Wiedenmann UK’s platinum charity Terra Spike

What a difference a year makes when you've taken delivery of a Wiedenmann Terra Spike GXi8 HD.

Ombersley Golf Club purchased Wiedenmann UK's charity platinum-painted deep aerator last January, and coincidentally was also celebrating 20 years of operation. In truth, the Kidderminster club would have purchased the Terra Spike a year previously but too many weather-enforced course closures meant they had to delay their investment.

Exactly a year on, Ombersley happily reports that they've had no closures what so ever and that drainage on the course has never been better despite the last 12 months been almost the wettest on record.

Andrew Halfpenny, Course Manager, said: "We've set up a programme to aerate eight days a month on tees greens and aprons. We've pretty much stuck to that in the spring, autumn and winter but got a little bit caught up with other tasks during the summer. From October onwards, when the days became shorter, we really started to reap the benefits of sustained frequent aeration. The transformation in the quality of the turf was evident to everybody.

"We've remained open when others around have had to shut bringing in additional business so our Terra Spike is a machine that's truly earning its keep. I've even been fortunate to take on another member of greenkeeping staff, so from our perspective aeration is truly working and is our key critical task."