New Horizon - Issue 3 - Construction

New 8700A precision
cut for Manor House
The John Deere 8700A takes pride of
place in front of Manor House Golf
Course clubhouse on Member’s Night
Course Manager Robert Davies (in the
driving seat), Charlie Gaisford, Chief
Mechanic (left), Sean Riley, Assistant
Mechanic (right) and Bob Culverhouse
from Hunt Forest Group
Take a look at the facilities at Manor House Golf Course,
near Castle Combe on the edge of the Cotswolds and you’d
think you’d landed in the middle of God’s country. Situated
on 365 acres of rich parkland, the championship course is
something to be experienced.
The quality of the greens and the fairways can only be considered
as outstanding, an achievement that can be laid at the feet of
the green-keepers and the equipment they use. Even in the
inclement conditions of late, Manor House is a free-draining, allyear-round
facility that provides challenging rounds for even the
best players.
Maintaining the greens and fairways to this degree requires
up-to-date, well-maintained machinery and this is where
Manor House excels. They have some of the best workshop
and maintenance facilities, that would put even some dealer
facilities to shame. Machinery maintenance is a key part of
their daily scheduling and as Head Mechanic, Charlie Gaisford
pointed out, “before we invest in new equipment, I always put
it up on our ramp and give it a thorough check-over. I want to
see what the long-term maintenance issues are likely to be,
because that is where problems can lay, which ultimately affects
the performance on the greens and fairways.”
Manor House just took delivery of a new John Deere 8700A
Precision-Cut Fairway Mower from Hunt Forest Group. It
replaces a John Deere 3235C which Manor House purchased
back in 2006 and has over 4,000 hours on the clock.
Added Charlie Gaisford, “that John Deere mower has been
extremely reliable and we have a policy of changing a mower out
once it has passed four thousand hours of operation. It’s been
very reliable, does a great job on the fairways and the after-sales
service backup has been excellent. We carry out most of the
regular maintenance in our workshops but only call on dealer
back-up where the technical elements are outside of our remit.
When we were considering the new replacement, I had the
8700A up on the ramp and inspected everything underneath,
on top and around it. There have been a lot changes in design
since we first had the older mower and on this new model, all
looks for the better.”
The 8700A comes with electro-hydraulic power, four-wheeldrive,
hydraulic brakes, exterior hydraulic tank and Passcodeprotected
TechControl display, which enables quickly setting or
changing mowing speed, turning speed, or transport speed to
limit variations in performance by different operators. Likewise, it
can automatically control frequency-of-cut according to forward
speeds - which can vary when mowing up hill or down hill.
Course Manager, Rob Davies, who just started his new role at the
course in February this year added, “I would have come to the
same decision as Charlie, in choosing the John Deere 8700A.
The design means much less maintenance time in the workshop
and more time on the fairways, making sure our members have
the best possible playing conditions. Included in its design, it
also has special rear roller powered brushes and spiral front
rollers. These front rollers have a helix pattern to their design,
which encourages the lifting of the grass before it reaching the
cutting cylinder and are to a major degree, self-cleaning. The
quality of cut by this machine is better than anything I’ve seen
before. Also, with the experience of Charlie in the workshop
and the previous John Deere mower model lasting us almost
fourteen years, there’s no doubt about this machine giving us a
lifetime of quality service and low-cost maintenance.”
John Deere dealer, Hunt Forest Group supplied the 8700A and
Sales Executive, Bob Culverhouse delivered the machine and
went through a pre-installation programme to make sure the
entire team were fully conversant with the operating capabilities
of the 8700A. Commented Bob, “Manor House and their team
have always impressed me in the attention to detail they pay, not
only to their equipment but also to the finish of their fairways.
At Hunt Forest Group, we have a specialist Golf support team
who focus entirely on professional golf equipment and this is the
dedicated back-up service we will be providing for Manor House
for all their future needs.”
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