Campey Turf Care Systems has provided a remedy for an ongoing leaf and debris problem at Cotswold Hills Golf Club in the shape of the Votex B40 Blower.
Course manager, Wayne Vincent, has overseen the course for 14-years, and the issue presented by the copses during that time is something he’s tried to find an efficient way to manage. Preceding methods had taken a great deal of man hours, and the previous machine was too big to fit through the trees, leaving Wayne with very specific needs for his next blower.
Every one of the 18-holes on the Cotswold Hills course has at least two copses of varying sizes running along the fairways or around the greens, making this a very prevalent issue, and one which Wayne is very pleased the Votex B40 has been able to solve.
“Because of the issues we’ve had with leaves and small tree debris over the years I had very specific criteria for the machine,” Wayne began.
“What I wanted from the new blower was something that would fit on the back of our small compact tractor. We didn’t want anything wider than the tractor because it would get banged on the trees, and obviously, we didn’t want anything that was going to stand out too far at the back, because the longer they are the more difficult it is to manoeuvre through the trees.
“I also wanted it to have a 180-degree swivel head so we can blow the leaves either side of the machine. The B40 met all those criteria and when we tried it out we found it was similar to our previous blower power wise, but it was a lot more efficient, especially when using the nozzle.
“The nozzle is very important because when we get a pile up of leaves and debris we can adjust the angle to wherever we need it to be. When you’re blowing in one direction it won’t always shift the pile, but the ability to change directions with the same power really helps.
“We’ve been able to reduce our labour because there’s no longer the need to have men using hand blowers, because the B40 can get through all the copses, and if it can’t quite get into an area we can rotate the nozzle.”
The power the B40 blower comes from the intuitive design that is applied to all the models within the Votex range. The blowers are designed according to the ‘forced air guidance’ principal and have a double-sided air inlet. This enlarges the air intake without enlarging the turbine.
Though the capacity is high, the weight of the rotating parts is extremely low. This low weight prevents overcharging of the power train of the tractor when thrown into gear. The blower can fit several PTO speeds and directions.
Because of this increased power without compromising on size and weight, Wayne has been able to move larger debris from the trees that would have previously required raking by hand, cutting down on valuable labour time.
