It's all about time management

Taking on new challenges every year is exciting

The Spiegelven Golf Club in Genk has been nicknamed ‘The Mirror of Heaven’ by locals because of its location around a fen. Built in 1988, the golf course was designed by renowned American golf architect Ron Kirby. It covers 35 hectares and is surrounded by trees and plantations. One of its special features are the many ponds, which promote biodiversity. The club's 550 members enjoy the course, which offers them some serious technical challenges. Michel Willems, the head greenkeeper, takes us on a tour.

With a degree in biotechnology in his pocket, Michel Willems can look back on a varied career, but always in the outdoors, in the field, as a field worker or steel contractor for soil testing/dissection for built-up plots (not agricultural), garden contractor and, later, as greenkeeper for the Spiegelven Golf Club in Belgian Limburg. He explains that maintaining a golf club brings new challenges every year. “That is precisely what makes the work so fascinating. We never repeat what was done the year before. Of course, the maintenance tasks are not limited to mowing, but also include ponding and especially bunker renovations, fertilisation, finding and using different grasses, overseeding with ostrich grasses, limited use of plant protection products (to a maximum of three or four times a year), and so on. We also try to take a preventive rather than curative approach.”

Robotisation is welcome

Michel Willems discovered the benefits of Belrobotics machines through local dealer VDB Technics. That was in 2018. It all started with the purchase of a ball retriever and a robotic mower, installed on the driving range. And those machines are still working. After several dry summers, it was decided to organise a demo with robotic mowers from mid-August to the end of November 2022 on two fairways that had not weathered the summer heat well, resulting in browning and poor density. At the end of the demo, it was found that the turf had regained a nice green colour and had even become denser, as if it had not suffered in the slightest from the drought.  

Michel Willlems: “So using a robotic mower is much better for the lawn. Moreover, you can let it do its job, without worrying, and get on with other pressing tasks. The grass looks much better, mowing is the same everywhere and water retention is better.” 

“We then consulted with VDB Technics to figure out which fairways we would install the robotic mowers on, to work together to determine the best location for the charging station, to plan the power supply, to lay out the arrival and departure loops, and so on. A total of seven robotic mowers were installed, six for the main course and fairways and one for the small par 3. The course has four small par 3 holes; the par 3s of holes 12 and 17 can be automatically mowed along as they are close to an area covered by a robotic mower, while holes 3 and 8 are slightly more isolated and therefore more difficult to reach. However, these two areas only require about 20 minutes with a conventional mower. So it is not a big problem.’

The choice of automatic mowing was also justified by the long delivery times for parts and repairs, which was all the more annoying as the semi-rough mower needed urgent repair. In that respect too, the demo was very convincing, with lower diesel consumption, no noise pollution and significant time savings. 

“It is also good to keep in mind that a fairway mower is also quite expensive. Ultimately, the more fairways there are and the larger the area, the cheaper and more cost-effective a robotic mower will come out,” concludes Michel Willems.