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A Solid Investment
In today’s increasingly competitive golf course market, club finances can be put under pressure very easily. When Burghley Park Golf Club at Stamford in Lincolnshire made a massive and much needed investment in its new clubhouse, which was completed in spring 2005, money was at a premium – but the club also needed to upgrade an ageing course maintenance equipment fleet.
The solution was found at a John Deere sponsored English Golf Union road show meeting at Northamptonshire County Golf Club last autumn, attended by Secretary/Manager Stephen Last, Chair of Green Paul Wilkinson and Course Manager David Salisbury. A John Deere Credit finance presentation was the catalyst for buying six new machines from local dealer Peterborough Grass Machinery on a replacement lease programme.
“Building the new clubhouse took all our spare funds, so for a time we couldn’t invest elsewhere on the course, apart from the odd machine,” explains Stephen Last. “We ended up needing a lot of front-line equipment, and the leasing option was something we had heard about other clubs doing. In our circumstances it was the only way to bring in a significant number of new machines at one time, to replace several older models.”
The new machines include a 2500A greens triple mower, 3235C fairway mower, 3245C rotary deck roughs mower, 3520 compact tractor and an HD200 sprayer for an existing Pro Gator utility vehicle. The John Deere fleet already included another 2500A and Pro Gator, two 2653A tees & surrounds mowers, a 1445 front rotary mower and four 220A walk-behind greens mowers.
Leases have been taken over five, six or seven years, depending on the estimated life span of individual machines, and the golf club retains ownership after the leases expire. The new purchases have enabled David Salisbury and his team of four full-time and three part-time green keepers to dedicate more machines to specific jobs, which has led to more flexibility and mobility in the use of equipment around the course.
“Burghley Park is a generally flat, open parkland course, very free draining on a limestone base, and we strive to maintain our greens and fairways in first class condition – we don’t want grass lines everywhere,” says David. “It’s also a very busy course – as soon as it’s light, the members are out there playing, so the mowers must be capable of performing well in the early morning damp and dew.
“I’ve been very impressed with the finish from the new fairway mower in these conditions. The rotary deck mower has already made a great difference to the rough and semi-rough too, which were cut with very out of date trailed gangs before, and these areas of the course have got even better over the course of the summer.”
Bought in 1994, the club’s first John Deere machine was one of the first 3235 fairway mowers sold in the UK. It’s still going strong today, even after 13 years’ heavy use. This was one of the reasons they decided to opt for John Deere equipment when the fleet was updated, adds David.
“We had a good look at various makes at the Harrogate and Windsor shows, and later carried out ‘head to head’ demonstrations on the course to compare like for like, with plenty of practical sessions for the greens staff to make sure they were happy with the choice,” he says.
“John Deere machines have always looked well made and strongly built. Based on the reliability of the original fairway mower, which has lasted very well under robust conditions and given us very few mechanical problems, we felt sure the rest of the range would be a good bet. Servicing and maintenance are easy, parts are delivered very quickly when we need them, and we get a high standard of product training on all the machines.”
Stephen Last acknowledges that the ongoing partnership between the club, the dealer and John Deere helped to develop the right package for their particular situation. “Such an investment demonstrates a commitment to improving the club and the course to the benefit of all,” he says. “The greens staff benefit from the use of modern, well-maintained equipment, the course and the members benefit from a higher quality of presentation, and the club benefits financially from re-establishing a proper balance between income and expenditure.”
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