At the pinnacle of St George’s Hill Golf Club sits its iconic clubhouse, casting an eye over its three nine-hole courses widely regarded as Harry Colt’s crowning glory, and now in the hands of Toro to uphold.
Set within an exclusive private estate in Surrey, the club was in need of a fleet of turfcare machinery to maintain the high standards of the course, and it was a complete Toro package that proved to hit the mark with the club signing its first ever five-year agreement plan with Toro and its distributor Reesink Turfcare.
The historic club provides one of the most exclusive golfing experiences, currently ranked No.63 in the world by Golf Digest magazine. With so much history and expectation, course manager Chris Godsen said the pressure to provide the very best is always on.
“Every day here is a big day,” he said. “Everyone who comes to play is looking for the best and wanting an experience like no other, so we have to work to provide that every day, no exceptions.”
With the club boasting 500 members and the estate home to 420 houses, having a comprehensive and efficient fleet is vitally important.
“The fleet here was already about 90 percent Toro,” Godsen said. “But we wanted to invest in new machines, so we’d be up to date with the latest tech and innovation. We did look at a couple of other brands, but there would always be one or two unreliable machines that would really let the package down. But with Toro, there isn’t one piece of kit I can see doing that. Toro always has far superior machines that are durable, reliable and state-of-the-art, which is just what a prestigious club like St George’s Hill needs.”
And club secretary Gary Peddie agreed: “The decision to choose Toro was a relatively easy one. They are recognised in the industry as a leading manufacturer of golf course machinery. That position sits very well alongside St George’s Hill Golf Club, as we look to deliver the best in golf course conditioning.”
With the package deal comprising near 30 pieces, including three Greensmaster 3250-Ds (pictured), three Reelmaster 3555-Ds, two Groundsmaster 4300-Ds, four Workman HDX-Ds and a ProPass 200 to name a few, Godsen is excited to put the new comprehensive fleet to work.
“We’re particularly excited to trial our new lightweight mowers as we haven’t had them before. The Multi Pro 5800-D sprayer is also going to be a big help. It’s bigger and faster than what we have now, so we’ll be able to get more coverage in less time. I’m confident this agreement is just the start of an ongoing partnership. The service from Reesink has always been great and now with a full fleet of Toro equipment, I have total peace of mind that the course is in good hands.”