The Mount Maunganui Golf Club are mowing towards a greener future with their brand new electric greens mower.
Receiving $98,000 from New Zealand Community Trust last month, the club are eagerly awaiting the mower which is expected to arrive next year from overseas. General Manager of the club, Michael Williams says a lot of green keeping machinery are starting to join the electric revolution. 'They're just starting to become available to us in a cost effective way now so this will be the club's first purchase of an electric mower,” says Michael.
Although the electric mower is not a cheap piece of equipment, Michael says they will see a return on this investment for the club. 'Our fuel costs are going to decrease…upfront it's a little more money but in the long run it should end up being cheaper for the club.” He adds: 'Across all our green keeping equipment we spend about $34,000 to $35,000 a year on fuel.”
Opting out on fuel and opting for a lithium battery powered mower instead, Michael says: 'We want to be a responsible club that is environmentally friendly and ecologically friendly and we see this as the first step going down that direction.”
It's not just environmental pollution that the golf club will be avoiding with their new mower either says Michael. 'The other benefit for us is noise pollution, so the petrol mower they make a fair bit of noise when they're operating…having an electric mower means the works going to be undertaken in a far quieter manner.” He adds that this will be much better for golfers and surrounding residents.
Looking ahead to sustainable options for the club, Michael says they have also just adopted a plan to grow a new grass type on the tees, fairways and greens that require less water. 'The new grass types will need less inputs put into them so less fertiliser and less chemicals so that's going to be great in terms of sustainability going forward for the club.” The club will be making funding plans over the next six months before announcing when this project will begin.
'Hopefully in the next couple of years we can move in that direction and just be more environmentally friendly and sustainable which will be great,” says Michael.
'We're very thankful to NZCT for their support…we've got 1150 golfers at the club and thousands of visitors each year so their support is benefitting a decent chunk of the community.”