NEWS RELEASE 17 April, 2026
Global greenkeeping experience leads to shed conversion at Sun City Country Club
Crestmead, Queensland (17 April, 2026) — When Craig Hamilton finished school in his native Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland and started working at his local golf course, he had no idea his career would take him from the north shore of Belfast Lough to the stunning coastline of southern Western Australia.
Now the Course Manager of Sun City Country Club at Yanchep, Craig's journey has included stops along the way at some of the world's most elite golf clubs, with the opportunity to learn the art of greenkeeping on many renowned and pristine courses.
"I always wanted to travel and New Zealand was on my list, so I went to New Zealand and completed an apprenticeship, and worked on some really nice golf courses over there, including Waitemata, Maungakiekie, and Gulf Harbour, which hosted the 1998 World Cup of Golf," Craig said.
"I gained a lot of experience in New Zealand, particularly working with warm-season grasses. We don't have any warm-season grasses in the United Kingdom because it's too cold for that, so I learned a lot, which was excellent."
Returning to Northern Ireland, Craig took up a position at one of Ireland's oldest golf clubs, Royal Belfast.
"That was just a fantastic golf course to work at; it was next level compared to the other courses I had been working at back home, and it was a fantastic learning experience," Craig said.
"Then, I met a girl, who is now my wife, and I followed her to Perth."
After a 10-year stint as a superintendent at a local government golf course in Perth, Craig and his family made the move to the northernmost suburb of Perth, where he took on his current role at Sun City.
Nestled between two unique local landmarks, the Yanchep National Park and Yanchep Lagoon, Sun City Country Club is a picturesque member-owned, 18-hole facility.
Currently in a redevelopment phase, half the course is a Santa Ana couch hybrid, while the rest is kikuyu. With just over 40 bunkers on the course, one of its unique features is the presence of barrancas – dry riverbeds with sharp shelving edges – which have been added in recent years.
A new era of equipment for Sun City
When Craig arrived at Sun City in 2021, the club was leasing a large portion of its fleet.
"There were some gaps in the fleet and we needed some additional machinery for the way I wanted to prepare and maintain the course, so we started looking at the options," he said.
"I've used machines all over the world on different golf courses, and there's a whole raft of different brands, but John Deere always stood out as being one of the best."
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Craig Hamilton, Course Manager, Sun City Country Club with the John Deere 2700 E-Cut™ Hybrid Triplex Mower and his dog Solo.
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Craig said John Deere's 6700A E-Cut™ Hybrid Fairway Mowers are lighter on the fairways, and helping the club to save money on fuel.
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Craig Hamilton and second-year apprentice Jorgina Kean, who was selected for John Deere's Women in Turf program in 2026.
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Craig Hamilton with Jorgina Kean and AFGRI Equipment's Jack Latchford and the John Deere ProGator™ 2030A GPS PrecisionSprayer.
Today, their fleet is comprised of 12 John Deere machines – including three hybrid triplex mowers, two hybrid fairway mowers, the Z915E ZTrak™ Zero-Turn Mower, and one ProGator™ 2030A GPS Precision Sprayer – with plans to continue purchasing from their local John Deere supplier, AFGRI Equipment, as they look to renew their older machines.
"We've been lucky enough to have one of the GPS Precision Sprayers here, and I know all the team members who have used it, myself included, have found it very good and it makes life so much easier," Craig said.
"From a course management perspective, I've been able to see how much money we save on chemicals with it being so accurate and the reduction in over-spraying.
"The impact of the equipment has been very positive and it's quite enjoyable to see."
Other benefits from the new additions to the fleet include fuel savings, greater operator comfort and ease of use.
"New machinery should obviously be fantastic, but the quality of cut from the John Deere mowers is absolutely phenomenal," Craig said.
"The hybrid fairway mowers are that little bit lighter on the fairways, meaning there's less tracking and we can go out there and cut several times a week.
"We're also saving a lot on fuel with the hybrids, which is fantastic."
The adaptability of the Z915E ZTrak Zero-Turn Mower has also been a big hit with the team.
"The Zero-Turn is fantastic. You can adjust the height on the fly, so you can cut some long grass, cut some short grass or use it to just tip the grass," Craig said.
"We've got a lot of leaf litter here, so we also go around our green complexes, bunker complexes and tees, and use it to suck up the leaves.
"It ends up looking fantastic."
Machinery benefits complemented by John Deere Operations Center™ PRO Golf software
The cherry on top of the equipment is the Operations Center PRO Golf software.
"Before it merged with the Operations Center, we were one of the first golf courses in Australia to use OnLink," Craig said.
"We primarily used the job workboards, which allowed me to program what we wanted to achieve the next day or even an entire week ahead.
"It also allowed me to monitor and keep track of the number of hours we were spending on things like raking bunkers and mowing greens, which I found to be really helpful."
The arrival of John Deere equipment at Sun City and the integration of the OnLink software capabilities into Operations Center in 2024 was a game changer.
"From the screen in my office, I can live track the vehicles going across the course, see exactly where they're at, see how far ahead they are from golfers and if they're going to get caught up," Craig said.
"We can monitor the machine usage, and any errors that may pop up are sent to the technician, so they know exactly what needs servicing.
"The John Deere equipment does an excellent job, and the Operations Center software is a really great tool."
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