Angus Macleod, Course Manager at The Belfry, has selected SISIS Megaslit and Multislit tractor mounted deep slitters for maintaining the greens surrounds, approaches and fairways on all three world renowned courses.
Whilst Angus has only worked at the Belfry for two years, it was his experience of working with SISIS for over 30 years that prompted the purchase of the new turf maintenance machinery.
After consultation with head greenkeeper Jamie Brooks and workshop manager Chris Minton, followed by a demonstration, the decision was made to add the two SISIS machines to the extensive turf maintenance fleet of over 200 machines that look after the manicured PGA courses.
“I’ve used SISIS equipment at all of the courses I’ve worked at for the past 30 years,” said Angus. The Megaslit and Multislit are great pieces of kit and both do a great job. They are efficient, quick and work in tandem with the other piece of aeration equipment we use. Because of the volume of land we have here, we needed something that would do a good job and do it quickly. Both machines immediately ticked all of our boxes giving us a clean slitting motion for quick root pruning, slicing the fibre and controlling thatch.”
Aeration is crucial for improving drainage, reducing turf compaction, thatch build up and increasing the health of the grass.
The SISIS Megaslit is a tractor mounted deep slitting aerator which gives a deep, clean penetration and is ideal for larger areas, such as sportsfields and golf fairways. The 2.5m wide deep slitter, featuring 32 heavy duty tines, achieves maximum underground cultivation due to the angle of the tines and spiral design of the tine shaft assists penetration.
The smaller 1.5m wide SISIS Multislit is also a tractor mounted deep slitting aerator which is suitable for the maintenance of football, rugby, cricket pitches and golf courses. The slitter, featuring 40 sharpened fine turf tines, can be used on a compact tractor, minimising the overall weight on the surface.
The simple design of both machines means that very little on-going maintenance is required – another key factor in the purchase, as Chris explains: “Nothing has ever gone wrong with the machines; that’s why I like them so much. They are simple to use and basic to maintain – we only ever need to grease the rollers. You can fit them on a lighter weight tractor as long as they can pick it up and it’s an easy operation to carry out.”
Both machines were put straight into work and will predominantly be used during the winter months. “We will use the machines from November through to January,” explained Angus. We use them from 2 inches right up to 10 inches – as long as we don’t have any issues with wiring or irrigation pipes and they give us very little surface disturbance.
“We see slitting as an important operation at The Belfry and these machines are great because you can vary the depth for thatch control and root pruning. They’ve proven their worth at the last four golf courses I have been at so why change something if it works so well?”
For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact SISIS on 01332 824 777 or visit www.sisis.com
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