GREENSKEEPING
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The club decided to keep all the other
greens staff working on staggered shifts
through the day and into the evening,
as much to watch over and protect the
courses as to continue maintaining all 54
holes to the highest standard.
This process has also seen the
introduction of the club’s first John
Deere course maintenance equipment
fleet of 10 machines bought from dealer
Tallis Amos Group (TAG) at Bibury,
near Cirencester, on a five-year John
Deere Financial lease deal. The new
fleet includes three 2750 E-Cut hybrid
electric triplex greens and tees mowers,
a 6080A PrecisionCut fairway mower for
the approaches and a 7400A TerrainCut
rotary mower for the surrounds and
roughs, plus three electric TE Gator and
two diesel HPX Gator utility vehicles.
“
“There was certainly a
huge pent-up demand from
the members to get back
playing – I reckon 1300
people played at least one
day within 10 days of reopening.
“We anticipated that the club would
need to reopen at very short notice and
so it proved,” says general manager
Simon Pope. “On returning we wanted
to present the courses to the members
in as good a condition as we possibly
could, so we aimed to keep the same
maintenance schedule all the way
through the lockdown and be ready to go
from day one.
“As an extra benefit, we usually close
each of the championship courses in
turn during August and September
for annual intensive maintenance
programmes, but the good work that
was achieved during lockdown means
we won’t need to do that now, which our
members are delighted about. I have
to commend Adam and the whole team
for their admirable effort and positive
attitude, they have been absolutely
brilliant under the circumstances.”
The courses reopened for play on May
13, which coincidentally is Marking Day
on Minchinhampton Common. On this
day each year around 500 cattle are
released on the common for a summer
of traditional grazing, and it is part of
the greens staff’s responsibility to clean
up after them on The Old Course when
necessary!
“There was certainly a huge pent-up
demand from the members to get
back playing – I reckon 1300 people
played at least one day within 10 days of
re-opening,” adds Simon. “We already
had a very strong membership base,
with a waiting list last summer, but the
lockdown period saw new membership
applications shoot up. We have also
now expanded the membership offer, so
golfers can play 54 holes across the two
sites if they wish. This gives members a
lot of variety, especially as we are able
to run dedicated two-ball and four-ball
courses.”
Now 35, Adam Matthews has worked
at Minchinhampton Golf Club since he
was 16, and became courses manager
in January. This coincided with the
club coming to the end of its existing
five-year fleet deal, and therefore
provided a good opportunity for Simon
and Adam to review every aspect of
the club’s management, including the
machinery. After competitive tender
quotes from existing and other main
suppliers, the pair were impressed by
the presentations made by TAG and John
Deere.
“TAG’s area sales manager Alex Jones in
particular led from the front and it was
really his persistence and sound advice
that persuaded us to seriously consider
using more John Deere equipment than
we have done previously,” says Adam.
“They put forward a very constructive and
consistent proposal, and we had a range
of machines in twice on demonstration
so the team could really test them
properly in our conditions.
“We certainly took our time, it was by no
means a sudden decision, and we wanted
to be very thorough and fair. It was not
just about buying new machinery either,
other key factors came into play such as
after-sales care, trust in the equipment
both in the workshop and out on the
course, as well as the finance.
“Ultimately, the high level of customer
service was what made us believe
that the overall John Deere and dealer
package was the way for us to go. All
our questions were answered quickly,
the selection of machines was tailored
precisely to our needs and since the
deal’s been completed, Alex Jones and
TAG have continued to provide excellent
back-up. We realised that this aspect
is so important, particularly when you
change to a new supplier.”
John Deere
www.deere.co.uk
GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Summer 2020
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