Wiedenmann case study - Terra Spikes twice as nice at Burnham Beeches GC

Wednesday, 04 August 2021

Lee Bishop, Course Manager at Burnham Beeches GC, has a adopted a simple way to highlight the need for renovation to his club members. He does a dummy run of the work on two practice putting and chipping surfaces to give an actual preview of how it will look.

“We do all the processes on two greens the week before to show how quickly it settles and recovers. It’s also a chance to set up the machinery in advance and means there are two fewer greens to do on the day. So, a win-win all round,” he quipped.

The club has two Wiedenmann Terra Spikes, a G160 and an SL6, purchased together in 2018.

“We’ve always had Wiedenmann and never wanted anything else,” declared Lee Bishop. “It’s the most impressive bit of kit on the market, without a shadow of a doubt.”

This week, Lee, and his team of five, tackled their traditional week of greens renovations.

“First off, we spun out 2 tonnes of sand per green, then we used the G160 with 20 mm tines down to 200 mm, sand is brushed in. Then with the SL6, on 12 mm tines, we went down to 100 mm in a different direction. This is followed by a further brush to fill the SL6 holes; then we gave it the final top dressing and a drag mat, a roll, and a bit of water. On this occasion, we went three metres into the approaches and collars and filled them up with sand as well.”

“It’s quite an aggressive programme but if the weather is with us its relatively quick to recover. For a short period, we raise the height of cut so we will lose a little bit of speed but then we drop them back down to summer height. The club is very supportive and knows it is entirely necessary.”

“During Spring renovations, we put on smaller tines. The G160 takes a 12 mm, and the SL6 an 8 mm. We’ll send them out in the same direction but this time we do two different depths with one operation.”

“Through the year we try to aerate greens monthly when we can. With the SL6, it will be with nothing bigger than the 8 mm tine, varying the depth from 200 mm to 75 mm in decreasing monthly increments of 25 mm. When we reach 75 mm the next time we revert to 200 mm, but we’ll go in different directions. We do tees twice with the G160 and twice with the SL6. The SL6 is just so versatile… with its hole spacings and its speed, those are exactly the reasons why I bought it.”

This is an interesting case study of what Lee Bishop and his team have been able to achieve using Wiedenmann aerators during summer renovation works.

Fairways GM is the dealer for Wiedenmann machinery in Scotland, we have been partnered with Wiedenmann from the very beginning of our company and continue to sell Wiedenmann products into the Scottish ground care sector.

For enquires please call 0800 028 1700 or email sales@fairwaysgm.com.