Masham Golf Club in the north of England reckons it has found a solution to the problem of golfers demanding ever-faster green speeds, and the resulting low mowing putting stress on the grass.

Greenkeeper Andrew Percival says that his new Jacobsen Eclipse 322 ride-on greens mower is enabling him to cut higher, but achieve faster speeds at the nine hole club, which was founded in 1895.

The course, bisected by the River Burn and located in a beautiful part of Wensleydale, has six natural push up greens and three built to USGA specifications. It drains well due to its location on an old river bed.

“We had a series of demonstrations in 2011 and I was particularly impressed with the way it followed the contours on our greens; much better than our existing machine,” said Percival. “With a frequency of cut set at 2mm we immediately increased the speed of the greens by over 300mm to have them stimping at 9.2. We’ve also increased the height of cut from 4mm to 5mm and increased the green speed, which I think is a huge benefit. It might not sound much, but that’s 25 per cent more leaf on the plant.”