Maleny Golf Club has just acquired an electric greens mower which will abate morning machinery noise for the benefit of the neighbourhood and reduce the club’s carbon footprint.

Course Superintendent Mick McCombe said the new environmentally-friendly Toro mower did not carry hydraulic fluids and used all-electric components for traction, steering, deck lifting and cutting.

“This eliminates the risk of hydraulic fluid being spilt on our environmentally sensitive golf course and will help reduce our carbon footprint as well,” Mick explained.

“It is noticeably much quieter to operate, so we can mow the greens in the morning without the neighbours hearing us, and the small on-board petrol generator, which charges the batteries, is less costly to operate.”

Advanced cutting technology also regulates the speed of the cutting units in relation to ground speed, giving an even clip rate across all putting surfaces.

“This will substantially improve both the aesthetics and playability of our greens, making the mower a very welcome addition to our maintenance fleet as it will enhance our ability to produce quality putting surfaces year round,” Mick said.

The maintenance fleet now includes an array of sophisticated, special-purpose machinery. However, when Mick joined the club in early 2014 as construction of the first nine holes got underway, he had just two old lawn spreaders to work with!