Heathland course on top form with ISEKI

Working hard to restore this beautiful heathland course back to its former glory, Ipswich Golf Club with its 9-hole and 18-hole courses just keeps getting better every year.

The driving force behind all this is Graham Brumpton, Course Manager who has dedicated his last 33 years to developing the course, gradually introducing heathland elements back and managing the woodland areas to allow the natural habitats to thrive. With numerous industry awards for best environmental golf course and conservation greenkeeper, wildlife and environmental concerns are a high priority for the club.

With all these projects and constant renovation, Graham has a team of nine staff to carefully nurture the golf course, and with that workload they require numerous pieces of machinery.

Their previous ISEKI tractor was in need of replacement after over 25 years of hard graft. Another compact tractor with a higher horse power was required, so following demonstrations with different manufacturers the ISEKI TH5370 ticked all the boxes.

Graham explained; “What sold it for us was the versatility of the tractor, with the 1,200kg lift capacity, loader and 35hp high torque engine. We use the machine for so many jobs on the course include aerating, brushing the fairways and topdressing.

“Another reason we particularly chose the TH5370 was for the width of the tractor itself, we needed a tractor to power the Pro-core and ensure there was no overlap, at 1.3m wide it was perfect for the job.

“Alongside powering the implements it is used for all greens work, towing the trailer to carry bunker sand and divot material around the course, then transporting the greens mowers to each hole. So versatility and operator friendly with very intuitive controls was important as the whole team use the tractor.”

ISEKI Enquiry 45

Attraxor is king of the Castle

After Poa annua was disrupting play on the greens at Bothwell Castle Golf Club, the Head Greenkeeper found a solution in BASF’s Attraxor, which was recommended and supplied by Agrovista Amenity.

Alan Boyd is the Head Greenkeeper at Bothwell Castle Golf Club in Lanarkshire - a flat 18-hole parkland course located in the woodland area surrounding the 13th century Bothwell Castle.

Attraxor is a plant growth regulator containing the active substance, prohexadione calcium and can be used to regulate growth of all managed amenity turf.

This active substance inhibits the gibberellic acid pathway, which results in a reduction of turf height and turf biomass. Root growth is promoted whilst