Kent’s Littlestone Golf Club has bought a TYM compact tractor for aerating, overseeding and rough cutting its two 18-hole courses. 

Littlestone is a club known for its major focus on course conditions and has some of the finest greens in the South East. As part of a significant investment in a 17-strong fleet of new Toro turfcare machinery, the TYM T433 makes a like-for-like replacement of an older competitor tractor and was chosen for its complementary fit with Toro.

Course manager Malcolm Grand, who’s been at the club for 30 years, says he couldn’t be happier with the choice. “The T433 has exactly the right horsepower for the big tasks and its weight is just right for the greens and fairways. Plus, it fits all the attachments we need it to such as a front loader to load the top dressing into the Toro SR70S soil reliever for aeration, as well as a flail collector and overseeder.

“This tractor has got it spot on when it comes to the way the attachments just overlap the tread width of the tyres meaning we don’t have to run back over the same area when we’re aerating. Things like that make a big difference and as a result we’re thrilled with its performance.”

The historic dual-course club is generally dry, as Malcolm, who’s head of an eight-strong greens team, comments: “Links courses don’t tend to have rapid grass growth because of the sandy free draining soil composition, but thanks to the extreme rain this year we have a lot of grass to get through and deep roughs to tackle! The tractor will have a busy time of it come the autumn as we take on the roughs and in the winter with construction work.”