HUNDREDS OF GREENKEEPING HOURS SAVED

Following Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club’s purchase of Ventrac 4500, course manager Dominic Lewis says he is saving hundreds of greenkeeping hours at the 132-year old club.

Situated within Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, the club has two 18-hole courses, both over 100 years old. Dominic Lewis has been in post for just over a year, having held similar positions at Hadley Wood, Harewood Downs, Oakland Park and Datchet golf clubs.

Commenting on the Ventrac purchase he said, “I’ve been in my position since May last year and quickly discovered the huge amount of time the team were spending on strimming work, on the banks and in the ditches. It was amazing the amount of time it took; it was a nightmare and, of course, it’s physical and extremely uncomfortable in hot weather. We looked for a solution and discovered the Ventrac.

"Our local dealer, Ernest Doe, sourced a machine, we had a demonstration and it was obvious it was what we needed. We chose four attachments; the Contour deck, Tough Cut deck, Trencher and Power Rake, so we have virtually four dedicated machines in one. At around £55K for the package, I would say it’s certainly value for money.”

Dave Wakeley, deputy course manager, is the principal operator of the machine and is more impressed with it every time he takes it out. “It’s a gamechanger for us and is saving us hours on some of the really time-intensive jobs around the courses. For instance, we have to strim the banks and ditches every three weeks and it used to take five of us up to three days to complete.

With the Ventrac we have reduced strimming hours by at least 75%, maybe more."