{"id":977,"date":"2025-09-03T11:18:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T10:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/?p=977"},"modified":"2025-10-24T11:25:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:25:06","slug":"heatwaves-bring-record-august-leaf-clearance-at-maxstoke-park-gc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/heatwaves-bring-record-august-leaf-clearance-at-maxstoke-park-gc\/","title":{"rendered":"Heatwaves bring record August leaf clearance at Maxstoke Park GC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leaf clearance began in August at Maxstoke Park Golf Club, the earliest in Course Manager Andy Ross\u2019s 38 years at the Warwickshire club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t remember ever starting this early,\u201d he says. \u201cThe leaves are brown, dry, and falling fast. With so little rain, the poplars especially are under stress. It\u2019s unusual to see this volume before September.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up to  September 1, 2025 , the club recorded just 280 mm of rainfall, less than half the 600 mm normally expected. Four heatwaves left the ground parched and trees struggling. \u201cSome of the silver birch have gone very brown \u2014 three or four may not have survived \u2014 but we\u2019ll wait until next year to be sure,\u201d adds Andy Ross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their Wiedenmann Super 600 sweeper collector and Mega Twister blower, supplied by local Wiedenmann UK dealer Farol at Hinckley in 2022, are now central to the effort. To begin with, in August, backpack blowers were enough to push leaves into manageable areas, but rising volumes soon demanded bigger kit. The Super 600 replaced a smaller collector and gave the team much-needed extra capacity, while the Mega Twister is ready for the heaviest leaf fall across the larger open spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe blow leaves into strips and then collect them with the Super 600,\u201d explains Andy Ross. \u201cIts large tank fills in about 30\u201340 minutes, and we empty at the nearest mulching bays. As the season goes on those bays rise quickly, and that\u2019s when the high-tip facility really comes into its own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normally, leaf clearance at Maxstoke Park runs September to Christmas with no days missed. \u201cTurkey oaks sometimes hang on until January,\u201d says Andy Ross, \u201cbut usually everything is tidied by Christmas. This year, who knows? It may turn into five months instead of the usual three or four.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDay to day, many of us are involved in leaf clearance,\u201d he continues. \u201cOnce the immediate playing areas are cleared, two people move to the bigger spaces \u2014 one on the blower and one on the Super 600. The arrival of the two Wiedenmanns has made a vast difference. The Mega can swivel 220 degrees, which means fewer journeys over the turf, and because it can move side to side, one pass is often enough. It speeds up the process, makes a tidier job, and frees some of us up for other tasks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Super 600 can also be deployed for scarifying fairways, but the summer\u2019s dry conditions meant holding off this year. \u201cWe were keen to use the Super 600 for scarifying, but the ground was so parched it would have stressed the fairways,\u201d says Andy Ross. \u201cWe\u2019ll hold off until conditions improve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside the Super 600 and Mega Twister, Maxstoke Park also operates a Wiedenmann GXi8 HD for deep aeration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set in more than 100 acres of Warwickshire countryside east of Birmingham, Maxstoke Park is a par-71, 6,418-yard course where mature oaks, horse chestnuts, and water hazards across eight holes create both a scenic setting and a demanding test \u2014 and a constant autumn challenge for the greenkeeping team of six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leaf clearance began in August at Maxstoke Park Golf Club, the earliest in Course Manager Andy Ross\u2019s 38 years at the Warwickshire club. \u201cI can\u2019t remember ever starting this early,\u201d he says. \u201cThe leaves are brown, dry, and falling fast. With so little rain, the poplars especially are under stress. It\u2019s unusual to see this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[556,553,218,549,554,555,551,552,548,219,547,546,163,550,277],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":980,"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions\/980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiedenmann.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}