Northern contractor, Turfcare Specialists based at Consett, County Durham, now own five Wiedenmann Terra Spike deep aerators. Their most recent acquisition, a Terra Spike XD8, came straight off the Wiedenmann stand at Saltex, to save on delivery miles. It now joins their existing XD8, two XP8s and one XF6.
With 35 years’ experience of pitch maintenance, construction, and renovation across all sporting codes in Durham, Cumbria and North Yorkshire, the second-generation family business has built a stellar reputation for best value solutions.
Operations Director, Paul Charlton said: “We got our first XD in February, liked it so much we ordered our second. We are really feeling the benefits. It’s fast, incredibly smooth and with few greasing points, on-going maintenance is minimal. Quality is first class; it saves us so much time. We can give clients less interruption to their play timetable, so everyone benefits.
“Currently we’re focussed on golf contracts and are booked out till about Christmas. The marked upturn in golf bookings is for a variety of reasons; some courses just don’t have enough staff to cover the process while other clubs choose not to invest in their own machine, and that’s where we can come in…
“If we use both the XDs then typically, we’ll be doing 18 fairways in 3-4 days where previously with two Terra Spike XPs it was twice as long. Paired with our Kubota compact they can also work on greens and fine turf.
“The XDs are very comfortable at depths of 250 mm -275 mm, and we use them for football, rugby, golf and cricket. But we’re hanging on to the XPs as they can reach 400 mm down which is still quite a popular requirement. The XF6 is the quickest machine around. As a business, in months ahead we can tailor machines we bring for individual client requirements.”
Wiedenmann UK, Northern Sales Manager, Mike James, said: “The Charlton family and Turfcare Specialists have been loyal customers since the early 1990s. Their first machine was from the P-Series, they’ve followed the Terra Spike ever since. I knew they would like the XD8 because it combines speed with the ability to work at depth. I know many contractors and grounds people who aerate full size pitches in two hours with a neat and tidy accurate square hole pattern.
Also, if the natural pitches being worked have hidden objects below, when contact is made with something solid and bulky lurking under the soil, the shock absorbers react and protect the machine, tractor and operator.”
