Playing the Long Game with Baroness: Andy McIntee, Course Manager at Pollok Golf Club, spoke about the Baroness six-piece machinery package he bought two years ago from Paul Denholm, Groundcare Sales Manager at Hamilton Brothers – a leap of faith that was totally worth it.

Can you tell us about the venue where we are today and about your role?

Andy – We’re here at Pollok Golf Club, a parkland setting on the southside of Glasgow. The course was designed by Alistair Mackenzie. We have around seven hundred members, probably out of those we’ve got six hundred playing members. I’m Course Manager, and I’ve been here for just over two and a half years.

What machines have you bought from us?

Andy – We bought six pieces of machinery: two Fairway Mowers, a Rough Mower, a five-unit Semi-Rough Mower, a Greens Triple and a Surrounds Triple.

What is the story of the Baroness brand?

Paul – Baroness is not new to the UK, it’s been here for over thirty-five years. Baroness is a Japanese brand, and its parent company Kyoeisha has been in existence for over a hundred years. It developed its first greens mower in 1959, and by the end of the seventies, its range of fine turf machinery dominated the home golf market throughout Japan.

In the early eighties, Kyoeisha started selling internationally, with contacts being established in America and the UK, but very few machines were sold north of the border in Scotland. Hamilton Brothers were delighted to be offered the dealership at the end of 2019 to fill the gap in our range to allow us again to to sell the complete groundcare package to our customers.

Can you tell us about the buying decision process?

Andy – With Paul, we worked together for about six to eight months, putting a machine package together. When I first came in, the previous General Manager had been talking to a few competitors, but I felt like it was only fair to give everybody a shot, considering it was going to be a big layout for the club.

The important thing for me was that the team were involved in every part of the process. It’s just not me picking machinery, because I’m not the one who’s going to be using them most of the time. Paul came in, and we organised some demos, and the decision that came back was unanimous.

There were a few factors that played in the decision. The team loved the simplicity of the Baroness – a lot of machines are now going computerised, but the Baroness are very simple, you don’t have to set anything really on them other than the cutting units…

The comfort of the machine is a crucial factor for me – because with the Fairway Mower, you could be sitting in it, four to six hours on end, depending on the day. I feel that Baroness has really taken this into account, with the quality of the seat on the LM 551 being unmatched.

It was also obvious that we needed reliable and robust machines. We don’t have a mechanic on site here, and the Baroness machines came in with a three-year warranty, and we knew we were going to get the backup from Hamilton Brothers, they’re only just up the road.

Plus, we’ve got quite a rugged terrain here – there’s lots of branches and sticks kicking about, ultimately you’re going to hit some of those, you can’t pick everything up. We’ve got fifteen fairways, and once you were finished cutting all of them, the cut when you came back in was as good as when you first went out. We weren’t getting that from others – I’m not saying that for other environments that wouldn’t be the case, but for our own site, the Baroness worked for us.

When we were putting the package together, we had a “Paul Lawrie” Pro-Event here, just after we’d demoed the Baroness Fairway Mower. It had done such a good job actually, that we asked Paul whether we could get that machine back for the week, to help produce the quality of cut during the tournament.

Because, at the end of the day, as much as the greens and surrounds and tees are important, the area with the biggest visual impact is the fairway. What the golfers are looking at, it’s the aesthetics, the finish on it, the turf quality. And the difference was noticeable.

When did you get the machines?

Andy – They arrived in January 2021, so the first summer we had was summer 2021. It was a cold spring we had, so you didn’t really get the true cut of them until we were a bit further into May / June, because growth was so slow. We haven’t put a grind on them yet, and we’ll be going into our third cutting season with them next year.

Two years later now, are you as happy as you were at the start?

Andy – Yeah, I mean, I’ll always go back with the team, because you’re trying to give them the best opportunity to provide the best playing conditions on a daily basis. So, consistency is important, and the Baroness are consistent. We always check the machines for cut before they go out, and nine times out of ten, we don’t really need to adjust them.

My thing is, you’ve got a machine that is not cheap, so if you want that longevity, it’s important to take care of the machinery as if it were your own. If the units are not sharp, the quality of the playing surface will ultimately suffer. Not only the turf has improved visually, but we’ve seen an improvement in health as well because of the quality of cut.

How has COVID impacted your business?

Andy – I think all golf clubs have benefited from an increase in membership. It provided a safe space for people to enjoy the outdoors during the pandemic, and I think it has a lot of benefits – it’s a good source of exercise, provides a social setting and hopefully allows our members to relax and get away from everyday pressure. I take it as a compliment, that people want to head out onto the course, even in not so nice conditions.

Every sort of minute out there now counts, so we’ve had to change how we set up the course. It’s now sending the two Fairway Mowers out, and it takes them about three and a half hours, whereas before on a course like this, you were able to do it through the day with one member of staff.

We set the whole course up in about four hours, and that’s kind of reminiscent of what you’d get in championship golf. So, again, having the machines and the backup – it’s just a no-brainer that you have to have this. If I think back to what we had when I first came in, there was constant breakdowns…

From a greenkeeping standpoint, COVID made it harder for us to get certain materials, but taught us to have a look further ahead – before, we would have probably started looking at the next package six months before, whereas now we have to think about it two years in advance.

How long have Hamilton Brothers & Pollok Golf Club been working together?

Paul – With Pollok, probably about since I started with Hamilton Brothers, back in 1990. I’ve been selling machines and bits and pieces over the years. We put a big machinery package in 2010 with another brand, and then things changed, and we lost out five years later, but then back in 2020 we started chatting again and Baroness machinery proved to be the best suited for the Golf Club and the guys.

What makes it special to work with HB?

Andy – From the start, you can always feel like you’re going to have a good relationship with somebody. With Paul, the most important thing for me was that there never was a push – there was never a deadline of “you need to make the decision by then”. There was a lot of patience on both sides.

The backup as well has been great, it’s not just about closing the sale and then it’s finished. It’s an ongoing relationship. Paul will pop in when he’s in the area, to see how things are going, and I’ve probably phoned him about other things, and he’s directed me in the right direction.

Paul – It’s all about building a business partnership, it works both ways. It’s a strong ethic from Eric’s point of view. You don’t just turn up after five years, like “that’s your machinery package up, let’s look at the new one”. If you haven’t seen him for five years, he’s going to forget about you.

Andy – I like keeping a small base of people that I work with, and Hamilton Brothers has got that sort of family feel, that you can immediately grasp when you go into the workspace area. You know, we do use Hamilton Brothers for other things, we’ll buy mowers, trailers, etc.

We’ve got a good relationship with the guys in the workshop as well, Danny, Michael, Alan, they’ll always explain everything. I’m somebody who asks questions, I want to know how things work, and they’re more than happy to take the time.

The other side of it is, if I’m needing something to get looked at at short notice, they’ll squeeze me in, they’re quite adaptable in that way. It means – especially in the summer – if you’ve got a machine, and something goes wrong with it, and you’ve got something else on the next day, you know the backup’s going to be there.

You’re not only buying the machine, you’re buying the people that are around it. Another thing I thought was really nice, was when we were looking at the machinery package, when we were getting to the sort of nitty gritty, Eric came out and introduced himself. From my point of view, I just think that it shows that there is a care and a willingness to make things work.

What would you say to another golf course who was considering making the switch to Baroness machines?

Andy – I can 100% back the quality of the brand. I’ve spoken to a few people already, and pushed them in this direction. I definitely wouldn’t have a problem in recommending buying Baroness from Hamilton Brothers especially. I think people would know straight away that they’ve made the right decision.

Word of mouth is very powerful – getting the Baroness name out there, along with the demos, has really helped. When we first looked at the brand, it was fair to say Baroness wasn’t sort of thriving in this area at the time, and now you’ve got three golf courses in a row equipped with the machines.

Somebody needs to take a leap of faith at times, and then other people will follow suit. And once you see the quality, you’re not going to feel as if it was a leap of faith after all.

What would be your next move?

Andy – We would like to add to the package. I’ll probably have a look at the Pedestrian Tees Mowers and Greens Mowers. I think that’s pretty much the whole range covered! If they did a utility vehicle, we would probably buy that too, but I don’t think they have that market at the minute.

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