Eaton Golf Club in Norwich describes itself as ‘owned and run by
the members, for the members’ – a motto also backed up by Course Manager Rob
Ransome.
Although he’s only been there for less than a year, he recognises
that the club’s “fantastic membership gives the club a thriving, upbeat
feeling”.
However, what didn’t leave such a positive feeling in previous
years was the leaf-fall from the courses’ extensive tree population! Before he
even began his position at Eaton, Rob purchased an S3 from Trilo, which has
transformed the task of leaf collection at the club.
“I started at Eaton in September 2017 and it was evident right
from my interview that the club had a big problem with leaves. The team were
getting a lot of negative feedback on the conditions and players were
frustrated with losing their golf balls! It was something I was keen to tackle
straight away” explains Rob.
Recognising Trilo offered good quality equipment he arranged for a
demo of an S3 collector with local dealer Ernest Doe. “We were instantly
impressed and you could see how it was going to transform the task for us so I
placed the order so that it arrived in time for my arrival at the club. We
found that we could run the unit with the brush attachment just above the
height of the grass to collect the leaves into a high capacity hopper, without
having a detrimental effect on the grass. The overall weight and compression
tyres also help, leaving a minimal footprint on the ground, meaning we could
get out everyday without the risk of causing any problems.”
The S3 was in action as soon as the leaves started to fall in
October, for anywhere between 3 and 7 hours a day, until the end of the fall.
“I delivered a presentation to the members in December and was apprehensive
when I got to the topic of leaves, but people were so complimentary of what
we’d achieved. It has transformed the winter presentation of the course so much
that members are now going out on the course looking for leaves – and can’t
find any! We can’t ask for better than that.”
