John Deere hosts BIGGA Midlands Section

A group of 50 greenkeepers and course managers from across the Midlands, including outgoing BIGGA chairman Kenny Mackay, were hosted by John Deere in December, during the first ever visit by BIGGA's Midlands Section to the company's headquarters at Langar, near Nottingham.

The trip was by organised by BIGGA's regional competitions secretary Rhys Thomas, who is course manager of The South Staffordshire Golf Club near Wolverhampton, at the invitation of John Deere dealer Turner Groundscare of Erdington, Birmingham. Product presentations were followed by a tour of the JDParts operation and John Deere's state of the art training centre before an evening buffet rounded off proceedings.

Among the full range of John Deere golf course machinery on display was the new 8800 TerrainCut rotary roughs mower, while many visitors took the opportunity to climb behind the wheel of one of the biggest machines in the company's range - a new T Series combine harvester, equipped with the latest satellite guidance technology.

"The parts set-up was a particular highlight," says Rhys Thomas. "We were shown how parts coming from Germany and the USA are distributed throughout the UK, with a very quick turn-round - John Deere's overnight delivery system is very impressive. I'd like to give particular thanks to Turner Groundscare for organising the day, and for their help in supporting our regional golf days and events in the Midlands, they've been really good to us this year."

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