Stourbridge Golf Club Greenkeeper Selects SISIS Veemo MK2 For Delicate Scarifying
Steven Harvey, head greenkeeper at Stourbridge Golf Club in the West Midlands, spent a good deal of time trying out various dethatching and scarifying solutions for the club’s golf course, which has a long history and poses unusual turf maintenance challenges. The 18-hole course was developed in 1909 as a progression from a prior 9-hole layout, which was created in 1892 on the former Pedmore racecourse.
“There are essentially two halves to the course,” Harvey says. “The old common ground at the bottom where the racecourse used to be and then you have more of a parkland course at the top. It is really chalk and cheese.”The course is also unusual due to its small size. “In fact, it was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as being the course with the ‘longest yardage over the smallest acreage,’” Harvey says. The combination of the course’s terrain and size poses benefits as well as challenges for Harvey and his four-person team.
Challenging Conditions
“Historically, our non-irrigated surfaces such as the fairways do tend to struggle and fail to hold on to moisture. No work has ever really taken place on the fairways other than slitting, so they are heavy on organic matter,” Harvey says. “When it is hot, they really do bake and we have lost a lot of grasses, particularly the fescues.”
Harvey trialled multiple solutions in his attempt to find a machine that would scarify the fairways without damaging them. “However, the problem always came on the undulating common land, and whichever machine we used, it basically scalped them, didn't hit the low spots and was very hit and miss.” Eventually, Harvey hit upon the SISIS Veemo MK2.
SISIS Veemo MK2 To The Fescue
The SISIS Veemo MK2 is a tractor-mounted scarifier and verticutter designed especially for sports fields and golf courses. It worked well for the Stourbridge course because it uses three independently floating heads, each with its own direct hydraulic motor drive and variable cutting depth. The heads are positioned on a chassis with support wheels that move with the contours of the landscape, which helps the scarifier cut away dead moss and debris at an even depth without scalping the turf.
“The Veemo simply stood out from all the others, mainly for its durability and the way it hugs the ground, particularly on the fairways on the bottom half of the course,” Harvey says. “It is fantastic the way it hits every part of the surface we want it to hit, due to the floating heads.”
The Veemo MK2 has a 2,000-millimetre (79-inch) working width, requires a tractor with a 30-horsepower or greater engine, and uses a standard Category 1 three-point hitch. Options include a choice of 1- or 2-mm (0.04- or 0.08-in.) tungsten-tipped blades. Units also come with or without an oil cooler.
“We use the Veemo anytime between March and November, and the beauty of it is that not only can I use it on the fairways, but I can get it onto our tees and the approaches as well,” Harvey says. “Overall, I’m very impressed with the Veemo and we are seeing the improvements from using it already.”
Find Your Next Scarifier
You’ll find a variety of scarifiers to choose from on NeedTurfEquipment.co.uk under the Aerators & Dethatchers category, including used SISIS scarifiers.
Source: SISIS