The games of most of Cobar’s golfers look set to improve after the Cobar Bowling & Golf Club took delivery of a brand spanking new lawn mower last week.
The club’s new Hustler ride-on lawn mower purchased from Menzies Pumps and Irrigations in Warren, looks set to improve the fairways on the local course and, at a cost of $44,000, it’s dearer than most cars.
Men’s golf captain Greg Bowkett said the combined fundraising effort by the Inter Mine Golf Challenge, men’s and ladies golf committees, have helped the club to purchase the new mower.
The Inter Mine Golf Challenge contributed $17,000 from the proceeds of their raffle of a golf cart donated by Cobar Powerhouse; $12,000 was put in by men’s golf and $5,000 by the lady golfers and the $10,000 balance was made up by the club.
Mr Bowkett said the men golfers had raised the money through competition fees over the years and raffles through the club.
Women’s golf president Geraldine Francisco said the women golfers had also raised their money through raffles, nominations and sponsorship.
“It all helps and goes into our account to help us to pay for these things that we need to maintain our course,” she said.
Mr Bowkett said the club had been having problems with their fairways mower and looked at a number of options to replace it.
“We looked at new mowers and second hand mowers and most of the second hand mowers were the same price as this one brand spanking new,” Mr Bowkett said.
Delivered to the course last Thursday, the new Hustler mower has a wide area width cut of 104 inches, responsive and precise control and has the manoeuvrability of a zero turn.
“Basically it will turn in its own shadow,” Mr Bowkett said.
“It will cut the grass at a lower height so that we have more consistency across the course and that grass will then have the opportunity to spread across barren areas.”
The Hustler can mow up to 84 acres in eight hours, has a top speed of 15km per hour and will mow where most wide-area mowers cannot. Due to the width of the cut and a shorter mowing time it will also save on fuel.
Mr Bowkett said the new mower will be kept well secured by the club’s new security systems which were put in recently in response to a number of break-ins and vandalism on the course.
