NEWS RELEASE 29 October, 2025
John Deere Invitational Drives Connection and Excellence at Royal Canberra
Crestmead, Queensland (29 October 2025) — The John Deere Invitational has celebrated the best of the golf and sports turf industry, bringing together an exclusive group of greenkeepers, course superintendents, and John Deere dealers from across Australia and New Zealand for two days of learning, networking and golf at the prestigious Royal Canberra Golf Club.
John Deere Australia and New Zealand Managing Director, Luke Chandler, said the invitational was an important way to thank and connect customers shaping the future of the golf and turf industry.
"This event brings together key customers and dealers from across the region to talk about golf and sports turf management, which is a unique industry, and to hear what's on their minds and talk about what John Deere is doing in the future," Mr Chandler said.
"Our GPS-spraying technologies that we've leveraged from our agriculture business are game-changing for this sector, but we also know things like electrification, automation, and sustainability are important for golf clubs and sports turf, and we're excited to be bringing some of those technologies to this space as well.
"And we're lucky enough to be at Royal Canberra which has gone through a huge transformation in the last few years."
"We Basically Blew the Golf Course Up"
Royal Canberra Golf Club Course Superintendent, Ryan Stores, cut his teeth as a greenkeeper in the United States, including at the renowned Quail Hollow Club when it hosted the 2017 US PGA Championship.
He said the John Deere Invitational was a highlight and a chance to present the course at its best for visiting peers.
"It's been marked on our calendar as the key event of our season," Mr Stores said.
"Just having your peers coming and looking at the course is probably the highlight of what we do because they understand all the effort that goes into these things, at a deep level."
Mr Stores and his team used their John Deere fleet to help complete an extensive course renovation including changing grass species.
"We basically blew the golf course up over the last two years, reconstructed all the bunkers, fairways, tees, greens surrounds, and then put it all back together," he said.
"I'd say the key component were the John Deere sprayers. Being GPS, we can be very, very accurate with what we're trying to achieve. We don't have to worry about overlap or misapplication.
"It all has to be perfect. Think about greens cut at three millimetres. If you're one millimetre out it can be almost catastrophic, so everything has to be on point.
"The other key part of being in a John Deere partnership is the support I get from my local branch. If anything was ever a problem, or if I ran into a parts issue or a machine wasn't performing the way I was hoping, I was able to just pick up the phone, and these guys would send a tech out or talk me through something on the phone."
An Industry Built on Relationships
John Deere Director of Sales, Emma Ford, said the Invitational was a unique event in that in brought together the breadth of the industry.
"This is such a great opportunity for networking and education, and it's delivered by three partners – John Deere, our dealer network and our dealer partners," Ms Ford said.
"The event wouldn't be possible without Rainbird, Envu and Fieldquip and together in symphony it's about a holistic solution for our golf partners."
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Approximately 50 people attended the John Deere Invitational at Royal Canberra Golf Club.
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ANZ Managing Director Luke Chandler, Royal Canberra Golf Club Course Superintendent Ryan Stores and Director of Sales Emma Ford.
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Tieke Golf Estate Course Superintendent Jason Laing test driving the new 225 E-Cut™ Electric Walk-behind Greens Mower.
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Royal Canberra Golf Club.
A Closer Look at Electrification
Jason Laing is one of New Zealand's most experienced greenkeepers, with more than 35 years' experience. He's been involved in some of New Zealand's most significant course projects and is currently the course superintendent at Tieke Golf Estate.
For Jason, the Invitational was a chance to test drive the new 225 E-Cut™ Electric Walk-behind Greens Mower.
"For me, it's all to do with the minor details," Mr Laing said.
"On my walk-behind mowers there's a bar at the back and it drops grass clippings, so you've got to go back and pick them up or blow them off and they've changed it now. It's something that is totally minute but just looking at some of the improvements that John Deere has put into their gear is fantastic."
Building a Fleet
Bhodi Johnston, the course superintendent at Kooindah Waters Golf Club on the NSW mid coast, is in the process of transitioning his fleet to John Deere due to two factors.
"I've got a great relationship with the rep, which is a very important part, and it's very well spoken about equipment," Mr Johnston said.
"We're trying to prepare the best surface, so we want the best equipment to be able to do that."
Versatility the Key for Sports Turf
For Heath Taylor, who is senior supervisor at Blacktown International Sport Park and has been part of the team for more than two decades, being able to prepare different surfaces is critical.
"We've got a wide range of sports fields – baseball, softball, athletics, soccer, cricket, AFL – so it's about versatility," Mr Heath said.
"We've got a full John Deere fleet, fairway mowers (7700 PrecisionCut™), GPS-driven spray unit and heaps of Gators and attachments and we are trying to push further into that GPS-guided equipment.
"We're doing a lot of drone mapping in terms of herbicide application and weed infestation, so GPS has been huge."
A shared interest is the impending arrival of automation. Mr Stores, who said it currently took his team about eight-and-a-half hours and four mowers to complete 18 holes, was looking forward to automated fairway mowers freeing up his team and allowing the job to be completed at night before members arrived to tee up.
Mr Chandler added: "Golf courses like Royal Canberra have the same challenges as farmers around the world. Labour is an ongoing challenge and so John Deere is looking at all sorts of investments in technology to help our customers and things like autonomy can play a real role in supplementing and complementing the workforce."
John Deere Small Ag & Turf Marketing Manager, Erin Wagstaff, said behind all the machinery is the management platform, John Deere Operations Center™ PRO Golf, offering valuable tools and insights.
"Pro Golf really takes our Operations Center platform to the next level by adding additional levels of management from fleet management to staffing," Ms Wagstaff said.
"Each team member can be assigned to machines, areas of a course and specific tasks. It makes morning toolbox talk super easy."
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