Speed and mobility are the names of the game for golf course drainage experts DJUKE as its operators move rapidly from one project to another.

They need the tractors that put the power into their work to be there when they want them and not sitting idle when they don’t. And right now they prefer to hire them from Lister Wilder.

Transforming previously wet greens into all-year playing surfaces is proving to be a growing business for the Surrey-based business which has dozens of projects on its books this year.

Typically, they will be in and out in no more than two days, leaving little sign that they have been at work … until the next time it rains heavily.

My family has used Lister Wilder for many years,” When we joined them, they were making rapid progress installing passive capillary drainage on the 14th green at West Hill Golf Course at Brookwood in Surrey. After one day there, they were headed for the Hoebridge Golf Centre at nearby Woking. Crucial to their action plan was a 52hp Kubota L5040 with two-speed rear power take-off.

“We are happy to hire them from Lister Wilder because that makes sense for our business at the moment,” says DJUKE Director Cameron McMillan.

“We know they will deliver them to site where and when we need them — we work to tight timescales and we like the service they give us.”

Brother Billy is Operations Manager and is often the man at the wheel of the Kubota as the delicate process of installing passive capillary drainage gets underway. “As greenkeepers, my family has used Lister Wilder for many years,” he says. “They never let us down. I like the fact that you are always dealing with a person rather than a department.”

Compact tractors are just one element of a wide ranging machinery portfolio available on hire from Lister Wilder. Says Sales Director Phill Hughes: “Hire is  a useful option for many course managers, especially with seasonal renovation kit like seeders, brushes and Vert-Drain which are not needed the rest of the year.

They also often need tractors for breakdown cover. The challenge for us is to respond quickly and to ensure that our hire gear is no more than three years old to ensure reliability.“

Billy McMillan likes the sheer versatility of the Kubota L5040. “It is reliable, well built and has a light footprint for working on greens plus sufficient power for our equipment,” he says. “I like the size and power-to-weight ratio; the gear selection is superb and the hydraulics have plenty of power to lift our hopper.”

DJUKE does its golf course drainage work on the back of a fine pedigree. Cameron and Billy are two of the five greenkeeping sons (Ian has since sadly died) of legend Jack McMillan MBE who was long time Course Manager at Sunningdale. With even Mum, Rita, having considerable knowledge of the subject, the total greenkeeping experience within the family adds up to no less than 220 years.

Cameron combines his management role for DJUKE with being Course Manager at Queenwood Golf Club at Chertsey.

As a result of his work there that the opportunity arose to take on the UK franchise for the American company DryJect, operating a process which injects high-pressure water through the root zone to fracture the soil and create a void which then vacuum fills with free-draining sand.

Passive capillary drainage is one of several other elements of the emerging company’s business portfolio and is one in which DJUKE has, in association with Aquaterra Europe, evolved world-leading technology that is now being exported to the US.

The process is based on an AFT Sand Bander which has been adapted to mechanically lay rope into the slots that it cuts. Once buried and filled with sand, the rope provides a capillary route to feed water to a drain around the edge of the green. The result is a much faster and less disruptive process. On a good day, the company can treat two greens, with play potentially continuing within hours of completion.

“What we are offering our customers is a means of saving money by keeping them open longer through the year,” says Cameron. “The weather is changing with milder and wetter winters, so the priority on any golf course has to be drainage — most are accepting that more has to be done to avoid temporary greens.”