Scarborough South Cliff Golf Club, situated a mile outside the town centre of this famous Victorian seaside resort, has purchased a Jacobsen GP400 tees mower and a Cushman Turf-Truckster complete with a WideSpin 1540 top dresser from local Ransomes Jacobsen dealer, J & GM Thompson.
The GP400 is normally configured as a greens mower, but in this instance Paul Sleight, the club’s head greenkeeper, has had 7-blade, 22 inch cutting units fitted to create a highly manoeuvrable tees mower.
The tees on this hybrid parkland/links course are quite small and are not suited to a traditional trim mower. The three-wheel drive option on the GP400 provides ideal traction for climbing the sides of the tee boxes and the quality of cut and clipping collection is superior to standard greens mower.
“This is a very versatile machine, compact and easy to adjust and maintain due to its swing-out centre unit,” Paul said. “It’s a quality machine with an excellent cut and ideally suited to our small, elevated tees. Ransomes Jacobsen held a ‘Tee to Green’ roadshow here early in the 2011 season and I saw the GP400 demonstrated during the event. I quickly realised that it would suit our needs precisely.”
The combination of the Cushman Turf-Truckster and mounted Turfco WideSpin 1540 top dresser creates a dedicated machine that suits Paul’s ‘little and often’ top dressing regime perfectly.
“I had demonstrations of two other competitor machines, but to me, the Cushman/Turfco combination is a superior package by far. It offers a firm, fast and smooth ride and handles the ridges and furrows really well. The traction is very good and it provides a good, even spread, wet or dry and better than anything else on the market. We use it on our greens, tees, aprons and some fairways. It used to take three of my team a complete day to top dress all 18 greens; now it takes one man three hours maximum. That’s what I call a sound investment,” he added.
Scarborough South Cliff Golf Club was formed in 1903 and today boasts close to 500 members. It can best be described a parkland links cross, as it is split in two by the main Filey Road with the coastal holes providing spectacular views over the town and harbour. Paul Sleight, joined the club in 1989 and was appointed head greenkeeper in 1994; he manages a small, but passionate team of three greenkeepers.
Ransomes Jacobsen www.ransomesjacobsen.com
Scarborough South Cliffs Golf Club www.southcliffgolfclub.com
Head greenkeeper Paul Sleight with his Cushman