Tag Archive for: Richmond

Richmond add Ventrac for versatility and efficiency

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Richmond add Ventrac for versatility and efficiency: The Richmond Golf Club is a 104 acre oasis of calm, only 9 miles from Central London. It borders Richmond Park, one of London’s 8 Royal Parks, and shares much of the wildlife in the area. The course was originally designed by Tom Dunn and has since been extensively updated to a par 70, 6091 yard course. The opulent early-Georgian club house dates back to 1725.

Les Howkins has been Course Manager for just over 17 years. He has a team of 11 including a full time mechanic and was BIGGA chairman from 2015 to 2019.

Richmond add Ventrac for versatility and efficiency

Richmond add Ventrac for versatility and efficiency

Les had been introduced to Ventrac some years ago after Assistant Deputy Course Manager, Chris Browett, had seen it exhibited at BTME Harrogate and thought it might be a useful alternative to some of the machines in their fleet. More recently some of the fleet needed replacing and a Ventrac demo persuaded Les that it had a place at Richmond. “It’s replaced an old out front rider-rotary and a worn out tractor mounted rotorvator” commented Les. But it’s also allowed Les to add new attachments to complete tasks the team could not easily tackle before. “I purchased the brush which is going to be used for carpark and driveway cleaning” said Les. He added, “The long-term view is it’s going to fit into a different methodology going forward”.

Les’ s new methodology includes experimenting with robotic mowers to take care of the rough on two holes. If that works he says he will perhaps “expand the feet” but won’t need a wide area mower. That’s where the Ventrac will continue to fit in future. “We’ll buy the contour deck to deal with areas the robots can’t. I can have a fleet of robots and a Ventrac for less money than one wide area mower” said Les. He may also consider the MR Reel Mowers so one power unit can cover many needs but at less cost.

Additional attractions for Les are the low ground pressure and the wide variety of attachments including one, which Les has purchased, the DC Soil Cultivator which has 4 main components; cultivator tines pulverise the soil, separator tines sift and bury stones and debris, a distribution blade spreads sifted soil evenly and a perforated roller creates a pocketed surface to accept grass seed. “The day we saw that demonstrated it was pouring. The golf course was shut, which doesn’t happen very often. We drove the machine out and the wheels made less mess than my feet. It was unbelievable!” exclaims Les. The Soil Cultivator has been used to return woodchip tee-to-fairway pathways on the front nine back to irrigated grass. Les is delighted with the results as are his members. He will tackle the back nine in the winter. “Its quite a big project” said Les, “Having the right equipment is vital, really”

Les also commented on the HQ Tough Cut mower, another attachment he purchased. “It’s manoeuvrability is brilliant” he said. The Tough Cut mower is designed to tackle those areas that tend to get neglected and like all Ventrac attachments can be mounted on the tractor within minutes by one operator.

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New Grinders At Richmond GC

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New Grinders At Richmond GC: The Richmond Golf Club are aiming to improve their cutting performance by relief grinding back to OEM specifications using their new Foley Company Grinders.

Located six miles from central London, The Richmond Golf Club has a well-deserved reputation for its impressive 18-hole course which has undergone significant developments in recent years including extensive re-bunkering and substantial upgrades to other areas of the course.

New Grinders At Richmond GC

Course manager, Les Howkins, has been steering these improvements and is now aiming to enhance his mowers’ cutting performance by relief grinding with the purchase of a Foley company Accu-Pro 633 with Accu-Touch 3 control and a 673 automatic Bed-Knife grinder.

Les explained: “For us, one of the main advantages of choosing the Foley Accu-Pro 633 is that it delivers relief and spin grinding in the one machine and the changeover is very quick – approximately 20 seconds.

“This is important because it gives us greater flexibility; we can easily switch from relief to spin and back again. We can choose what’s needed for each unit rather than having to do all the spin or all the relief grinding in one go as we had previously.

“Another reason is that the Foley grinder removes what is known as coning. This is where the reel wears more at one end than the other.  This occurs through general use or in some occasions over adjustment.   With the built-in electronic gauging system, we can set the units up true and grind them back to parallel.

“Other important factors for us are that the wheel-head and spin motors are electric.  Both are neat and tidy units, easy to operate, unobtrusive and quiet, which is crucial for the  health, safety and general operating welfare of our staff.”

Les said “We have “40 cuttings units of varying sizes, the majority of which are John Deere.” His mechanic, Ian Clarke was looking to improve the length of time his units stayed on cut before needing to be re-ground. “Ian is delighted with quality of cut delivered by the Foley. Now that we can relief grind quickly and efficiently and the cutting units stay on cut longer, he will be able to manage our grinding programme much more effectively. As the machines are also very easy to use, we are also planning to improve this further with more of our staff using the grinders.”

It is the 633’s Accu-Touch 3 controls which make this an easy process. It has an automatic computer system that provides a step-by-step tutorial for new technicians and a quicker set-up and spin grind feature for the more experienced operators. You input the make of unit you’re working on and the computer does the rest. Pre-programmed spin speeds, relief torque, and in-feeds are only a few of the new features found in the ACCU-Touch 3.

Complimenting the 633 is the 673 automatic Bed-Knife and the 450 Rotary blade grinders. Automation is an essential feature of Foley grinders because it increases productivity, ensures accurate results and allows operators to carry out other workshop tasks while grinding.

The 673 has an innovative bed-knife mounting system that uses powerful electromagnets to hold the bed bar in place, and positive gauge stops to make set-up fast and straightforward. You can grind any bed bar arrangement without additional tooling and fast angle set-up provides repeatability without recalibration. Set the angle stops once, and the 673 will grind the same angle repeatedly. Changing from grinding the front face to the top face is as simple as pushing a button and watching as the powered Tool Bar rotates into the position.

The 450 rotary blade grinder is a simple pedestal-based machine that can be used to quickly re-face and sharpen our blades, whether there right or left-handed.

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