Why Golf Courses Are Testing Autonomous Mowers Now

Why clubs are running autonomous mowers now

Golf clubs are testing autonomous mowers because the work that matters most happens in narrow windows, and those windows get harder to staff every season. Four recent venues show the pattern: a PGA Tour stop, a large private club, a British tournament course and a Cyprus resort. Each one used battery-electric machines, and most ran them overnight or on the rough.

The useful question is what each club actually observed, and what the vendor only claimed. The sections below keep those two groups apart, because the gap between them is wide.

What the Black Desert Championship showed

The 2024 Black Desert Championship, held October 9 to 13, was reported as the first PGA Tour event on a course using automated fairway mowers, according to Golf Business News. FireFly Automatix supplied four electric autonomous mowing platforms that ran overnight between rounds. Reports described a window of about 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. on the bentgrass fairways, and called the machines quiet and emissions-free.

The PGA Tour said it welcomed the chance to learn from battery-powered autonomous mowers and had no immediate plan to go automated. The event showed that overnight fairway cutting ran on a live Tour course. It did not show a Tour-wide change in how fairways are maintained.

FireFly's own figure is that four units working together could mow all 18 fairways in about four hours each night. That number came from the supplier and was not independently timed in the reporting we reviewed. Details in this article were checked in November 2026.

How Philadelphia Cricket Club runs a fleet on rough

Philadelphia Cricket Club is the clearest large-scale example. According to GAP Magazine, the club opened in 2023 with 30 Husqvarna autonomous mowers. The machines cover the rough on the club's two courses and stay out of fairways and bunkers through stay-out zones.

A Philadelphia Inquirer report from May 2025, tied to the Truist Championship, said more than 30 robot mowers were doing about 85% of the rough mowing. That is a press figure, and we did not open the full article, so treat it as reported rather than audited. Fleet counts also differ by source, ranging from 30 to 35 machines.

The same machines cut the low bentgrass tennis courts on the Great Lawn. Husqvarna's account adds a member point: members find a loud gasoline mower near their game intimidating. That is a vendor account, but it names a real reason clubs care about noise.

The Belfry's tournament prep under weather pressure

The Belfry used Husqvarna CEORA robotic mowers to prepare its Brabazon course for the Husqvarna British Masters, mainly cutting fairways overnight. The brief frames this as 2025 prep, but the sources we found describe the 2026 event, and say the course first tested the mowers the year before. Confirm the year before quoting it.

Seven units helped prepare the course before the event. Sources differ on tournament week, with one citing 16 units working overnight and another citing 15. Overnight shifts ran 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. with Husqvarna staff on hand.

During heavy rain and thunderstorms, the mowers kept cutting the championship fairways. The team said it would not otherwise have finished before play. The main account comes from the supplier's release, so read it as a strong claim with one primary source behind it. Each machine was cleaned, calibrated and given new blades daily, according to that release.

Aphrodite Hills and the resort case

Golf Business News reports that Aphrodite Hills introduced a robotic mower fleet of nine Husqvarna machines, described as the first golf resort in Cyprus to adopt robotic mowing. The mowers cover fairways, semi-roughs and rough.

Superintendent David Blair linked the change to lower fuel use, reduced noise and sustainability goals. The article did not give cost, the exact model mix or post-install performance figures, and we could not confirm its publication date. That gap is the honest state of this case: a clear fleet and clear motives, with few numbers.

Demonstrated results and vendor claims, sorted

The four cases carry different weight. Read the list below before quoting any figure from them.

• Observed on a live course: overnight fairway cutting at Black Desert, reported by Golf Business News and Golfdom.
• Reported by a newspaper: the rough share at Philadelphia Cricket Club, about 85% per the Inquirer, read as press reporting.
• Vendor-reported: FireFly's four-hour all-fairway estimate, and Husqvarna's account of Belfry's weather-period cutting, blade changes and calibration.
• Not found in our sources: cost, labor hours saved, and post-install performance at Aphrodite Hills.

What the pattern says about adoption

Three things repeat. The machines are battery-electric, they work overnight or on rough, and people keep the detail work. Across the cases, the robot takes the long, repetitive passes while the crew handles edges, greens and bunkers.

Adoption is still early. Several of the strongest throughput figures belong to the suppliers themselves. A club deciding now should expect to measure its own zones rather than copy someone else's acreage claim.

Where a robot lease fits a club's first pilot

Service Robot Co. is an OEM-neutral integrator for US businesses. We compare robots across manufacturers, then deploy, integrate, train and service each unit through a nationwide US engineer network. A club weighing mower types can start with a site assessment, and a lease is quoted only after that assessment.

Our offer is a 3-year robot lease with one fixed robot lease payment, quoted after the site assessment. A first pilot can cover one zone, such as the rough on a single course, before any fleet is discussed. Mapping stay-out zones, cart paths and charging locations comes before any unit runs.