Wycliffe Bowling Club Relies on Dennis FT and Razor for Consistent Greenkeeping Performance
For more than 70 years, Wycliffe Bowling Club has been at the heart of its local community. Established in 1956 as part of a foundry, the club has evolved over the decades, moving twice before settling at its current site in 1992.
Since then, the facility and its playing surface have continued to develop, supported by a dedicated team of volunteers who take great pride in maintaining the bowling green.
One of those volunteers is Adam Orr, a member of the club’s greenkeeping team whose responsibilities focus on the technical aspects of turf maintenance, including operating and maintaining the machinery.
Adam’s journey into greenkeeping came about unexpectedly.
“My wife was already part of the club, and I had an imminent retirement date coming up,” he explains. “One day, somebody suggested that I could give the greenkeeping team a hand cutting the grass and that’s how it started.”
Today, Adam plays an important role in maintaining the green, with the club relying on a combination of Dennis machines to achieve the standards required throughout the year.
A commitment to quality and service
The club selected both the Dennis Razor and Dennis FT for a combination of build quality, reliability and after-sales support.
“The Dennis brand is synonymous with reliability and good construction,” says Adam. “Their machines are well developed and well built, but service was also a major consideration for us.”
Having UK-based manufacturing and support provides additional confidence when it comes to servicing and sourcing spare parts throughout the lifetime of the machinery.
“Their service is local to us and has been excellent,” Adam continues. “Knowing that the headquarters and manufacturing are based in the UK gives us confidence, not only when making the initial purchase, but for the lifetime of the machine.”
Precision finishing with the Dennis Razor
During the playing season, the Dennis Razor is used to provide the club’s finished cut, with the height of cut typically set at 5mm.
For Adam and the volunteer greenkeeping team, one of the Razor’s greatest advantages is its usability.
“The machine is a good weight for volunteers to use,” he says. “It holds its line relatively easily, and because of the differential on the roller, it turns easily as well.”
The Razor also provides the precise adjustment required to maintain a consistent finish across the bowling green. Its cylinder adjustment system allows the team to compensate for wear, while a setting bar makes checking the height of cut straightforward.
“We particularly like the height adjustment system,” Adam explains. “You get a definite click of 0.25mm. One full rotation of the screw equals 1mm, so you can make very precise adjustments when necessary to even up the cut across the full width of the machine without the use of tools.”
However, it is the machine’s weight and ground pressure that Adam believes make a significant difference to the finished surface.
“We love this machine for its weight because the ground pressure helps ensure an even and flat surface.”
The club’s Razor has also demonstrated impressive longevity. Purchased new in 2015, it continues to perform consistently.
“This machine was new in 2015 and it behaves every day in exactly the same way,” says Adam. “For bowling green fine cutting, I would thoroughly recommend the Razor. It has all the attributes you need, including reliability and longevity.”
Year-round versatility with the Dennis FT
The Dennis FT provides the club with a versatile solution for year-round turf maintenance.
During the winter, the FT machine is primarily used with a cutting cassette, maintaining the grass at approximately 8mm.
“We cut at 8mm during the winter to help keep the growth under control and reduce the risk of disease developing,” Adam explains.
When the main playing season arrives, the club can quickly change the FT’s application by switching cassettes.
“The cassette system is very easy to use,” he says. “In the main season, we remove the cutting cassette and fit the verticut cassette in a matter of minutes. It fits into place, and the end cap is then secured to keep everything in position.”
Like the Razor, the FT benefits from Dennis’ precise click adjustment system, allowing the greenkeeping team to make accurate changes when required.
The club currently uses a range of cassettes and attachments, including a cylinder cassette, verticut cassette, sorrel roller and brush.
The cylinder cassette is used extensively during the winter, while the verticut cassette is particularly valuable throughout the cutting season for managing lateral growth.
“We use the verticut mainly to catch lateral growth,” says Adam. “The brush is also useful, particularly before reseeding, when we use it to brush out material following scarification.”
For Adam, the greatest benefit of the FT is the flexibility that the cassette system provides.
“The cassette system means that one main power unit can perform many different jobs. It increases the utilisation of the machine and gives us a number of applications from one main asset.”
He adds: “I would thoroughly recommend the FT to other clubs, particularly for verticutting. The construction is very good, it is reliable, and the cassette system gives you a great deal of versatility.”
Supporting volunteers with reliable machinery
For a club maintained by volunteers, machinery needs to be straightforward to operate, reliable and capable of delivering consistent results.
The combination of the Dennis Razor and Dennis FT has enabled Wycliffe Bowling Club’s greenkeeping team to maintain its bowling surface throughout the year, from winter height management to precision fine cutting and in-season turf care.
For Adam, the decision to invest in Dennis machinery has been justified by both the machines themselves and the support behind them.
“We selected Dennis because of the quality of the brand, the construction of the machines and the service available to us,” he says. “We have not been disappointed.”
As Wycliffe Bowling Club continues to develop its facilities and look after its green for future generations, the Dennis Razor and FT remain important tools in the hands of its dedicated volunteer greenkeeping team.
Find out more about the Dennis FT here