The PGA Tour has returned to the state of Utah for the first time in 61 years at this week’s Black Desert Championship at the Black Desert Resort, named for the ancient dark lava rock that the golf course cuts through.
But the lava and the return to Utah aren’t the only firsts for a PGA Tour event this week, and in the early hours of the morning – under the cover of darkness – another PGA Tour first takes place.
Like something designed by Cyberdyne Systems – I’m a big fan of the Terminator movie series – Black Desert Resort has four fully automated and extremely futuristic looking mowers that set out at 2 a.m. and, over a four-hour period, cut 51 acres of fairway grass.
Though robotic mowers are becoming more and more popular – if you don’t have one at home, chances are you know someone who has – but this is the first time a PGA Tour event is held on a course that utilises them for fairway mowing.
The mowers are made by Firefly Automatix and they are all electric, which means they’re emissions-free but also quiet, which is very important given that the extensive rock acts as a conductor for sound.
Robot agronomy?! The future is now 🤖
Four self-driven mowers are deployed from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. to mow 51 acres of land @BDChampionship. pic.twitter.com/zmXafmjcEZ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 10, 2024
An example of technology being used in the right way, or another step towards robots taking over the earth. You decide.
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