Pi Tape - Golf Course Superintendents Association of America

4/17/ 2:04 PM I was looking to add a diameter measuring tape to our arsenal of gadgets this year in an attempt to really see how well our reel stock is sitting. Some are aging pretty well, and probably are ready for some alterations, but I don't want to be doing guess work.

After looking on-line, there are many options I can see available. Is one as good as the next? I, nor anyone in my shop, has the experience using one, so a little feedback would be appreciated. I'd imagine a simple soft fabric tape would work, but wouldn't be very accurate since it'd flatten out between the blades, especially on 7's or 8's. I suspect a metal version would stand out across the gaps a bit more to give a much closer and accurate reading. I saw a few metal ones that were cheap, and then the ultra pricey 200 dollar versions. Seems to me the IGCEMA had them advertised for sale before the GCSAA absorption, not sure if that resource is still available. Or are these offered in the GCSAA bookstore?

Thanks all.


4/18/ 1:04 AM turfaddict.com took over the IGCEMA items for sale. They sell the Simplex pi-tape or maybe you can contact SIP direct. I see where SIP was selling pi-tapes on Amazon, but it says they unavailable now and gives no date when they will be available on Amazon again.

The SIP tape is a good tape because it has a magnet that holds the one end of the tape in place. It is also made out of a very thin mylar type material that bends around the reel very nicely. A metal tape would not bend around the reel very tightly and when you are measuring in the thousands you want the tape to hung the reel as close as possible.


4/18/ 1:04 AM Kyle,

What is you purpose for the pi-tape? If it just to check to see if a Toro reel is below the 4.5" diameter limit for grinding and MTI is your Toro distributor? At MTI their former service manager developed a no-go gauge for checking reel diameter for the 4.5" limit. 3D printers are great for developing tools like this.

A 6" stainless-steel pocket clip ruler can also be easily set up for measuring the 4.5" minimum reel diameter. The pocket ruler method is much faster than using a pi-tape. I pull out the clip ruler before grinding any reel. Nothing like grinding a greens mower reel and then finding out you can't set it low enough to your desired mowing height because the reel diameter is too small.