 acres of irrigated athletic fields 3 times per week at an average of 4.5 mph with a 72-inch zero-turn mower. Our productivity is 3 acre per hour. (30*3)16/3=480 hours per year (out of 1,200 man hours, that’s interesting).


The rest of the story is that two groundskeepers, Scott Falahee and Jeff Kotas, mow the athletic fields, each with a 72-inch zero-turn, which cuts the time in half which allows them to handle many other responsibilities. Once in while, I may mow to get a sense of the surface condition or help the guys during a busy week.-Mark Frever, CSFM, director of grounds, Albion College
I say the total man hours is about 1,000 for my main campus crew; the Ambler Sports Complex crew are probably cutting about 2,500 hours per year (total man hours).-Craig Roncace, turf manager, Temple University


We as a crew mowed about 1,200 hours last year. I personally mowed probably 900 hours. That is performed on soccer stadium field, soccer practice field and baseball stadium.-Jay Warnick, CSFM, athletic fields manager, University of Portland


I mow a few other areas on occasion but primarily I mow Beaver Stadium. We start mowing the field around April 1 through the beginning of December, usually three times a week, sometimes four during the season. I would say somewhere around 350 to 400 hours of mowing the field for Penn State football.-Paul Curtis, groundskeeper, The Pennsylvania State University


For my 8 acres of grass I mowed for roughly 175 hours last year.-Roger Weinbrenner, CSFM, turf technician, University of St. Thomas


We have 27 total acres, nine of which are turfgrass. It takes 6 hours to mow those nine acres. We mow 1x/week in April and October, 2x/week in May and September, and 3x/week June through August, for a total of 468 hours a season on the turfgrass. For the non-turfgrass acreage, it is 48 hours total in July, August and November; 96 hours total in March, June, September and October; and 192 hours total in April and May, for a grand total of 912 hours.-Wayne Treadway, director, Dandridge (TN) Parks & Rec


I personally mow an average of 90 hours a year. As a team we mow an average 3 days a week 6 hours per day for 9 months, that is 648 hours.-Sam Burris, athletic field supervisor, University of Mary Washington


For a rough “guesstimate” it seems I spend about 780 hours on the mower here at Valley Ranch. I can’t believe I spend the equivalent of almost 20 work weeks on a mower.-Chris Morrow, field supervisor, Dallas Cowboys practice facility


It looks like I spent about 735 hours mowing in 2012. This includes mowing the baseball and softball fields three times per week, and starting their mowing a couple weeks earlier than the rest of the complex, mowing the practice field twice a week, and mowing the non-field areas once a week.-Kari Allen, CSFM, sports turf technician, Sodexho/Benedictine University


We roughly spend from April 1 to October 15 mowing about 30-36 hours a week, equaling 840-1,008 hours mowing. I have two part time seasonal workers that do most of the mowing weekly; I am involved about 8 hours a week.-Dave Reiss, turf manager, Wasatch (UT) SD


My best educated guess is about 520 hours-Patrick Francisco, facility manager, Smith River Sports Complex, Martinsville, VA


990 hours-Mark Kubacki, superintendent/grounds, Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN


November through February we average 50-60 hours a month for the sports fields and common grounds. In


March through October we average 80-90 hours a month because everything is growing more and rain is more readily available.-Vince Muia, head groundskeeper, Out of Door Academy, Statham, GA