Rowlands Castle Golf Club course manager Kevin Hensman had dreamed of robotic mowing for years – now, just months after introducing Kress machines, he says they are an absolute game changer for his five-strong team and their 18 fairways.
For course manager Kevin Hensman, robotic mowing has been a long time coming. Having managed Rowlands Castle Golf Club in Hampshire for six years, he had long believed autonomous technology could play a major role in the future of course maintenance.
That belief became reality when the club introduced robotic mowers from Kress last September and, just a few months on, Kevin says the impact on day-to-day operations has already been significant.
“When I took over six years ago, I texted a picture of a robot mower to my boss and said: ‘It’s going to happen one day. I want one of these.’ They’ve always been at the back of my mind.”
Kevin oversees a small team responsible for maintaining 18 fairways while delivering the presentation standards expected by members throughout the year. Like many golf clubs, balancing staffing levels, time and course quality is an ongoing challenge.
“We used to maybe just about get everything done by Friday, but we were always chasing our tails,” he explains. “We only have five staff to get everything done.”
Since introducing robotic mowing, however, the dynamic has shifted dramatically.
At many golf clubs, winter conditions can make it difficult to get machinery onto the course, often leading to long grass and a lengthy recovery period once spring arrives. At Rowlands Castle, the robotic fleet has helped break that cycle.
“We’re a parkland site. We can’t get the machines out all the time,” says Kevin. “Normally as the weather finally starts to warm up and dry out, we have a mountain of grass to cut and by the end of April we are finally getting there.”
Instead, the Kress robotic mowers continued quietly maintaining fairways and key areas throughout the winter months, preserving presentation standards while reducing turf disruption.
“The mowers have just been ticking over keeping the place neat all winter,” he says. “In January I was walking around one of the lovely little par-three holes and that’s when it really hit me. It was looking lovely and we wouldn’t normally have got that cut until probably April.
“That’s when I knew that for this site, they are an absolute game changer.”
The lightweight design of the machines has also proved invaluable during ongoing renovation work around the course.
While redeveloping bunkers, freshly laid turf areas were too delicate for conventional equipment.
“We can’t go on the new turf with ride-ons,” Kevin explains. “But the robotic mowers are light enough that they can. We would quickly map the area and off they would go. Their light touch was just right.”
As with any major operational change, there was some initial scepticism, particularly from members more familiar with traditional maintenance methods. According to Kevin, those doubts quickly disappeared once the results became clear.
“Even the members that were really sceptical about the Kress robot mowers were won over,” he says. “They’re ideal for this place.”
For Kevin, the biggest benefit has not simply been the quality or consistency of cut, but the freedom it gives the team to focus on other important tasks around the course.
“They just free us up to do other things.”
That extra time is now being invested into the finer presentation details that can make a significant difference to the overall golfing experience.
“We take the strimmers around now with us, getting to places we always meant to do but kept leaving,” he says. “Now we have the time.”
Those smaller finishing touches, from edging and tidying around trees to emptying bins and refining presentation, are often the details golfers notice most.
“It’s the little finer details that make the big difference,” Kevin explains. “You can have everything right, but if the bins are not emptied or a certain tree is not strimmed around, those are the things that members notice.”
One unexpected consequence of robotic mowing has been the change in the team’s day-to-day routine. Rather than spending hours on machinery trying to stay ahead of grass growth, staff are now far more visible around the course carrying out improvement work.
“One afternoon my deputy Graeme and I noticed we were dodging more golf balls,” Kevin laughs. “That’s when we realised it was because we were actually out there doing the work, getting to things we’d never had time for before.”
For Kevin, that moment perfectly summed up the wider operational shift taking place at the club. Instead of constantly firefighting, the team is now able to spend more time refining and improving the course. And with the technology still relatively new to the club, he believes they are only beginning to see the full potential.
“It’s still new for us,” he says. “We feel as though we haven’t even felt the full benefits yet.”
At Rowlands Castle Golf Club, robotic mowing is proving to be far more than a labour-saving tool. It is helping a small greenkeeping team maintain higher standards more consistently, improve efficiency during difficult conditions and dedicate more time to the finer details that elevate the golfing experience.
For golf clubs facing increasing pressure on staffing, budgets and presentation standards, Kevin’s experience offers a clear insight into how robotic mowing technology can support modern course maintenance without compromising quality.
