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Ventrac for Burnham Beeches

September 26, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Peter Driver

Ventrac for Burnham Beeches: Burnham Beeches Golf Club, located in the Thames Valley in south Buckinghamshire, 25 miles west of London, is the latest club to take a package of Ventrac equipment. Delivered by local dealer, RT Machinery Ltd, the package includes a Ventrac 4520 all-terrain compact tractor unit together with a selection of attachments […]

Framlingham College achieve both flexibility and finish

September 26, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Elena Cossar

Framlingham College achieve both flexibility and finish: Less than a month since its delivery, the Head Groundsman at Framlingham College claims the Progressive TDR-X contour mower has exceeded the expectations of him and his team. Jason Wright explains how the TDR-X is ticking the boxes of build quality, manoeuvrability and high standard of finish since […]

Ventrac for Burnham Beeches

September 26, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Peter Driver

Framlingham College achieve both flexibility and finish

September 26, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Elena Cossar

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Ventrac for Burnham Beeches

September 26, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Peter Driver

Ventrac for Burnham Beeches: Burnham Beeches Golf Club, located in the Thames Valley in south Buckinghamshire, 25 miles west of London, is the latest club to take a package of Ventrac equipment.

Delivered by local dealer, RT Machinery Ltd, the package includes a Ventrac 4520 all-terrain compact tractor unit together with a selection of attachments including an articulating Contour deck, a Tough Cut deck, a Triple Cylinder unit and a Trencher.

Ventrac for Burnham Beeches

Lee Bishop is the Course Manager and is now in his 24^th year at the club. He began his career at the nearby Harry Colt-designed Stoke Park Golf Club in 1992, before moving to Burnham Beeches as an assistant greenkeeper back in 1999 and then making the amazing leap straight into his current position in 2006. He leads a team of seven greenkeeping staff, which will be expanding later this year with the addition of a further experienced greenkeeper, an apprentice and two summer staff.

“We are an established parkland course, now over 130-years old, and situated mainly on clay,” he said. “Therefore, we have a requirement to manage the trees and woodland margins that line the fairways and frame the greens. We can be wet after heavy rainfall.

“I first saw the Ventrac on social media and then I was invited by a very good friend of mine, Stuart Langhorn, the Course Director at Beaconsfield Golf Club to see the machine that he had bought. I was extremely impressed and contacted our local dealer, RT Machinery to arrange a demonstration. The management team were so impressed and we purchased the package within a couple of weeks of the demonstration!

“The Tough Cut deck is superb for managing our woodland margins; it takes down brambles and young saplings with ease and this helps to keep up the pace of play, making it easier for our golfers to find their balls after a wayward shot.

“The Contour deck is articulated at both ends and that makes it ideal for bunker surrounds and tee banks but it has been a godsend during the winter months as we have been using it on our fairways when it is too wet to cut with our fairway mowers. We can get out when it’s wet and put some definition down; the members have noticed and we’ve had many favourable comments. The Triple Cylinder unit will be used for the perimeter fairway cut and this has enabled us to remove a dedicated machine from our fleet.

“The Trencher has been outstanding this winter. As I said earlier we can be wet after heavy rain, but the trencher enables us to get out and drain the wetter areas when we want. We are not reliant on contractors, we can do it in-house and in a timely fashion. I would recommend not severing power cables, though; National Grid are not too happy when that happens!

“Finally, a shout-out for Price Turfcare, RT Machinery and Tom Stidder. Price Turfcare, the importer, have been so reactive and professional to work with; RT Machinery are renowned for the way they treat customers and we can certainly support that and Tom Stidder, who did the installation training, was extremely thorough and knowledgeable. That’s formidable support, all round.”

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Framlingham College achieve both flexibility and finish

September 26, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Elena Cossar

Framlingham College achieve both flexibility and finish: Less than a month since its delivery, the Head Groundsman at Framlingham College claims the Progressive TDR-X contour mower has exceeded the expectations of him and his team.

Jason Wright explains how the TDR-X is ticking the boxes of build quality, manoeuvrability and high standard of finish since taking charge of the cut and presentation of close to 80 acres of college grounds.

Framlingham College achieve both flexibility and finish

Once part of the castle estate, Framlingham College now comprises of two sites – the main college catering for students aged 13-18 and the Prep School, four miles down the road at Brandeston Hall, taking pupils from the age of three. Sport plays a big part in the student experience at both sites, with Jason and his team of three full-time grounds staff maintaining athletics, cricket and hockey surfaces in the summer, then switching to rugby during the winter months.

After encountering some age-related faults with their previous mower, the time came for Jason to explore the alternatives. “We wanted something that would be quicker, easier and cheaper to maintain while still giving us a quality finish” he explains. “We demonstrated various makes and models but agreed that the Progressive was the most manoeuvrable and would be the most versatile to use on both our sports and wildlife areas. It also suited us weight-wise to work alongside our existing tractor and fleet of equipment.”

The Progressive TDR-X, exclusively available from Vanmac UK, features three independently floating decks which promise to closely follow undulations, delivering a total cutting width of 3.2m and easily adjustable cutting height range of between 10mm and 85mm. Along with other machines in the Progressive range, the TDR-X features Pro Lift-N-Turn™ technology, which enables the operator to temporarily lift the decks with the PTO still engaged, increasing overall productivity.

“Tomlinson Groundcare Ltd delivered our TDR-X at the end of June and after some very good training, we put it to work straight away. We’ve found already that set-up and changing the height of cut takes less than five minutes to do, where previously this would have taken half an hour. We’ve also used it in the wet with impressive results which wouldn’t have been feasible before.” Jason adds, “In addition, it gives us the ability to lift the height to maintain our rough areas which has been another plus – the versatility we have with this as an all-around machine versus our previous fine turf mower.”

“People have been commenting on how well presented the site is, which is a big compliment for the Progressive, given the rise in quality we’ve achieved since switching from a cylinder to a rotary cut!”

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Ventrac for Burnham Beeches

Framlingham College achieve both flexibility and finish

Ventrac for Burnham Beeches

Framlingham College achieve both flexibility and finish

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Ventrac for Burnham Beeches

Ventrac for Burnham Beeches: Burnham Beeches Golf Club, located in the Thames Valley in south Buckinghamshire, 25 miles west of London, is the latest club to take a package of Ventrac equipment.

Framlingham College achieve both flexibility and finish

Framlingham College achieve both flexibility and finish: Less than a month since its delivery, the Head Groundsman at Framlingham College claims the Progressive TDR-X contour mower has exceeded the expectations of him and his team.

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