Strathclyde Sportsturf Management tends to an extensive range of golf clubs and sports grounds in Scotland. This includes 100 bowling greens which can be three times the size of a golf green, so for proprietor Ian Headley, having the right maintenance and renovation machinery is crucial.
Ian explains: “As the owner of a long established contract company, I have built up a customer base who rely on me to advise them on the treatment of their sports turf areas. This is the reason I have accumulated the best selection of machinery available to ensure I can complete the work against all odds, in particular the very unforgiving weather in this part of the world.”
Included in this range of equipment are a number of Charterhouse CC3000 High-Lift Pedestrian Core-Collectors.
Hollow coring is an important operation on fine turf, reducing thatch, improving air flow in the root zone and aiding drainage. The technique involves putting a hollow tube into the ground which when removed withdraws a core. Coring is usually done once or twice a year.
On an average bowling green up to 1.5 tonnes of material is removed and replaced with clean infill which sits loosely in the holes. Rapid grass regrowth over the holes follows. However, it is a task which requires the cores to be collected before top dressing, and without the Core Collector this would have to be done manually – very labour intensive and time consuming.
The latest high tip CC3000 Core Collectors from Charterhouse are walk behind machines which collect the cores into a hopper. This then lifts to a height that can tip into a tractor trailer or a utility vehicle.
At the front of the Core Collector is a pair of windrow boards which allow the machine to move the cores into a row. The row is then presented to a stainless steel blade which scoops the cores up before a conveyor transports them to the hopper.
“The laborious task of collection of cores by hand has long been banished,” comments Ian. ”These new high-lift units allow my employees to rapidly collect cores in most conditions, saving hours if not days in labour costs alone. Tipping directly into utility vehicles, or trailers, there is little or no manual effort required. However, one of the main benefits is that the operator no longer complains of severe backache from collecting tonnes of heavy cores directly from the ground!”
“Charterhouse’s new CC3000 High-Lift Pedestrian Core-Collection machines are very simple to operate, and require no setting-up. A single operator can complete the task of up to four individuals collecting cores manually in less than half the time,” he adds.
Tel: +44 (0)1428 661222
info@charterhouseturfmachinery.co.uk
www.charterhouseturfmachinery.co.uk