TURF MANAGEMENT
Wet Sand is no Issue with the Dakota 412 at Reay Golf Club
s the most northern
A links golf course on the United Kingdom mainland , having a top dresser that can spread wet sand like the Dakota 412 from Campey Turf Care Systems is a must at Scotland ’ s Reay Golf Club .
The James Braid designed course is positioned on the edge of Sandside Bay with views of the Pentland Firth and the North Atlantic from every hole . The course and its stunning views have been under the control of Head Greenkeeper Jason Norwood , since March 2021 , with the new man aiming to put his stamp on the course , starting with the greens .
As the sole full-time member of staff for the main 18-hole course and junior three-hole , Jason ’ s priority is the greens , with volunteers giving up two days a week to assist with the fairways and roughs . The limited time available to Jason needs to be spent working , and with the Dakota 412 , he ’ s able to top-dress as and when he needs to regardless of the sand moisture .
“ I ’ ve tried to put my own stamp on things here with different types of machinery and different ways of working , and the club has really been on board with that , and one of those things has been buying the new Dakota top dresser ,” Jason explains .
“ The equipment we originally had couldn ’ t cope well with wet sand ; it was more of a large-scale fertiliser spreader . As you can imagine at the top of Scotland , there ’ s a lot of rain about so any sand that we do have is normally quite wet , so that was one of the main features of the Dakota for us because it can deal with that quite easily and we still get a good even spread with it .
“ We really want to push forward and make use of the North Coast 500 tourist route , which is literally on our doorstep ; it passes
6 GroundskeepingJournal . co . uk | August / September 2021