Welcome to Belvoir Park Golf Club, I'm Aaron Small, I'm the Course Manager.
Belvoir was formed in 1927. We've held the Irish Open twice, the Irish Close,
and this year our Senior Cup Team won the Ulster section. Belvoir is a heavily played golf course. We
have around 45 000 rounds a year, so it's vital that we're on top of things as green keepers.
The good thing about having a lot of rounds of golf is that the Club
is financially secure, so that means as a Course Manager I have good machinery. So regarding revenue,
on the golf course to run my end would be nearly 600 000 (GBP) a year. This would cover wages, maintenance,
machinery hire purchase and really, Course, any Course improvement. so good thing that we have a
lot of money coming in, bad thing there's a lot of traffic - so it's up to me as a Course Manager to um
you know detail the jobs and the best way to get the best out of the Staff and have the Golf Course
looking the best every day for the Members and Visitors. So what we're going to do now
is take you round the machinery, and show you what it takes to run a modern day-to-day golf course.
We're in the Shed now, and we have all our cutting machines that do all the cutting, the
day-to-day maintenance. All our machines are Toro. We find them the most reliable and user-friendly.
So this is a greens mower. This is called a 3250. This machine would have cut the Greens this
morning. This is at three mil in height we also have what's called a red ball and a green ball system.
So when the operator comes in after using it, he puts a red ball on and then the mechanic knows
that it needs to be set for quality of cut and height of cut, and check the oils and fluids. So then
he'll put a green ball on it, and the operator will know that it's ready to go in the morning .
So all the machines are cleaned down after use. The grass, ah, has nitrogen in it, so it will rot
the metal. So they have to be cleaned down before they come in, ah, there's a couple down here
still yet to be cleaned but the majority of them are washed. Also for a resale value, you'll keep
it in better condition and you'll get better money for it when you're going to sell them.
So this machine here is 30 000 pounds, and the life expectancy would be sort of five to seven
years to get a good turnaround on value resale value, so it's important that you keep them well
serviced, well maintained for you'll get more money. That's an easier sell for the Golf Club,
when you're bringing five thousand pound back in for it, rather than trading it in for no value.
It'll be an easier sell in the committee, when you're bringing that money back in !
Okay, this is the brush on our backup greens mower. The brush is designed to stand the grass
up before the mowers cut it so when the mowers go down, the brush goes down. It will stand the
Poa Annua up, and other grasses, and get a far better cut on it. So this is a vital tool for us, but it's
not to be overused. It's quite aggressive, so it stops lateral growth, thins it out a wee bit, but
more importantly it gets a far better cut on the leaf. So maybe once a fortnight or once a
week, just depending on conditions. So that'll be up to the Course Manager to decide when he uses that .
So, we have two other 3250s. They are for Tees and Aprons, the Aprons are around the green, the
Tee Boxes is where the golfers play off. They're three-wheel drive, they need to be just to go up
the hills a wee bit more. So there's 30 000 pound each of those. Heights are cut on tees and the
aprons would be 10 mil at the minute, 14 mil in the winter time, just depending on conditions as well.
So this is a Sidewinder that has the versatility to move side to side to get closer to the bunkers,
this is on a ram and hydraulically driven and just moves from side to
side to get you closer so the wheel isn't going into the Bunker. So the operator is not
getting too close to it, and the chance of couping into the Bunker - so it's more a health and safety
thing than anything. Ah, we have two fairway mowers yet to be washed. Fairways are cut at the minute at
13 mil. This is a 5610 fairway mower, this costs in the region of fifty thousand. Ah, we would
be cutting Fairways three to four times a week. Ah, it's all about presentation, quality of cut
the mechanic would be sharpening this machine probably three times a year, on a set of grinders.
The key is to keep the machine sharp. There's no point in somebody going out and cutting grass
if the machine's not sharp, that'll damage the leaf and give you problems with disease etc.
So we have two of those, this is just a slightly older model, this is a 6500, ah, still
cuts every bit as good as a new one as long as the mechanic keeps them sharp which he does !
Same thing, it has the green ball on it so that is ready to go for the morning.
These are the rough mowers. This is a 4700 this machine now retails at 65, 000 (GBP)
and you're looking at two to two and a half days to cut all the rough on the golf course. This would
be 50 ml height, so two inches, uh, you're talking roughly 80 pounds a day to fuel it, so if you take
an operator, fuel, and the price of the machine the rough - which is probably the least important thing
in the golf course - is probably the most expensive because of the vast area on the golf course but it's
still an important part of the golf course, because most golfers, unfortunately, play out of the rough !
We have another one here this is a newer model same thing.
If the blades are sharp it'll cut as good, so we try and keep the blades sharp.
brilliant machines don't like the dew so much but if you can get away with the dew off it
they'll cut superb and a really good width on it so you can cut the rough in a short time.
So this is the John Deere sprayer. This is the latest machine they have now. It doesn't have
GPS, but we have a computer system here, ah, this will tell us what we're spraying and the hectarage
litreage, pressure, so this is very good for the operator. Every machine is becoming
more user-friendly. It has to be for chemicals or for safety, for the environment, so we have
to be conscious of that. Any staff member that uses this machine would have to be qualified,
otherwise he's not allowed to use it. Ah, spraying is a big thing on golf courses.
We would spray, probably, this machine would be out average twice a week spraying. (The booms?) The booms would be
5.5 meters in width, ah you can get a 6.5 meter but 5.5 suits us with the undulations around the place,
and it's quite quick, the machine, so you're not wasting too much time anyway.
So we have a pedestrian spreader, ah, an ICL spreader, this is for putting on fertiliser.
And we have settings here for the really - what this would open up so how much that allows us
in a route so as an operator you'll know what product you're putting on, what setting to go - so
that's just putting the rate on per square meter ah this machine is 650 pounds - and this is a big
thing - that golfers and Members don't realise how much it costs to run a Green Shed and this is one
tool that we need, but same thing, keep them in good condition and they'll last for a long time.
So most Green Sheds will have an array of tractors - tractors, all different horsepower, all different
sizes. So this is our biggest horsepower this is 60 horse ah massive tires on it because we use
the big blower, this would be for the leaves in the winter time so this will spread the weight.
There'll be no ruts left, for it will be going into the areas that are damp and wet with the leaves
and that will allow us not to make any marks on the ground, we have a John Deere a 4066R
this is quite a new machine this would be used for verdi draining this is hydrostatic whereas the
Kabuto is geared so this is hydrostatic so this will allow us to verti drain
ah takes the trailers and stuff so just a different array to what we need
we have an old Kabuto tractor 42 horsepower this tractor is 20 year old so it's not all
about having new and fresh machinery it's about what works for the Golf Club this only does maybe
100 hours a year so there's no point me spending 20 grand on a tractor when this will do me rightly.
So you don't want to waste any of the Club's money because you can put that money into
better machinery as in your cutting machines, that are more important than a shiny new tractor!
So again
(An older tractor?) an older tractor, yeah 20 plus years but doesn't do a lot of hours, what it does suits us this is a mat
and a brush on the back so when we put sand onto the greens or fairways we can mat it in so that
works the sand into the surface taking it away and putting it in there so that'll help with drainage
and levels um yeah vital piece of machinery. So this is a Procore, this is for aeration, this is one
of Toro's best-selling machines they have the lion's share of the market on this and the reason being is
very robust, reliable, it also undulates the ground very well so you can do Tees,
Aprons, Greens, walk-off areas. It has all different settings for heights.
You have a speed setting so the closer pattern you go that'll get more aeration into the ground.
So on the back of it here at the minute those tines are 15 mil solid tines, so we can change
any of those tines according to what processes we're doing on the Golf Course.
So really good machine. Cost around 25 000 pounds now plus VAT, yeah.
Okay these are the hand mowers, so they're the same cut quality of cut as your greens mowers
only these are narrower and give a narrower stripe they also press the ground a bit
more down giving you a wee bit more speed just simply because they're heavier.
We don't use these in the summertime because it just it takes a lot of staff to ah cut all your
Greens so we have other jobs for them, but these are primarily just for the winter time so the
machinery the heavy machinery isn't going out onto the Greens. These are a great asset for us.
This is a top dresser so we'll tip sand into the back of it and that spreads it out on two
disk spinners ah we would top dress probably 120 tonnes 150 tonne a year onto the greens. This helps
drainage, it helps levels, it's a very important tool, sand is one of the most important tools
for green keepers but not for the golfers the golfers don't like it and the mechanics don't
like it because it blunts the blade but we have to use it, it's vital that (what kind of sand do you use?)
We use Darcy's sand which is double washed sand and proper ah you know granular size so it, there's
an art in the sand it's not just people think you dig sand out of the ground, or builders' sand - so it's
proper sand that we use that's around 35 pound a tonne. So this is what's called a verdi drainer
so this machine is a Weidemann GXI8, and that has, there's no tines on at the minute but they
have the capability to go down probably 10 inches into the ground and what that does
that has a heave on it and breaks the ground up and that lets the water come down through the
ground and makes the Greens or Fairways firmer, so this is a vital piece of machinery. The best
time to use it is when the ground is firm so it can fracture the ground that leaves that means
that the roots can go down the fractures, creating better root depth. So that'll do for drought stress
but also that'll get the drainage channels so the water will be able to come down the ground
and away from the surface. So that's a very good machine, but used at the right time of the year
We're in the Machinery Shed at Belvoir Park Golf Club, which is a vital end of the whole procedure
what we do on the Golf Course. If the machines aren't right, the Golf Course isn't right. Quite
simple as that so here we have a ramp that we have probably for a year so the mechanic will get
this up he'll check it for quality of cut, height of cut, he'll do all the greasing, really take a good look
around the machines when they're up. You know you can't beat getting underneath the machine - seeing
a damaged pipe or something like that - so the ramp for the sake of 4,000 pounds, ah, this is a vital
piece of machinery that we couldn't do without and it also saves the mechanic's back he's not lying on
cold ground, and just basically you can see a lot more. So we'll go round the shed here, we have
all the filters, fuel filters, oil filters, hydraulic filters, air filters, everything we need
that we're using regularly. Other parts we'll not use that regularly, we'll not buy it in for obvious
reasons, ah, but these these are just a good wee thing just to keep everything in stock and know
where you're at uh tools good bench ah we've a blower broke down here, so we'll either try and fix
that or it might need a new blower it's ah maybe had too many birthdays, so we'll just maybe invest
in a new blower. We're quite a leafy golf course so we need all the blowers working well. We also
have the board the mechanic has so he has machines to repair we have our height of cuts for things
if any of the boys see anything wrong with the machines they'll write it up, he'll know what needs
done. We have our grinders over here, we also have, we write up when the machines are ground so we know
basically when we've done them. We have a spare set of units here for the greens mowers
so if anyone hits anything we can just come and change the units over quite quickly that's a
machine that has been sharpened. The only downside to sharpening a lot is wearing away the blades.
So if we have to buy cylinders you're looking at maybe 300 pond for a cylinder so three, six,
nine hundred pounds just for cylinders for those - but at the same time
if the machine's not sharp, it may as well not be going out. So keep them keep them sharp.