Douglas Golf Club, located to the south of the Isle of Man’s capital, has recently purchased a Cushman Turf-Truckster and a Turfco WideSpin 1530 truck mounted top dresser, from local Ransomes Jacobsen dealer J.R. Riley.
Murray Jones is head greenkeeper at the municipally-owned 18-hole course and the purchase of the new equipment was initiated following twice-yearly consultation visits with the STRI, who recommended a little and often top dressing approach to help improve the drainage of the greens.
“Henry Bechelet, the former STRI consultant, has been extremely helpful and we have taken his advice and guidance, when making our decision,” he said. “We required a new utility vehicle, so it was sensible to look at the truck mounted spreader options at the same time. We selected the Turfco product because it has an impressive spreading width and can cope with fine applications, even when handling wet materials.”
Jamie Baggley, assistant head greenkeeper added, “Last year we added a Wiedenmann Terra Spike to the fleet and over the winter we had no temporary greens. Root depth has increased and drainage has improved significantly. Now with this new utility vehicle and top dresser combination, we have a another excellent piece of equipment to support our greens maintenance regime.”
Douglas Golf Club features a variety of challenging holes including the par three 17th, which requires a shot from an elevated tee to a green some 70 feet below and the superb 322-yard par four second hole which requires a well-placed drive to set up a very difficult mid-iron second shot into a high and closely guarded green. Founded in 1891 it is open daily on a pay and play basis.
Ransomes Jacobsen is a Textron Inc (NYSE:TXT) company and more information can be found at www.ransomesjacobsen.com