Dethatcher: Top Superintendent says Dakota is a Great Machine

Jan. 2002

Up until two years ago, Rich Jorgenson, one of the top golf course superintendents in Arizona, had never used a dethatcher. Since becoming superintendent at Sunland Village Golf Club in Mesa, his experience with that piece of equipment has taught him that he doesn’t ever want to go without one again.

"This is the first club that I’ve ever worked at that had a dethatcher," he says. "I had no experience with them prior to coming here, but now I wouldn’t want to ever to be without one. We have the Dakota Dethatcher 72; it’s just a great machine."

The dethatcher’s predominant use has been in prepping the course for the winter overseeding. "I use it to tear up all the Bermuda when it is going into dormancy... tees, fairways, rough and driving range, but not the greens," Jorgenson says of preparing for the fall overseeding. "It really does the job," he says.

"And next spring, when the new grass is ready to go, while I didn’t do it last year, I think I’m going to use it to help me mechanically get rid of some of the rye grass... not real aggressively, just a light cut," he says of preparing for the summer season.

A native of southern Arizona, Jorgenson got into golf course turf management through a friend in 1983. "I kind of lucked into it," he says. "I was out of a job at the time and my friend, who was the superintendent at a golf course, offered me a position. I had played golf since I could walk, so I had some knowledge, and he hired me as an assistant superintendent. He put me to work doing everything... irrigation, spraying, the whole nine yards. I’ve kind of worked my up from there."

After serving a six-year apprenticeship on that first job, which was at Dorado Country Club in Mesa, Jorgenson’s advancement through 19 years in the business has included several stops. He worked as an assistant superintendent for a year and a half followed by six years as superintendent at San Ignacio Golf Club at Green Valley, AZ. Then came two years as superintendent at Rio Rico Golf Club at Nogales, AZ, followed by two years as assistant superintendent of the 36-hole Westbrook Village Golf Club at Peoria, AZ, where he was in charge of 18 holes.

Jorgenson, who moved to the 26-year-old, 18-hole Sunland Village executive golf course in 1999, heads a staff of eight. "I had worked with bent grass greens until going to Westbrook, so I’m still learning how to take care of Bermuda and how to overseed it," he says of major changes (besides discovering the Dakota Dethatcher) that he has encountered in recent years.

"The dethatcher plays a little bit of a different role in course management here because Bermuda is common. I was more used to dealing with 419. Bermuda’s a little trickier to play with, but with the dethatcher it sure is working out well," he says.

Don Dondoneau, a Sunland Village board member and the person who instigated purchasing the Dakota unit several years ago, also sings the praises of the Dakota Dethatcher 72. And he calls Jorgenson "the best superintendent we’ve had here since I’ve been on the board. He’s built some golf courses, too, so he’s pretty knowledgeable; he knows what a dethatcher can do. And our mechanic just told me a few minutes ago that he couldn’t believe what that machine can do."

The unit’s single breakdown since arriving at Sunland Village as a demo four years ago - a recent hydraulic motor problem - was cured in a single day, Jorgenson relates. "We had the part shipped in ‘over-night’ and had the unit back up and running in a day. I wasn’t here previously, but I’m not sure that there had always been the greatest preventive maintenance program; I don’t know that it was always serviced properly," Jorgenson says. "So, what caused the problem, I don’t know, but to have it back running in just one day isn’t bad.

"I’m really happy with the machine. If I ever go to another golf club anywhere I’m definitely going to want to have one," he says of the Dakota. "It may not be the cheapest item, but from what I had used in the past, like a spring rake, you’ll more than pay for it in reduced labor costs, not to mention the job that it does. It’s just a lot more thorough. It can make for some happy golfers."