Last year, Wiedenmann’s Terra Spike GXi8 HD was on Twitter in full working mode, a coffee cup balanced as it travelled across a green. The coffee didn’t spill and greenkeepers filmed their versions of the #CoffeeCupChallenge. Impressed, Rick Sinker, Course Manager at Lymm Golf Club, had dealer, Turner Groundscare, give a demo.
“I liked that depths of 7, 8 and 9 inches still left the surface smooth. Then you realised its speed; it moved so quickly. Finally, when you examined closely, it was all about neatness,” said Rick. “It went so well that we dispensed with our pedestrian aerator because it couldn’t maintain the same clean finish.”
A year later, the Cheshire club has a thorough aeration programme. Together with an existing Wiedenmann XP6, Rick and his team have made steady progress. “After you’ve aerated with a GXi8 every other machine seems outdated. Sometimes you don’t even need to cut the grass afterwards. Nothing I’ve used elsewhere is as discrete nor comes close to such minimal disruption.”
“Primarily, GXi8’s main job was on greens monthly. However, it was so fast we tried it with 20 mm tines on approaches and tees. The GXi8 goes to 250 mm, so not quite the 400 mm depth of the larger XP6, but together they are formidable. It was so good we let it do more across the course.
“Surfaces are getting better and better. We do greens monthly with the GXi8 on 8 mm tines (square pattern) altering depth. It does approaches with 12 mm tines, two or three times a year and tees twice. At maintenance in April and September, the XP6 goes the full 400 mm on tees and approaches. The XP6 (2012) still leaves a lovely finish. We repeat on top with the GXi8, using 8mm tines, maximising smoothness.”
