A new fleet of maintenance equipment is helping the Mid-Yorkshire Golf Club in northern England boost its business, with a waiting list for membership now in place, the first in the club’s history.

Opened in 1993, and designed by Derbyshire-based architect Steve Marnoch, Mid Yorkshire was the first proprietary golf course built in the area since the Second World War.

General manager Rob Pointon and head greenkeeper Chris Webb chose to go with John Deere equipment supplied by local dealer Bob Wild Grass Machinery after a full cost of ownership review ufacturers.

“We were not simply looking at a five or even seven year limited time deal, we were looking much longer term at the whole relationship with the supplier and dealer,” said Pointon. “We want to build on this and work together to achieve our aims – we don’t want to keep changing and having to go through the same time-consuming process each time we want to purchase new equipment.”

The result was a five year service agreement covering 14 John Deere machines plus ancillary equipment, including mowers for tees, greens, fairways and roughs, compact tractors, Gator utility vehicles and an amenity turf sprayer.

 “Our suppliers suggested we use the 2500B greens mower on the tees and surrounds, rather than a utility mower, as it’s more manoeuvrable and gives a better quality finish,” said Pointon. “With this new deal, we’ve more than halved our service bill. We know exactly what it costs each month, so we can budget more efficiently. And for me, one of the biggest benefits is that the morale of the greenkeepers has been lifted tremendously.

“In the current competitive business climate, golf clubs have to present their course at its best, to keep existing members happy and attract new ones. Our members have certainly noticed the difference – they even complain to each other now about repairing pitch marks!”