The Ashbury Golf Resort, comprising of four 18-hole courses, an 18-hole par-3 course and a 9-hole Academy course, situated at Fowley Cross near Okehampton in Devon, owns and operates over 450 premium Yamaha golf cars. Set in over 500 acres with stunning views over Dartmoor, all courses have been designed using the natural features of the landscape, with mature trees, hedgerows and lakes integrated into each course, together with 25 miles of buggy paths to facilitate the largest golf car fleet in Europe at the world’s 9th largest golf complex.
Chris Back is the workshop manager and is responsible for a team of five full-time mechanics; two who work on the golf car fleet and the smaller course maintenance equipment and the other three on the larger equipment and heavy plant equipment owned by the company.
“We are exclusively Yamaha and have in excess of 450 of their golf cars here, which makes us the biggest commercial operator in Europe. About 60 per cent are electric with the remaining 40 per cent petrol driven, with 100 cars having all-weather cabs for winter use. Everything is maintained in-house and each car has its own comprehensive service record.
“We are completely self-sufficient and use an online computer system, which links directly to Yamaha’s UK headquarters in Woking for ordering genuine parts and accessories. We have an excellent working relationship with them, which is important as the owners have a policy of purchasing only good quality second-hand cars and Yamaha will always notify us when the right type of vehicles are coming off lease from another customer. Sometimes, for example, there’ll be ten in good condition and maybe a couple damaged, but that’s not an issue to us as they can be used a donor vehicles.
“You would think that managing a fleet this size would be problematical, but we have two golf car marshals (three in high season) who look after them on a day-to-day basis for maintenance. They are responsible for checking them over when they return and making sure they are clean and fully charged or topped up with fuel when they go out.”
Yamaha golf cars have a reputation for reliability and, although these at the Ashbury Resort are in regular use, they require very minimal additional maintenance.
Gary Sizmur is the deputy courses manager at Ashbury Golf Resort and works closely with Back and added: “We have two large undercover garage facilities, close to the Golf Shop where the golfers collect their keys. The garages operate on a one-way system so that when one buggy leaves it is replaced by the next in line. At the start of each day you will find 60 buggies ready for use in the all-day golf car area in the main pick-up park.
“We have a mix of electric and petrol for a very good reason: our longest course is the Kigbeare at 6,528 yards and the furthest from the clubhouse, so it’s sensible to use the petrol cars here. For safety reasons, we have dedicated buggy lanes on the shared vehicle areas around the clubhouse, car parks and accommodation facilities.
“The golf cars are on the paths all-year round, which obviously helps protect the playing surfaces, the only exception is for golfers with disabilities. 99 per cent of golfers use the buggy paths, which are a mixture of tarmac, concrete or hardcore, depending on the different phases as the site developed.
“Winter is obviously the quiet period when we do a lot of maintenance and repair work. If batteries, a new motor or controller needs replacing we’ll pull the vehicle off the fleet and do it, and they won’t go out again until the new season in April or May.
“As I said earlier, our relationship with Yamaha is first-class; it has to be as we are such a large operation. The golf cars are low-cost and maintenance is relatively easy, especially with the electric cars and they work hard for us, making a significant contribution to our bottom line.”
