Winter Servicing

Now that we are in the middle of winter, one of the critcial jobs that is carried out at EGC is not on the golf course, but down at the maintenance complex. Winter servicing is completed in house by our Mechanic, Dominic Weglarz (pictured below). However, this was not always the case. Prior to 2006 all servicing at EGC was sourced externally by machinery dealers. It was acceptable at the time as there were no workshop facilities. The big (and I mean big) downside to this was cost. The machinery repair/service bill in 2006 was £32k. This year it is forecast to be £13k!

The Dominator at work

The reduction in costs hasn't happened by chance. Careful investment in machinery and staff has taken place over the years. Today if you look at our facilities you will find a modern workshop complete with grinders and hydraulic lifts. Dominic is now our mechanic but started life as a greenkeeper here in 2005. However very quickly we could see that he's skills were more suited to the machinery side of turf. So Dom started to take a different route to the other greenkeepers and went to college to learn about sportsturf mechanics. The end product of that is that we have a highly skilled mechanic who does all the machinery maintenance himself. That was just as well, as cutting grass wasn't his greatest quality:)

Over the next 3 months Dom will be busy grinding, servicing and repairing all of our fleet. We have around £250k worth of equipment here at Ealing with over 35 cutting units that will need sharpening. The aim is when the season kicks in, our equipment is ready to deliver a course in tip-top condition. So over the next few months when you are playing on nice sunny days, spare a thought for Dom grinding away inside.

The Workshop