Bruce Mathieson is Head Greenkeeper at Whitekirk Golf and Country Club and is a passionate advocate for the Jacobsen LF-4677, a wide area fairway mower that he purchased from his local RANSOMES JACOBSEN dealer, Fairways GM of Kinross. 

Situated on an elevated position in the heart of East Lothian, just two miles from the sea, this 18-hole parkland course uses natural water hazards and undulating terrain to challenge golfers of all abilities. The course, which opened in 1995, was cleverly designed by Cameron Sinclair using the natural terrain to create a challenging, but fair course.

“The reason I selected the LF-4677 was due to the amount of growth we get here,” Bruce Mathieson said. “We’ve got really big fairways and a five unit machine just couldn’t cope with the amount of grass.

“We have been using growth regulator but what we’re finding is we’re still cutting as much but we were not working the machines as hard as in the early days. What’s happening is that we’re finding the growth regulator is slowing the growth but we’re not cutting as heavy and the machine is not taking hardly anywhere near as much punishment as before, so we’re getting a higher quality cut. However, we still need to cut two or three times a week to get the cross striping on the fairways. That’s the rationale behind our use of the LF-4677.

“I’ve also got a Jacobsen HR-5111 batwing rotary because it’s the only rotary mower we’ve found we can use here at Whitekirk. We’ve had demos of competitor rotaries, but they just can’t cope with the slopes and banks. Because it has three individual decks I can also cut the tees with it. With the markers set right, you can stagger your axle over them and cut with one deck down. None of the other mowers can work individual decks. It’s got good ground clearance and it’s been a good machine.”

Bruce arrived at Whitekirk in April 1997 while it was still getting established and was promoted to Head Greenkeeper in 2002. Prior to that he was at Gullane Golf Club for nine years where he began his greenkeeping career after leaving high school.

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