Why would a homeowner spend upwards of $9,000 on a mower? Just ask Carol Nelson of Paris, Illinois. In '96, she and her husband Bob purchased a Walker equipped with a Kohler engine and 52-inch side-discharge deck. The acquisition immediately cut her mowing time down from 16 hours on her garden tractor to only four. And, she says, "When I've finished mowing I still have energy left to do other things around the house." There are plenty of things to do, too. The Nelsons live on a beautiful 7-acre spread just on the outskirts of town. All but half an acre is mowed, including a seven-hole golf course the couple refers to as "Serenity Acres."
Their home is situated just above the links and includes two huge decks and a garage recently converted into a woodworking shop. The carpentry work was all done in-house by the husband and wife team.
Carol is a former cabinet maker/laminator/welder. Bob also enjoys woodworking, not to mention making custom golf clubs.
Mower Madness
Six and a half acres of lawn is a bundle to mow, whether you're a lawn maintenance professional or a homeowner. Before she purchased the Walker, Carol says it would take her two days to mow her lawn and she "wouldn't be human" after the effort.
Late last year, after waging the mowing battle for nearly another entire season, she and Bob visited the local dealer fully intent on buying a zero-turn-radius mower.
"The mower he showed us had two big steering levers and we just didn't like the way it handled," remembers Carol. "Then we asked him about the yellow mower also in the showroom." "We had never heard of a Walker, but I liked it immediately. There was no plastic on it, the machine looked like it was rugged, and it handled like a breeze. The nice thing was that it was comparably priced to the other mower, and was even less expensive than a new garden tractor."
But it wasn't until she brought the mower home that its real advantages came through loud and clear.
Carol, who has had carpel tunnel surgery on both hands, found the steering to be incredibly easy. "I just use my pinkie and index fingers to steer the mower," she says. 'I also felt more secure on the hills with the Walker than the garden tractor, and it's an honest machine."
Honest? "The deck was advertised to cut 52 inches and that's just what it cut," she emphasizes. "The 36-inch deck on the garden tractor cut only about 33 inches, and it left a mark. Not the Walker, it cuts the full width and it does a nice clean job."
Listening to his wife talk about the Walker, Bob nods his head in agreement, then smiles.
"You really have to see Carol operate the mower to understand her enthusiasm," he says. "She's either out there mowing with her head phones on just jamming away, or she is riding to a picnic with her 3-year-old granddaughter Becca-boo."
Bob continues, "She takes her mowing seriously. Before she got used to the mower, she left a weed standing in the back lawn and practiced maneuvering around it."
Carol doesn't mind what her family thinks about her mowing regimen. As she puts it, ''I'm totally amazed with my mower. My family, on the other hand, thinks I'm crazy." Crazy or not, Carol says she mows once a week now, maybe twice if it rains a lot. She carries her limb cutters, water and string-line trimmer in the back utility bed, although, she notes, the Walker has cut down considerably on her trimming time. She also attaches a small garden cart to pick up debris.
"I don't want to use the term user-friendly because it's so overused," adds Carol. "But that's what the Walker is. The seat and arm rests are real comfortable, and how the mower maneuvers is what really counts."
Her only negative comment is that when the grass is wet, it sometimes sticks to the bottom of the deck. A company that designs such a great mower ought to be able to design a silicon spray that keeps the decks running clean, even in the rain, she points out.
Well, then again, Mother Nature still presents its challenges. In the meantime, Carol is mowing away, to the tune of four hours a week, 32 weeks a year. At that rate, this will be the first and last Walker she will ever own.
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