Malden Golf Club expands its fleet

By Alistair November 3, 2023 09:50

At the picturesque Malden Golf Club in south west London, course manager Josh Thorley is always looking for ways to be more environmentally-friendly and boost employee wellbeing. Their expansion of the club’s fleet with the all-electric Toro Greensmaster eTriFlex 3370 is helping them do just that.

As the industry’s first lithium battery-powered ride-on mower, the eTriFlex 3370 has proved a popular, sustainable solution for eco-conscious greenkeepers like Josh.

The 18-hole course is home to two brooks, marking it as a green oasis in the otherwise urban surroundings of New Malden. Maintaining this environment and the wildlife that inhabits it is a priority for the club. He explains: “We work closely with the council and Environment Agency to protect our brooks as well as all the other natural habitats on-site. We always see herons and we’ve even got our own beehives!

“The 3370 is an amazing machine,” he says. “I would go as far as to call it faultless. When I joined as course manager in 2020, I was relieved to find that we were already using Toro – it’s the best in the industry.

“One thing that sets the 3370 apart is the fact it’s silent – so, no noise pollution,” Josh goes on. “Since we’re situated right in the middle of a housing estate, we’ve always had difficulty managing morning cuts because of residents, golfers, and wildlife. But now we can go out at four in the morning, which we’d never have been able to do with a diesel-powered machine.”

The 3370 features shrouded, 46-volt lithium-ion batteries, offering virtually silent operation (73 dB for riders). “That’s huge for the team!” Josh notes. “Now they’re not coming back with a headache from prolonged noise exposure and wearing ear defenders all day. It’s better for the environment and better for us.”

Without an on-site mechanic, Josh also saw an opportunity to ease the daily headaches of running a club for 800-plus members by taking out a Gold maintenance plan through Reesink’s popular ReeAssure service.

Reesink’s service plans – rated Gold, Silver, and Bronze – are designed to reassure customers by offering tailored service solutions that meet the needs of every customer. “Reesink’s Gold maintenance plan is the best thing in greenkeeping, I tell everybody they should be doing the same thing,” says Josh. “It costs us less than it would to pay a full-time mechanic, all callouts included!

“If something happens to a machine, Reesink is there to help; if I need them to come out that day, they’ll be there,” he concludes. “It’s a massive time- and cost-saver. We have a great relationship with Reesink. Josh Nash and Tom Clark, in particular, have been fantastic.”