Quarry Hills Associates in Boston had a tough job ahead of them: reshaping what was once a landfill and an eyesore into a recreational Mecca with a beautiful golf course.

Located approximately 8 mi. south of downtown Boston and adjacent to the 7,000-acre Blue Hills Reservation and the Boston and Quincy harbors, the 259-acre recreational complex offered a beautiful setting and fantastic views. It also provided plenty of challenges. Initially backfilled to depths of 10 to 60 ft. (3 to 18.3 m), with dirt trucked on site, it was capped with 12 in. (30.1 cm) of Boston Blue Clay — like icing on a cake — before the building and sculpting of fairways and greens could begin.

“It’s part of the largest earthmoving job ever done in New England, possibly the entire eastern seaboard,” said Walter Hannon, vice president of Quarry Hills Associates. “We tested 13 million tons of soil for contamination, hauled it to the site, and placed it to backfill the landfill.”

Machines in use on site include John Deere 550, 650 and 750 crawler dozers; 270C LC and 330C LC excavators; 30-ton (27 t) articulated dump trucks; John Deere loaders and 410G backhoes — all provided by Hertz Equipment Rental of Boston.

“John Deere products make my life easier,” said Michael Kinsella, Hertz’s branch manager. “They supply us with very good machines. We’ve had no major issues or downtime with any of it.”

Shaping a golf course on top of clay is a very technical job, but, according to Kinsella, the equipment is handling it well. “It’s not something you do every day. We’ve heard nothing but good feedback from the operators working the equipment,” he said.

The mix of machinery has shown excellent durability on the tough job site, according to Hannon. “Hertz is sending us some very reliable machines. We have had no problems with them,” he said.

Service also was a key to winning the Quarry Hills contract. Hertz worked with Schmidt Equipment, the John Deere dealer in North Oxford, MA, to deliver service and parts.

“We knew we weren’t going to get the job on price alone. We’ve had a service technician and a service truck on the job since the start,” Kinsella said. “Warranty work on the new machines is done by Schmidt Equipment. We were comfortable making the promises we did to Quarry Hills because we know they deliver superior parts and service.”

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