ROBO-GOLF: Robotic mowers for better turf quality on golf courses—Preliminary results

Since 2020, the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy (NIBIO) Turfgrass Research Group has been studying agronomic, environmental, and economic consequences of switching to light-weight robotic mowers on golf course fairways and semiroughs. Preliminary results from field trials in 2020 and 2021 at the NIBIO Turfgrass Research Center Landvik, Norway, and demonstration trials on one golf course in each of the five Nordic countries, showed that turfgrass quality with robotic mowing was similar to manual mowing. At Landvik, robotic mowing resulted in less disease in both fairway and semirough but more infestation of white clover than manual mowing in the semirough. A survey of players’ attitudes to robotic mowers conducted on the five golf courses showed that about 90% of the players were positive or neutral to the new technology. However, respondents asked for better adaptation of the local rules on the golf course and even the international rules of golf to robotic mowing.