At the prestigious Milltown Golf Club in Dublin course superintendent Andy Sheehan has seen major improvements to the putting surfaces and significant savings in fuel bills since purchasing a Jacobsen Eclipse 322 hybrid greens mower from local Ransomes Jacobsen dealer, Kevin Broderick Ltd.
Sheehan, who managed the multi-million Euro re-modelling of the 104-year old facility, which re-opened to high praise in 2009 said,
“We were looking to purchase a ride-on greens mower, for use mainly at weekends, that would complement our Jacobsen Tournament Cut 22 hand mowers that we use throughout the week. The preferred machine was needed to meet some strict criteria: excellent quality of cut, low noise as we are in a residential area, ease of use and a reduction in associated costs.
“We had the Eclipse for a week to give it a thorough test and it surpassed my expectations; it is as close as you will get to the quality of cut of a hand mower and it stays ‘on cut’ for days. The small diesel engine and hybrid technology makes this machine unbelievably quiet; so much so that we have not had a single complaint from local residents on the weekends since we purchased it. It’s simple to operate, the digital display shows you everything that’s going on – there’s even an audible warning when the fuel is low – and the fuel savings are in the region of over 40% compared to our previous greens triples.
“I’m particularly impressed with the adjustable frequency of clip; it’s brilliant; a great feature. It means that we can set the clip rate per metre to exactly how we want depending on the course conditions, but best of all, it’s locked in, so whoever gets to operate it, the clip rate stays exactly the same – on every green. The result is fantastically consistent greens.
“We have been so impressed with the Eclipse that we are now hoping to purchase Eclipse hand mowers for the 2012 season.”
Ransomes Jacobsen www.ransomesjacobsen.com