NEWS RELEASE March 21, 2025
Green Fleet and PRO Golf Helping Transform Settlers Run
Crestmead, Queensland (21 March, 2025) — Brenton Clarke is the first to admit that anticipating the future maintenance needs of the acclaimed Settlers Run Golf & Country Club, a Greg Norman-designed 18-hole golf course, with 550 residential homes on site, keeps his team 'pretty busy'.
Brenton is Course Superintendent at the 260-hectare Settlers Run, which was built in 2006 in a remarkable natural setting near Cranbourne, about 50 minutes' drive southeast of Melbourne, where the city skyline is visible from several high points around the golf course.
"Settlers Run is a little bit different in that when you buy a house here, you buy a membership to the Club and pay a yearly fee, and we have external members as well. So we've got 1800 members all up," Brenton explained.
"Being a golf and country club, we have a bar/bistro and facilities such as the pool, gym, and tennis courts to maintain, as well as a fence line for residents and an entry road. And then we have the 18-hole course. It's quite a large area of turf to maintain."
While Settlers Run began life as a challenging championship golf course featuring all the best elements of Melbourne's renowned Sandbelt links, the broadening of membership to include golfers of all abilities has prompted a re-think of the layout.
Along with slight modifications to bunkering, Brenton Clarke said the master plan devised in 2024 included an upgrade of maintenance machinery, as well as adopting new technology to work smarter into the future.
Enter John Deere.
Local support key to transition
"As soon as I joined the club in March 2023, replacing some of our old equipment was the big first priority for me," Brenton said.
"The John Deere team gave us options for where we could improve our fleet and the local support was what initially attracted us. They have a dealership half an hour away in Hastings, where Chris Angwin is our main contact," he said.
"Chris has been a big part of the changes at Settlers Run. Swapping over to new equipment can make people a bit anxious but when we first got our walk-behind mowers, Chris turned up at 6am to make sure that they were running as smoothly as possible.
"It's that sort of support that other companies couldn't provide, and John Deere has the agricultural background as well, which gives them a big edge over other companies in terms of technology."
Settler's Run's injection of John Deere equipment has so far included four 220SL Walk Greens mowers, an 8700A PrecisionCut™ Mower, four Gator™ TX 4X2s and a ProGator™ spray unit, two Riding Greens Mowers, along with multiple tractors and loaders.
In the near future Brenton plans to add another two Gators, a 5 Series Utility Tractor, a second 8700A PrecisionCut Mower and potentially a 7400A TerrainCut™ Trim and Surrounds mower as well, to provide brand uniformity across the fleet.
"The new machines have been really, really well received by the team," he said.
"Everyone likes the walk behind mowers, the Gators are more robust around the course, and the guys have really enjoyed mowing fairways with the 8700 - it's definitely giving a better cut than what we previously had."
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Settlers Run Golf & Country Club Superintendent, Brenton Clarke (foreground) with his local John Deere dealer Chris Angwin.
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Brenton Clarke on the John Deere 8700A PrecisionCut Mower.
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Brenton Clarke using the PRO Golf course management software through John Deere Operations Center™.
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Settlers Run Golf & Country Club Superintendent, Brenton Clarke.
PRO Golf software shapes future management
Behind the scenes shaping of the course of the future is John Deere's Operations Center PRO Golf course management software, that offers a real-time view of daily operations and is capable of streaming data from any internet connected device, on or off the course.
PRO Golf allows superintendents to monitor their fleet's schedule, customise fleet and crew reports, assign jobs and communicate with staff, manage labour costs, schedule maintenance, and streamline equipment servicing.
"We've basically replaced the whiteboard in the morning meetings with PRO Golf," Brenton said.
"The software has been a real positive in providing data and analysis of what we're doing, how long jobs are taking, and matching individual job tasks to hours, as well improving communications between staff.
"I break down all the individual jobs that we do then match them to the hours, so if we want to share data with the committee to push for construction of bunkers, it's a really good way to prove where we spend our time and where efficiency can be improved.
"For example, one day we had a look at how much time our machinery spent travelling around the course — so not cutting or idling, but actually moving from job to job. In the space of a seven-hour day we could see a whole hour of that was travel time. That kind of data is great to have so we can look at better ways of moving around the course to improve efficiency."
"There's so much built into PRO Golf so we're keen to keep expanding our use of the software into other areas."
GPS Sprayer on wishlist for the future
Another John Deere technology firmly on Brenton's wishlist is the ProGator GPS Precision Sprayer, which can link up with PRO Golf to provide real-time data on spray application, chemical and treatment sheets, and guidance for staff on where to spray.
"We're trying to anticipate our needs for the future, so wherever we can map our equipment or staff movement across the golf course, or refine how we get around the 260 hectares, it all helps us improve," Brenton said.
"The benefits of the GPS Sprayer would be in ease of operation and reducing overlap. We've got a team of 12 staff here but only three people can operate the spray rig, and when you have such a large area to spray it can get stressful.
"So just having a GPS sprayer that can 100% guarantee that you're going to spray exactly what you want to spray in the area you want to spray would be great. And saving money on chemicals by fine-tuning it to mapping and spot spraying would be very useful as well."
Women in Turf Program inspires Settlers Run apprentice
Brenton recently sent Settlers Run third-year apprentice, Emma Lewis, to the Women in Turf program at the Cobram Barooga Golf Club, which is a collaboration between John Deere, Australian Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA) and Envu to encourage more people to consider a career in turf management.
"It's great seeing John Deere investing back into the industry," Brenton said.
"I asked Emma to do a talk in our toolbox meeting about her experience at Cobram Barooga, and she presented really well. She actually used the GPS Sprayer when she was down there, so maybe that's a new skill she can pursue here.
"I think it's crucial at the moment, to break down a few career pathways so that people actually know that they can get into turf. It doesn't necessarily have to be golf. When I went into my apprenticeship, I was cricket mad, and I'd never even thought of going to a golf course.
"The TAFE guys said, 'There's an apprenticeship going at a golf course near you', so I got sort of thrown into it. But you realise how good it is as a career, and how many people are missing out because they don't know it's there."
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