Golf courses require meticulous maintenance. Cutting lawns and collecting balls are crucial and very expensive cost items. Automating this maintenance reduces these costs while optimizing the quality of the work. Cranham Golf (Essex, Great Britain) is convinced of this and has installed Bigmow robots with Belrobotics. Check out this encouraging example!
Nestled in the country greenery of Essex, Cranham Golf offers an 18-hole course (par 67). Open in all seasons, it offers varied landscapes including an incredible green island. The greenkeeper has many challenges there. Driven by increased demands, he therefore turned to Belrobotics to automate the cutting of the lawn, by installing three Bigmows.
The challenges to face
A greenkeeper’s main objective is threefold: he/she must achieve irreproachable quality of cut whilst also containing maintenance costs and promoting the sustainability of the grounds.
As far as golfers are concerned, it’s all about maintaining the peace and quiet of the place and the pleasant atmosphere of the club.
Finally, maintenance must be able to adapt, one, to the seasonality of the golf course, the variability of attendance and, two, to a certain harshness of the climate (whether heavy rainfall or drought).
These many challenges can be a headache for a greenkeeper. That’s where automation comes in!
The objectives of automation at Cranham Golf
Professional and automated robot lawn mowers for golf courses meet all the above requirements and streamline the work of maintenance staff. The case of Cranham Golf proves it.
The Belrobotics machines will carry out several missions, in three stages:
- Cutting the 18 fairways with three Bigmows, ensuring perfect quality of cut and increased client comfort. That’s the main goal.
- Using available capacities, the cutting area is then extended to the rough.
- Finally, client training is planned so as to modify the fairways and rough to make them as sustainable as possible.
The advantages of robot lawn mower automation for golf courses
1. Winter cutting on soft ground
The new robots are robust and lightweight. They work easily on soft ground without damaging the ground and burying any balls that may be lying around.
2. Some considerable savings
The greenkeeper at Cranham Golf has calculated that he will save at least 35% over a five-year cycle, with a package including a premium maintenance contract.
3. Optimum flexibility
GPS-RTK technology rationalizes Bigmow cutting. With this technology the robots can do a complete cut of the area, without working the same place many times over, and finish it off with a strip cut. Result: time and energy savings. Plus a perfect fit.
4. Remote control
The time for painstaking checks is over. Installation is done direct from the app, without having to go through the user interface. And the connected robots can be managed remotely, via this app. From a smartphone or from a tablet, you can monitor work quickly, from wherever and whenever you want: check the device maintenance history, control the fleet, GPS anti-theft solution and geofencing.
5. More resistant soil
The mulching function of the robot lawn mowers does the golf course good:
- The soil is fertilized automatically. We don’t take anything away, we don’t add anything. This is a principle of sustainable maintenance. This also cuts maintenance costs.
- The enriched soil is also more resistant. Lawns are better able to withstand periods of drought, which are becoming more and more common. Watering is then limited. Another step towards more sustainable grounds.
Complete automation: cut and collect
You can make amazing time savings by opting for full automation, with cutting machines, connected ball-collector robots and automatic ball washing and redistribution systems.
Meanwhile, the collector robots have developed further:
- They are lightweight and do not bury the balls
- Their cutter heads are fitted with protective discs to protect the balls.
These complementary machines work in synergy, which multiplies the advantages:
- Relieved of tedious, time-consuming chores, staff can now focus where human added value is actually needed.
- Mowing and collection are now much more efficient, allowing longer hours of operation at the golf club.
- The mowing and collection work is carried out in silence, without any visual disturbance. Club members are left undisturbed. And, if the course has a hotel, this silence is even more precious.