GOLF COURSES
om Hooper , Course
T
Manager at South Beds Golf Club in Luton , claims that his new ISEKI tractor is one of the best he has seen throughout his long and illustrious career .
Tom has been working at the club since 1896 and was appointed Course Manager in 2003 . Throughout his tenure he has overseen many course improvements and has seen many technological advancements in terms of equipment . A wide range of equipment has come and gone at South Beds , but there hasn ’ t been many that has lived up to one of his newest purchases .
“ Having experienced using many different tractors throughout my career , I would say ISEKI is one of the best ,” said Tom . “ It performs so well and is very spacious inside with a good flat floor , no trip hazards and is extremely comfortable .
“ We decided to invest in the ISEKI tractor to replace our old tractor , which was very outdated and too large for the golf course . It just ticked a lot of boxes for us , including the price , the performance and the lift capacity was ideal because it needs to be able to lift a 400-litre tank .”
Tom purchased the TG6407 IQ which features an ISEKI Stage V , 3 cylinder 40hp diesel engine with IQ Dual-Clutch transmission F24 / R24 that offers the control of a manual with the convenience of an automatic . There are 8 clutchless speeds and 3 ranges . Gears are changed by simply moving the gear lever through the straight shift gate . If ‘ D ’ is selected , then gears 4-8 are operated automatically - ideal for roadwork or towing . TG6407 IQ is available with ROPS or an airconditioned Category 2 cab .
A front loader joystick , draft control , up stop PTO and linkage lift in reverse are all supplied as standard . The tractors are offered with either Ag or Turf tyres as standard . Optional loaders , either standard or with parallel lift are available .
“ The IQ gearbox is very efficient ,” continued Tom . “ It is easy to operate , and you can go up and down the gears nice and smoothly .
“ We use the tractor for all kinds of work including spraying , vertidraining , and lots of other tasks where we need to attach implements to it . It gives us plenty of horsepower but at the same time it is a nice and compact tractor which can go on all the greens in many different conditions .
24 GroundskeepingJournal . co . uk | May / June 2023