After the withdrawal of certain chemicals, Adi Porter, Course Manager at Greetham Valley Golf Club, has found the SISIS Flexibrush to be an ideal solution for dispersing worm casts.
Adi has been working at the East Midlands club for nearly thirty years and throughout that time he has seen it become one of the finest golf, hotel, leisure and conference venues in the area.
“We made a conscious effort to really push the standards,” said Adi. “It enabled us to significantly improve the presentation and we went from strength to strength. We soon found our membership at full capacity and had to put a waiting list in place - which was unheard of for clubs in this area.”
Under his remit, Adi is responsible for the maintenance of two 18-hole courses and a 9-hole course, a driving range, and a bowling green. Standards to Adi are everything, and he leaves no stone unturned when it comes to presenting ‘picture perfect’ facilities. It is for this reason, that he admits to being frustrated by an all-too-common issue.
“Worms are becoming more and more of a problem on every sports surface because we lost the chemical control a few years ago,” he said. “Here at Greetham, the worm population has undoubtedly increased and the worm casts can be a nuisance. If they are not kept on top of then they just get smeared into the grass with the golf that is played and foot traffic, trolleys and buggies.”
In looking for a non-chemical solution, Adi, who has been a long-term user of SISIS machinery, decided to investigate the SISIS Flexibrush.
The Flexibrush is a tractor mounted brush which is equally effective to disperse top dressing and remove excess material on natural turf and on synthetic surfaces. The versatile Flexibrush can also be used for dew dispersal and striping for improved presentation. It has a 5.35 metre working width, its brush sections float to follow ground contours and the outer sections fold for transport and storage.
A demonstration was arranged at the start of 2020 and Adi has not looked back since.
“It is a fantastic, quick and cost-effective way of removing or dispersing worm casts,” said Adi. “What really sold it to me is the size of it – some of the other brushes on the market for outfields and fairways are a lot narrower and I don’t think there is one wider than the Flexibrush.
“It is very productive, and we can easily do 36 holes in a day. I also like the fact that it folds up quickly – you can easily move it about the course, through trees and from fairway to fairway.
“Another main reason for purchasing it was so that we can use it for presentation,” he continued. “We will use it for brushing before mowing to stand the grass up because it provides a better cut. Also, in the autumn and winter months when we are not actually cutting the grass, we can still present a fairway nicely by striping with the Flexibrush.
“It’s been a great purchase for us and as always we get a great service and back-up from SISIS,” Adi concluded.
