Royal Troon Golf Club, host venue for this year’s Open Championship, has signed an exclusive partnership deal with Reesink Turfcare and Toro machinery ahead of staging golf’s oldest major for the tenth time later this month.
The deal has provided course manager Billy McLachlan, who has been at the helm of the world-famous Scottish links for 31 years and overseen the preparation of the course for four of Opens, with a range of world-class equipment, including the latest electric mowers, for the 152nd renewal.
Preparations for the championship have been years in the planning, starting as the club came out of the 2016 tournament with drainage work and then the installation of what McLachlan described as a ‘revolutionary’ new Toro irrigation system.
“To have the reassurance of an irrigation system which allows us to be proactive and reactive depending on weather conditions; targeted and effective with our water usage and to have an entirely different level of precision and control throughout the tournament will be revolutionary,” he says. “It will take a lot of stress away.”
McLachlan, who has been using Toro machinery for years, felt the timing was right to make the commitment with Reesink, especially in the run-up to and over the tournament. Plus, he had his eye on sustainable mowing options. He said: “We have a focus on using electric machinery and were extremely impressed with the Toro Greensmaster eTriFlex 3370 ride-on and Greensmaster e1021 pedestrian mowers, which will be taking care of the greens.
“Having all-electric turfcare machinery is a new addition to our fleet at The Open and I’m looking forward to the huge benefits that will bring. For one, they will allow us to get out to any areas we need to without disturbing viewers or the flow of play and we know we can work all hours needed, because they are so quiet.”
Jon Cole, divisional business manager at Reesink Turfcare, commented: “For electric power to play such a key role in yet another Open Championship sends a fantastic message. Just like diesel machines, battery-operated mowers can also cope with the demands of producing the quality of cut and level of work demanded by a global event.”
The club has a core fleet of Toro machines and included new versions of the Toro Reelmaster 3575 and Groundsmaster 4300 mowers for fairways and roughs respectively as well as mid and heavy-duty utility vehicles in the last delivery. There’s a Toro ProCore 648s which will be instrumental in post-event recovery work.
McLachlan continues: “To have the support of Reesink throughout the tournament will be vital. We will have additional models of the same machines we’ve been using coming in and extra technicians, which provides great peace of mind.”
So what can players and viewers expect to find at Royal Troon when they play or tune in for this month’s championship? McLachlan says it will certainly be bigger and better than ever. “There are nine new tees too which lengthened the overall course – I think we’re sitting just 36 yards fewer than the record at Carnoustie in 2007 – and the event has sold out, ensuring a record attendance of 250,000, an increase of more than 70,000 people from the last time we hosted it in 2016. The grandstands, catering facilities, temporary buildings, services, everything is bigger to accommodate the increase in numbers.”
With the team, the years of planning, and Reesink and Toro by its side, Royal Troon Golf Club is certainly in a good position to deliver a tournament to remember.
