TMSystem™ Saves Money And Ageing Jacobsen Mower
Sussex County Cricket Club may be one of the oldest clubs in the UK, but it’s at the forefront of technology when to it comes to grounds maintenance. In May of this year they took delivery of a set of ATT SMARTCut cassettes to rejuvenate an ageing Jacobsen SLS1880 fairway mower.
The club’s history goes back to 1839 and is now on its fourth location when the ground in Eaton Road was acquired from the Trustees of the Stanford Estate in 1871. Andy Mackay is Head Groundsman having joined in 2006 and taken over the top job in 2008.
Andy takes up the story: “The tractor part of our SLS1880 was fine but the cutting units were tired and needed to be replaced. The Grass Group’s local dealer, Ernest Doe, suggested we take a look at the ATT TMSystem™ that would allow us to keep the Jacobsen and save a considerable amount of money rather than buying a complete new unit.
“The ATT TMSystem™ offered a higher quality cutting cassette with more options compared to what we had before. The multifunction nature of the ATT cassette system was a double bonus.”
After a demonstration Andy went for the SMARTCut cassette fitted with the front groomer roller; deciding to take six cassettes in order to have a spare in case of damage.
Andy again: “I think the cutting quality is absolutely superb and is very easy to set up. Because the Jacobsen is a unit with 5 cutting units, a cut was a relatively lengthy task, especially when height adjustments were needed. Now, setting the cuts can take someone only about 10 minutes to complete.
“It’s very labour saving, especially if the heights need to be adjusted along the way as very little effort is needed. For me, the easy height adjustment is the unique selling point of these reels – apart from the fact that they are part of a system.”
At the moment the units only carry out maintenance of the outfields, not renovation as the front groomers act just to groom the grass before it’s cut, but a set of ATT SMARTUltraGroomer cassettes are being looked at for the start of next year.
“I’ve had a demo of the UltraGroomer cassette on the cricket wicket,” says Andy, “and I was amazed by how much it pulled out, but at the same time not being invasive.”