New Charterhouse double delivers versatility for Beedles Lakes Golf Club

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A Rink DS800 from Charterhouse Turf Machinery is helping to make light work of topdressing the 27 greens of Leicestershire’s Beedles Lakes Golf Club. This, together with a Verti-Drain® 7316 are the latest tools in the armoury of head greenkeeper Sam Shuttlewood, who is delighted with the versatility he now has at his disposal for the tasks of topdressing and course-wide aeration.

Time is of the essence for Sam and his team of six, with an 18-hole parkland course and nine-hole par three to maintain, along with a 16-bay driving range and 32-acre fishing lake. “Topdressing was one of those tasks we wanted to carry out more frequently, but the drop dresser we had would only cover a small area per pass meaning that we would have to go over each green 10 or 15 times to get adequate coverage. Not only that, but it would fit on the back of one of our Gator’s which meant we would have to unmount our sprayer from the back each time we wanted to go out – all of this made it a time-consuming task.”

The Rink DS800, in trailed form, immediately impressed Sam on his demonstration with local dealer Platts Harris. “The beauty of the Rink was that you simply hitched it on the tractor, plugged in the hydraulics and you were on your way. It was quick and easy to set-up and, unlike a lot of machinery these days, didn’t feature an unnecessary amount of technology needed to complete the task at hand!

“Another reason we went for the Rink was the fact it is a disc-spreader which will enable us to conduct more frequent light dressings and, thanks to it’s impressive spreading width, we can cover a whole green in two or three passes,” he said. Toward the smaller end of the Rink Disc Spreader range, the DS800 has a 0.8m3 hopper and is highly adjustable, offering a spreading width of up to 12m and a thickness of up to 15mm. It is available in both a trailed or mounted option.

With the Rink bringing new flexibility to topdressing, Sam’s other purchase made in May 2019 was a Verti-Drain® 7316.  “This will be a true multi-purpose aerator that we can use on greens, tees, approaches and fairways thanks to the range of tine options available.” He concluded: “On the day of the demonstrations the decision was easy – we saw two machines, we loved two machines, so we bought two machines!”