Aspley Guise and Woburn Sands GC turns to Jacobsen equipment

Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands Golf Club, situated close by the M1 just a few minutes' drive from the centre of Milton Keynes, has purchased a range of Jacobsen mowing equipment from local Ransomes Jacobsen dealer, Ernest Doe & Sons.

Tony Lee has been with club for the past 24 years, the last 15 as course manager and heads a team of six greenkeeping staff, who maintain the 6,100 yard par 71 parkland course to exceptionally high standards.

"We've worked almost exclusively with a competitor manufacturer for the past 15 to 20 years, but I've been interested in the technological developments that Jacobsen have been introducing over the past couple of years," he said. "I particularly like the their new Eclipse 322 hybrid greens mower; I saw a clip on YouTube, was sufficiently interested to call for a demo and was delighted with the quality of cut, the absence of hydraulics and the competitive price.

"We've also purchased an LF570 lightweight fairway mower, which is a very comfortable piece of equipment to operate. It's lighter than our previous fairway mower, so more forgiving on the turf; initially I was looking at Jacobsen's previous fairway mower, the LF3800, but they re-engineered it during the purchase negotiations so we went with the upgraded machine.

What has surprised my team about the Jacobsen TR3 tees and surrounds mower is its fuel consumption; it's half of our old machine and that's an added bonus, which we didn't expect."

Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands Golf Club was established in 1914 with the course layout based on designs by Sandy Herd, a Scottish golf professional who won the Open in 1902. Today the course sits in mature parkland a few miles south east of Milton Keynes and just minutes from the M1 and A5. The club has a membership of close to 650 with a waiting list of 50, which reflects on the quality of the facilities. It celebrates its centenary next year and although nothing has been firmed up to date, Tony Lee knows it's going to be hectic.

"We'll certainly be celebrating with some special events next summer, so we'll need the course to look especially good for such a grand occasion," he added. "We had around 40,000 rounds last year and have just completed a new short game practice area, which we constructed over the winter. With our new equipment, I'm sure we'll have place looking superb for the celebrations."

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The new Jacobsen equipment at Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands Course manager Tony Lee