Aldersey Green Golf Club was opened in 1993 and features 18 holes amongst 14 lakes. The Course is set in a total of 200 acres of Cheshire countryside that used to be farmland and was constructed by Norman and Bernard Mallon. Mr Mallon Junior, Tom, is the Course Manager.
Tom has been at the course since he left school aged 16.He attended Reaseheath College where he did a sportsturf course and has slowly taken over as Course Manager during the past seven years. The Club began using Charterhouse equipment upon recommendation by Adrian at Sharrocks. He arranged for Dougie Archibald to demonstrate some machinery and leave it for them to try, and they were hooked!
“Dougie brought along a Rink DS2000 Topdresser at the end of last year,” said Tom, “it took hours off doing the job. You can take it out and, without even pushing it, topdress all the greens in two hours. Before it would have taken us most of the day to do the same job – two passes and the whole green is done. A real improvement on the near on 12 runs we would have done before. We took a look at what else was on the market but they all seemed to be too complicated for the purpose needed. We bought the Rink on the spot and have been very pleased with it.”
The Rink DS2000 topdresserhas a spreading width of 2 to 15m with a spreading thickness of 0.5 to 15mm. The hopper capacity is 2.0 M3level with the whole unit weighing only 820kg meaning it needs only a tractor size of 35hp.
The purchase of the Rink was followed in early 2014 by a Redexim Verti-Drain 1517. Tom and his team believe in the ‘less labour the better’ principle and that’s what attracted them to the 1517. Their old aerator would have taken one person two and a half days to do all the greens – and that was too long so they looked around for a replacement. They calculated that with the Redexim Verti-Drain one person could do all the greens in less than a day.
Tom again, “The Charterhouse product was better value; quicker at getting the job done; less maintenance and easier to use. The weight of our old machine was considerable which made it more awkward to use, for example you couldn’t use it when the ground was soft where in reality you needed to use it. The 1517is very light for the near 1.8M width and has made a massive difference – the extra width covers the tyre marks and evens out the ground.”
True to form Tom bought the Verti-Drain 1517the same day it was demonstrated and was out the next day using it on all the greens!
The new Redexim Verti-Drain 1517 is part of the new high speed 15 series featuring lighter weight machines which still offer the market leading Verti-Drain build quality and output.Suitable for use with a tractor from as little as 28hp and ideal for work on golf greens, the Redexim Verti-Drain 1517 offers a productive 1.76m operating width. It can work to 150mm (6in) deep, but weighs in at just 520kg
Aldersey Green Golf Club www.alderseygreengolfclub.co.uk
Charterhouse Turf Machinery www.charterhouseturfmachinery.co.uk