Eaton Golf Club takes delivery of historic Wiedenmann Terra Spike

The one-and-only Wiedemann Terra Spike GXi8 to be finished in gold paint in celebration of Wiedemann GmbH's 50th anniversary year has been bought by Eaton Golf Club, an 18 hole 6118 yard course established in Norwich in 1910. The Terra Spike is Wiedemann's best selling machine and this special gold painted example, when auctioned by Wiedenmann for charity, was purchased by dealership Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd.

Area sales manager for Ernest Doe, Stuart Paterson said, "Mick Lathrope, course manager at Eaton Golf Club asked us to demonstrate a replacement for his G135 Wiedenmann, which would increase productivity on the course, along with a replacement tractor. I knew the Wiedenmann GXi8 Terra Spike and a New Holland Boomer 3040 Easydrive would be the perfect combination that would tick all the boxes. The Wiedenmann has the speed and capabilities to take out two machines at some golf clubs, being able to do all the jobs in one machine. I was delighted when Eaton Golf Club said they would like the Gold Wiedenmann, as it is the only one in the world and it would be going into my area."

Having joined Eaton Golf Club in 1972, Mick Lathrope has seen many changes to the club's aeration programme. He commented, "When I joined the club we were aerating twice a year, once in the spring and again in the autumn, to a depth of 2 inches if we were lucky. That's just not an option nowadays. We have more members playing more often. We have bigger tees. We have additional winter tees. All this means that if we want to present the course well over the whole 12 months of the year, we need to aerate more often and much more efficiently and the Terra Spike will do that for us.

"The Terra Spike has replaced our Wiedenmann G135 which after 15 years was still going strong and was capable of aerating two or three greens in the morning. The Terra Spike is able to do six. We should now be able to aerate all the greens and their aprons, and all the tees, without having to close sections of the course to the inconvenience of playing members. We have seen the results that good aeration brings in both the winter and summer and we know that the Terra Spike will enable us to do that work better and more efficiently."

Aspects of the Terra Spike which Mick likes especially are its speed of working, the low vibration levels, and the fact that, through sealed units, it has fewer grease nipples This means Mick's team will spend less time maintaining the machine and there is less chance of any excess grease left inadvertently on the nipples ending up on the greens.

Mick continued, "The low vibration levels of the Terra Spike, combined with the quiet environment in the cab of the New Holland Boomer, creates a great working environment for my team. We work long hours and factors such as these make our work less tiring and allow us to work better.

"We know that the tractor has a great heritage and that Ernest Doe, from its local branch at North Walsham, has all the product support facilities such as service and repair workshops and parts supply to rely on as and when we need them."

www.ernestdoe.com