A CHRISTCHURCH golf centre has recruited two new hard-working members of staff – a pair of robots.

One of the new employees at Parley Golf Centre – dubbed the Mowbot – spends its life cutting the grass on the range.

The other drives itself around scooping up the range balls and, when it has 300, deposits them at its docking station.

It drops them through a special grill where they are automatically rinsed before being fired back to the range where they are given a proper wash.

The balls are then available for the golfers from the ball-dispensing machine at the centre in Dorset opposite Bournemouth airport.

The automation of the range saves time, increases safety, and the reaction of members and visitors has been positive.

With a major £250,000 investment programme underway to turn the centre into the finest practice facility in the region, the robots free up staff for developing the new course and for other innovations.

Created by Automated Managed Services under the ‘TrueBot’ brand, the robots are thought to be the only ones working in the region. They are about four feet across and run quietly over the grass.

Daryl Dampney, manager of the centre, said: “We recently introduced a state-of-the-art simulator and now we’ve brought in the robots because we want to continue innovating.

“The robots save a huge amount of time and money we can just leave them to it all day without having to worry about the range.

“It means our ground staff can concentrate on developing the new course and the other practice facilities we are bringing to the centre.

“There are wires buried around the range and the robots are programmed to sweep the area inside them.

“The ball collector robot goes most often to the places where the majority of balls land and it can be controlled by text message.”