Abbeydale Golf Club in Sheffield has been a long time advocate of ATT’s innovative turf maintenance equipment, being one of the first clubs to trial the TMSystem™ some five years ago.
Previously, the club had used dethatching cassettes, but the TMSystem™ offered a first opportunity to perform more maintenance tasks with a single power unit.
“We have two John Deere greens triples, one of which is kept for mowing and the other used with the TMSystem™,” says Head Greenkeeper Warwick Manning. “I was immediately impressed with the build quality of the system and the range of cassettes available.”
The Ultragroomer is the most frequently used attachment used on a regular basis to take grain out of the meadowgrasses on the greens. “We have reduced thatch to a manageable level, so all that is needed is surface management of the sward, and the Ultragroomer does an excellent job.”
Vibratory rollers maintain green speeds and also help to work topdressings in, while the sarel rollers spike the surface, ensuring that dressings penetrate for greatest effect. The vibration brush is also used after top dressing, while the scarifier cassette can be employed as and when necessary.
“It’s a really quick job to swap the cassettes and very easy to do, just requiring an Allen key. I believe it will be even quicker on the latest Deere triples as the motor set up is more straightforward on the mower’s QA cutting units,” Warwick comments. Using the TMSystem™ is the responsibility of several key greenkeepers in the Abbeydale team, but he adds that it would be easy to train any member of staff to operate it.
“It is an exceptionally user-friendly system, but that is what I would expect as it was built by a greenkeeper for other greenkeepers!”
The impressive durability and build quality of the TMSystem™ ledWarwickto consider the INFiNiCut walk behind greens mower from ATT as soon as it became available.
“John Coleman demonstrated the unit to us, and I could immediately see that it offered the same benefits of flexibility while being extremely well built,” he explains.
The floating head hugs ground contours on Abbeydale Golf Club’s greens, while the turn and click height adjuster adapts readily to changing conditions. As the INFiNiCut also integrates with the TMSystem™, it provides an extremely versatile maintenance solution.
“We started out with one machine, but we are planning to make a significant investment in machinery next year, and three or four INFiNiCut mowers are likely to be on the list. It is particularly interesting to see that the company is developing a hybrid electric version as I believe that this is the way that greens mowers should be going. There have been issues with reliability with other manufacturers’ early hybrid machines, but the experiences we’ve had with ATT would certainly give us confidence in their developments.”
He adds: “Golf course machinery needs to be able to perform, but also needs to be robust enough to be capable of working as much as 400 hours a year. We’ve got no argument with the quality of equipment or the level of back-up we’ve had from ATT.”
Abbeydale Golf Club is recognised as one of South Yorkshirefinest, with the 18 hole course designed by Herbert Fowler, also renowned for other such designs as Walton Heath and The Berkshire. Set in the beautiful Beauchief Estate, it provides a memorable golfing experience for players of all handicaps and retains some of the best views of the Derbyshire countryside to be seen anywhere from Sheffield.
Abbeydale Golf Club www.abbeydalegolfclub.co.uk