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GOLF What’s in the shed


Toro Greensmaster Tri-Flex 3420 greensmower Toro 6700 fairway mower


Toro Greensmaster 3250-D greensmower Toro 3280 outfront rotary mower Progressive Pro-Flex rough mower John Deere 2500E greensmower John Deere 2500B tees mower


John Deere 9009A TerrainCut rough mower Kubota 5040 tractor Kubota B2110 tractor John Deere 4410 tractor


John Deere 4200 tractor with front loader


John Deere Gator (diesel) John Deere Aercore Wiedenmann Terra Spike Toro Workman Toro Workman with sprayer Toro Workman with topdresser Toro Sand Pro bunker rake Thatchaway verticutter cassettes x 3 Thatchaway POA Buster cassettes x 3 Thatchaway brush cassettes x 3 Reco fertiliser spreader


Farmura F25 walk behind sprayer Efco 136 chainsaw Stihl chainsaw


Echo hand-held blower Echo hedgecutter Echo brushcutter Stihl brushcutter Flymo hover mower TFM low-loader trailer Gull 3.5 tonne trailer AFT 45 trencher


Sissis dragmat for brushing in topdressing


Classen turf cutter


being brought on by the last two dry summers we have experienced.” The club tends to buy their machinery when funds will allow, and Colin is not loyal to any one brand, having a mixture of John Deere and Toro machinery. “Financially, it’s been difficult. We have run into the buffers this last couple of years, and we should have replaced several our machines recently. But we are begging, stealing and borrowing at the minute. Golf is really struggling, with clubs haemorrhaging members every year. We do tend to claw a few back here and there over the year, but we have quite an elderly membership, so we have a lot of retired people and, inevitably, some pass away or get so old they can no longer play. The increase in mobility scooters seen out on the course in the last few years has been phenomenal. From a couple of members having permission to use them, we have now gone up to around thirty, plus the professional shop has four golf buggies for rent. It’s something I fought ardently against for many a year, but it’s often like Wacky Races out there sometimes!”


With Colin’s many years of experience in the industry, I thought it would be good to get his view of where it is and where it is heading. “The golf industry is under stress now. The economic factors are affecting membership and this, inevitably, has a knock-on effect.”


“It’s funny, when I first came into greenkeeping, I was attending College. I remember a lecturer telling me that it’s a marvellous industry I have come into. ‘It’s a boom industry,’ he said. ‘Everybody is going to be playing golf in years to come, and it is perfect for people when they retire as the retirement age will get lower. It will go from strength to strength.’ Sadly, the opposite is true.”


“Like everything else in life, when money is tight the first thing to go is your luxuries. Unfortunately, that will include golf membership which can be expensive. Hopefully, in time, it will pick up, but I don’t think golf gets the exposure it used to get on TV when it was live on the BBC … and you didn’t have to pay an extra twenty pounds a month to watch it!”


42 PC February/March 2020


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