by Nick Drew | Wed 29 Aug 2018
Career tee'd up on the golf course
We read and hear a lot about the shortage of young operators today, but its not all doom and gloom as there are some "young guns" coming up through the ranks like 22-year old Will Jack Goldstone who has been in touch with the Digger Man Blog to tell us a bit more about himself and the plant he operates.
Leeds based Will’s first experience on plant came along when he was 17-years old, when he undertook a full landscape job for one of his friend’s parents on the garden at their new house, it was this job that kick started his interest in becoming a full-time plant operator.
Will’s big break came in April 2016 when he secured a job on the then new JCB Golf & Country Club build. Talking about this move Will said, “I started on the golf course construction, learning from other shapers and managed to get occasional time on the machines often staying on late to gain some stick time. Eventually I ended up on the machines full time and spent many months building greens, topsoiling fairways, ditching and creating bunkers, plus many other aspects of golf course construction”.
Will was fortunate enough to operate a wide variety of JCB machines during the golf course construction ranging from forward and rear tipping dumpers to telehandlers, loading shovels, skid steers and backhoe loaders including the 1CX and 5CX.
Will was also able to gain experience invaluable on tiltrotator equipped machines with the last one being a Hydradig 110W complete with Steelwrist on SVAB joysticks incorporating wheel steering
However, Will comments that most of his time there was spent operating skid steers and a 13 tonne class JS130 which was fitted with a Geith tilt bucket.
When the golf course work came to an end Will took up a job working for Collett Plant Hire which is where he is today, Will said, “My current machine is a JCB JS145 with Engcon tiltrotator. As previously mentioned I had spent time with tiltrotator’s at the golf course, but when I moved into the civils and groundworks side of things the “tilty” really came into its own, even more so as we run EC-Oil for running grabs, compaction plates and hydraulic forks”.
Will continued, “The possibility of what you can achieve in a day’s work is endless. Being able to build up the levels, compact the stone down to level, spoon out the concrete and string out the kerbs all without having to get out of the cab and without having to involve groundworkers is invaluable as it save’s so much time and money. It’s just one continuous efficient work line. Its revolutionised the way I work and the way I look at approaching work”.
Not one to rest on his laurels Will is already looking to the future saying, “I am definitely going down the route of buying my own machine, but all in due time, I have a lot to learn and I’m never scared to ask for advice or ask questions. I want to be able to offer a package with myself and a machine with top spec machine with the latest technology and I want to be able to carry out any task or job to the highest standard”.
Golden Excavations is Will’s Social Media name, apparently on all his accounts. Check out this video from the Golden Excavations You Tube Channel.
The Digger Man Blog would like to thank Will for getting in touch to tells us about his work and experience and we wish him well for the future.