Magazine - Ransomes Jacobsen Equipment aids significant improvement in course condition at West Hove Golf Club

By Peter Driver in Industry on 19th Dec 2006 9:00

New turf maintenance equipment, supplied by local Ransomes Jacobsen dealer Harper & Eade, has performed particularly well during the past eight months at West Hove Golf Club. Ransomes Jacobsen is a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company.

The Club, which has occupied its current site since 1997, is set within the beautiful South Downs National Park, with the clubhouse offering superb views of the course, local downland and the English Channel.

Head greenkeeper, Duncan Haste has gradually been refreshing his turf maintenance fleet over the past five years and last season purchased a Cushman Turf Truckster, a Jacobsen Tri-King and a Jacobsen HR-5111 batwing rotary.

Commenting on his recent purchases he said,
"We have sand based greens constructed to USPGA standards and chalk based fairways, so we drain exceptionally well. In fact, we are known locally as 'the course that never closes'.

"Being a relatively young course, we've had to work hard to get it up to scratch and with the help of this new equipment, we have a seen a significant improvement over the past year. Due to our location, we need machines with plenty of power and traction and the HR5111 is the perfect machine for our semi-rough and rough.

"The Tri-King produces a real, high quality cut on greens surrounds and tees and the Cushman is a great utility vehicle, again with plenty of power for our course conditions.

"In any purchasing decision I always consult my staff as they are the people who will be working with equipment on a daily basis. That's the process we employed with this latest round of purchasing. I also believe that the Jacobsen cylinder is, without doubt, the best there is on the market today. It gives a truly superb finish to fine turf."

West Hove relocated in 1997 when their previous facilities was acquired for the construction of the new A27 link road. The new course is a challenging 18 hole, par 71, designed and constructed by Hawtree & Son. It also features an 18-bay driving range, practice bunkers and putting green

Read more articles in Industry, by Peter Driver or from December 2006.