Almost five years ago we reported on the upgrade investment made by Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club, just outside Coventry, They had then expanded and upgraded their range of John Deere precision-mowing equipment, because of the previous experience with reliability of their mowers and the resulting quality of cut. In the past five years, that practical user experience has confirmed that their investment was a very wise one. Not only has Stoneleigh now expanded the number of John Deere machines in their fleet, but they have also upgraded existing mowers and other key items of equipment.
Course Manager Richard Biggs commented, “The reliability of our John Deere mowers and machinery and certainly the after-sales service of our local dealer, Tallis Amos Group (TAG) has given us even greater confidence in updating our fleet. Just over a year ago we added a second John Deere 4066R compact utility tractor to our operation because the first one we’d bought has proven to be a very reliable unit and it is still fully employed on site today. We’ve updated two of our precision mowers from the John Deere 2500s to the very latest 2750s. The cutting cylinders on the 2750 are virtually the same as the older 2500, but we’ve now got more power and the electronic control system has seen a major upgrade, which gives us even better performance. The finish of the greens is something that we are really, really proud of.”
Stoneleigh has also replaced their Kubota RTV with a new John Deere XUV865 Gator, replaced their ageing Toro Drop Top Dressing spreader with a new GKB SP100 disc Top Dresser and added a GKB Deep Tine Aerator which assists their Charterhouse Verti-drain 7416. It all means they have been able cut their maintenance procedures by half, yet continued to improve the finish of both the Greens and Tees. “For tees and surrounds, we’ve changed the use of our Toro Greensmaster 3250D to a dedicated Verti cutting unit and added a new John Deere 7200A Precision-cut Riding trims and surrounds mower,” added Richard, “it’s a lot more of a heavy-duty mower compared with the Toro and it does a really good job on the Tees and surrounds. It’s helped us to achieve that extra improvement of quality for our members and visitors.
“TAG have been very supportive and instrumental in giving us a high-level of after-sales back-up which has led us to make these additional investments through them. They are a very good company to deal with and the John Deere product is extremely well-built and very reliable. I’m confident that the TAG level of after-sales service will continue to help us improve our offering for our members. who regularly comment on how well the course is playing.”
