Bryn Meadows Golf, Hotel and Spa near Caerphilly has invested £300,000 in a comprehensive fleet of new John Deere golf course maintenance equipment from South Wales dealer Frank Sutton.

The John Deere equipment includes two 220C walk-behind greens mowers, a 2500B triplex greens mower and a 2653B tees & surrounds mower; an 8700 PrecisionCut fairway mower, a 1600T wide-area rough mower and a 7400 TerrainCut semi-rough mower; and a 3520 compact tractor with 300CX front loader, which is equipped with Galaxy low ground pressure tyres and is used for spraying and spiking.


(Left to right) Bryn Meadow's course manager David Jakeway and turf equipment manager Gareth Beck of John Deere dealer Frank Sutton, with greens staff Thomas Morgan, Gareth Rowlands, head greenkeeper Mark Lamorte and the new golf course fleet.

"We replaced nearly all the grass cutting equipment we had, of another make," explains David Jakeway, who has been course manager at Bryn Meadows for 17 years and manages a team of four greenkeepers plus a summer casual helper. "Financially it made sense to buy John Deere, and it proved cheaper in the long run to buy new than to keep servicing the old kit."

Six TM Systems cassettes completed the fleet purchase, together with an AFT45 compact trenching machine to carry out in-house drainage improvements, to help extend the golf season on this mature 18-hole parkland course. "The first programme of drainage starts this autumn, to install completely new pipework across the course," adds David. "As a spa resort, it is paramount that we keep the course open year round."