What is Foley United's Stand on "Spin" vs. "Relief"?

Our point of view on this so called controversy is "reel" simple: Our equipment is capable of supporting any practice that is desired, and the choice of what to do on any given day is yours to make. There are times when everyone will have different needs to meet the goals that are set for a particular day, and there are different ways to utilize the "Spin" and "Relief" grinding processes. Foley United does not "push" practices that deviate from what the three main cutting unit suppliers advocate, but at the same time we do not want our equipment to dictate the desire of the Superintendent or Technician. The key is knowing how and when to use the proper process to meet your needs, while reducing potential issues and maintenance for the long term.

If you have a question about what to do, we encourage people to contact the manufacturer of the reel to gain their insight on your situation. The reason that we tell people to do this is very straight forward. All of the manufacturers of mowing equipment have expended exhaustive amounts of time and money on extensive testing to ensure that they are providing the best quality of cut for longest period of time before maintenance is required. They have experimented with varying degrees of relief, various amounts of land areas on the reels, bedknife angles and attitudes, and the list goes on and on. Why would they do all of this testing? Because mowing with the highest quality of cut for the longest period of time is what it's all about.

All of the big three suppliers will tell you that if you are experiencing quality of cut issues, to return the reels back to factory specifications and they will evaluate from there. While this doesn't solve all issues, it certainly does eliminate some. Shorter heights of cut on greens and fairways combined with newer, more dense, heartier grass strains has intensified the need for tighter reel specifications.

Grinding and reel maintenance has changed tremendously in the last few years due to advancements in reel technology. To keep pace with these innovations grinder technology has also needed to change. That is why today's more automated grinders fill the need to maintain these new reels with less labor cost and time than ever before.