Bray golf club's wide area rotary mower masters hilly terrain
Bray Golf Club, set in 200 acres of rolling parkland between Bray Head and the Sugar Loaf Mountain with magnificent views of Killiney Bay and the Wicklow mountains in Ireland, has recently purchased a Jacobsen R-311T wide area rotary mower from local Ransomes Jacobsen dealer, Kevin Broderick Ltd. Ransomes Jacobsen is a major manufacturer of turf maintenance equipment and a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company.
Bray Golf Club was founded in 1897, with a course originally located in Ravenswell Road. Just over a century later the course was sold to a development company and a new 18-hole course with modern clubhouse and excellent practice facilities, just three kilometers from the previous location, was opened in June 2003.
Commenting on the purchase of the Jacobsen R311-T, Alan Threadgold, general manager at the club said, "The course was designed by Des Smyth, the 2006 Ryder Cup Vice-Captain, and Declan Brannigan on sloping land in a stunning location. To reduce the effect of the slopes on which the course was constructed, they created tiered fairways and, as a result, a large number of the holes are relatively flat. However, the semi and rough areas have some severe undulations, so we required a machine that had the power and productivity to keep these areas under control."
David Nolan, assistant head greenkeeper added, "The R-311T is great from an operator's point of view. The air suspension seat is very comfortable and the whole cockpit has been designed with operators in mind. But it's the power and productivity that makes it unbeatable. At almost 60 hp, it's got loads of power and traction plus three fully floating decks with a total of seven hydraulically-driven blades giving it tremendous output. It's the only machine of its type that can cope with the demands of this course."