How do you quickly and easily navigate over 300 acres of Championship golf course, ensuring that people and materials are always exactly where you need them? Well, if you’re the greenkeeping team working across the 45-holes at Blairgowrie Golf Club, with a fleet of five Kubota RTV’s – that’s how! Delivering more than four years of rugged and reliable transportation, the RTVX-1110’s working alongside six Kubota compacts tractors have been credited with keeping the whole maintenance operation on course.
Since its formation in 1889, Perthshire’s Blairgowrie Golf Club has grown from an initial layout of 9 holes that now forms the ‘wee course’, with the addition of two further 18-hole courses. Over the years, the Rosemount and Lansdowne Courses have played host to many national championships for Scottish Golf, European Golf Association, DP World Tour and the R&A and consistently feature in Scotland’s Top 100 rankings. These accolades contribute to the high expectations of the 1800 members, putting the pressure on the greenkeeping team to retain the highest of standards all year-round.
“Our Kubota equipment is incredibly important to the operations at Blairgowrie Golf Club” comments Managing Secretary Stuart Wilson. “The six compact tractors ranging from the smallest B2261 up to the biggest, 74hp, M7060 are used daily for all elements of the maintenance programme. Whether it’s towing implements such as mowers or seeders or assisting with winter construction projects, they are a reliable source of power and performance.”
Equally versatile and popular are the five RTV-X1110’s, installed and maintained by the team at HRN Tractors. “The Kubota RTV’s are robust vehicles that are perfectly suited to the terrain of our courses and, ultimately, mean that we can traverse our sizeable site in good time” Stuart explains.
“The hydrostatic transmission and outstanding build quality means they can handle our undulating fairways with ease, providing the perfect combination of power, practicality and comfort. The high payload allows us to move tools and materials around quickly and efficiently, significantly improving our productivity. In addition, the hydraulic tip feature on the RTV’s is a favourite with a number of the team, meaning heavier or awkward loads can be dropped off both quickly and safely.”
From a maintenance perspective, the RTV-X1110’s tick even more boxes! “Compared to other utility vehicles, our mechanic finds the RTV’s incredibly easy to work on. Having said that, other than the routine service checks, there’s been very little he’s had to do with them as we’ve had no major issues to report in the four years we’ve had them!”
Should a question or issue arise, Stuart adds that the team are in safe hands with the back-up support available via HRN. “We have an excellent working relationship with HRN Tractors who are located only a short distance from the club. They have a very knowledgeable after sales team that can assist at short notice when required.” He concludes, “The RTV’s and Kubota equipment in general has been an invaluable asset to our business.”
Source Elena Cossar, PANPR
