June12 newtractor
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The Home of Golf has a new tractor. Hardly earth-shattering news we know, but this is no ordinary tractor.
The 100hp Massey Ferguson 5455 machine is playing an important role in the creation of The Castle Course, St Andrews’ new seventh course currently under construction.
Scheduled to open next June, The Castle has been laid out on 220 acres of former farmland on the cliffs overlooking the grey old toon. Work on the course, which was designed by David McLay Kidd, began early in 2005.
The new Massey Ferguson 5455 tractor was purchased specifically to assist with final ground preparation and seeding operations, drainage works and on-going maintenance of The Castle.
Head greenkeeper Allan Patterson says the new tractor, with its striking sloping bonnet, had become a common sight across the new course.
“It was used with the power harrow and the stone burier prior to seed our final two fairways and a large area of semi-rough and the driving range,” he explained. “Over the coming months, the tractor will be equipped with a 1,000 litre sprayer for treating the deep rough and will be top dressing the fairways as they grow in. The tractor is very comfortable, has excellent visibility and the staff like driving it.”
Other important course works earmarked for the tractor both prior to and following the opening of The Castle next summer include deep-tine aeration and gravel band drainage of fairways.