John O’Gaunt Golf Club is set in 300 acres of tree-lined Bedfordshire parkland. There are two 18-hole courses, The John O’Gaunt and the Carthagena, both benefitting from the beautiful Victorian era contemporary clubhouse. Nigel Broardwith has been course manager there for 20 years. He has a team of 14 including a full-time mechanic.
When some of his fleet came up for renewal, Nigel was attracted to the versatility of the Ventrac package. Along with the 4520 tractor he purchased an MJ Contour Mower, an HQ Tough Cut Mower and an EJ blower. The ability to deal with slopes up to 30 degrees was a big selling point. “We were mowing banks with machines that were not designed to cope with steep slopes …. So from a health and safety point of view we’ve reduced the risk”, commented Nigel. The quality of cut from the Contour Mower is proving to be perfect for John O’Gaunt’s needs.
The light footprint of the Venrac was an additional important feature. Although on predominantly sandy soil one of the courses has an area of soft peat with a brook running through it. Nigel looked at the Ventac as a potential solution to mowing those areas two or three times a week as the natural nutrients make the grass grow so quickly, but it can be very wet. “Traditional tractors compact the area too much, whereas the Ventrac’s light footprint eliminates this issue” said Nigel. The team are particularly happy that they’ve also got the blower attachment, to blow leaves in those damp and soft areas during autumn, another problem solved.
The Ventrac is also improving the John O’Gaunt team’s efficiency according to Nigel. “There’s steep bank areas that we would have had to strim or use hover mowers. We can now do that with one man and the Ventrac instead of two or three men”. He also said, “It has replaced a traditional five deck contour mower, which of course, was only a mower. The Ventrac has so many different attachments so its going to be able to do five or six different jobs”.
Like most golf courses John O’Gaunt has less well maintained areas. “We didn’t go into a lot of bramble or really rough areas but we’re going to mow them down with the Tough Cut Mower in the autumn to allow the area to regenerate in the winter and the bluebells to come through and flower in spring. This will improve the ecology and aesthetics of the courses”, mentioned Nigel. The team have been happy with the training and backup that Price Turfcare and Resink have offered. “Nothing’s been too much trouble, we’ve had small group operator training from Rupert which has been great” Nigel commented. Future attachments might be the Power Brush, the Power Rake, for path rejuvenation and the Stump Grinder.