Magazine - Speedy dresser keeps Helensburgh happy

By Amy Starkings in Industry on 12th Jan 2007 9:00

Helensburgh Golf Club has enhanced the efficiency of its greenkeeping operations with the purchase of a Rink DS800 top-dresser from Charterhouse Turf Machinery.

Greenkeeping staff at the course, located 20 miles northwest of Glasgow, find the machine so easy to use that all 18 greens can now be top-dressed in one day by one man. It spreads sand evenly and accurately on the turf, helping to improve surface water drainage and to true up the greens. The club anticipates that, coupled with other aeration treatments and regular turf dressings, the greens and tees will improve significantly.

Course Manager Gavin Jarvis is delighted by the performance of the trailed machine and its speed. "We looked at several other top-dressers on the market and found that the Rink offered a high work rate thanks to its large-capacity hopper - two passes and the greens are done."

The machine has a hopper capacity of 0.8cu m and offers spreading widths of up to 10m (32ft). The depth of applied material can be set from 0.5mm-15mm.
Gavin and his team looking after the 18-hole course find the Rink DS800 very easy to use. "It's simple to attach and enables one-man operation," he says. "If you can drive a tractor, then you can use the Rink."

He adds that the machine has proved very reliable, and that the Club hopes to be able to give the approach areas the Rink treatment in the near future, when it replenishes its sand supplies.

The Rink DS800 is from a comprehensive range of specialist turf care equipment distributed by Charterhouse Turf Machinery. Next on Gavin's shopping list is a Verti-Drain deep aerator, which the Surrey-based company also offers.

Helensburgh Golf Club dates back to 1893 and several of its holes had challenging bunkers added to them by the famous golf course architect, James Braid. It offers players fine views over the River Clyde estuary to the west, and of Loch Lomond to the east.

Read more articles in Industry, by Amy Starkings or from January 2007.