Sherwood Forest GC Signs 5-Year Agreement With TORO

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Sherwood Forest Golf Club in Nottinghamshire has always chosen not to be tied to any kind of agreement or exclusive machinery deal – until now.

Now, the club, who has been a loyal Toro customer for many years, has decided to sign a five-year preferred supplier agreement with Toro and its UK distributor Reesink Turfcare. The decision to make this commitment comes says course manager, Kim Kirkham, after almost 40 years of using Toro and never having been let down.

“I’ve chosen Toro throughout my career, which is coming up to 40 years and I have never been let down by them. And while I’ve never wanted to be tied to a particular brand, with this latest order it felt like the right time. I’ve always bought Toro so it made sense to commit to them!”

Investing most recently in two Greensmaster TriFlex 3400 ride-on mowers and one of the first customers in the UK to opt for the new Toro Workman GTX when replacing its existing electric Workmans. Both showcase the very latest in technology and prompt Kim to comment on how far things have come since the first Toro machine he used – the GM3.

“By buying Toro, you are buying the best and that is evident in how long these machines last,” he says. “Nothing has changed on that front since I ordered my first Toro machine nearly 40 years ago. I know that when we order new machines such as the TriFlex for the greens, we can move the older Toros into a new role. The Toro Greensmaster 3250-D mowers for example, which were previously cutting the greens, are now on the tees, which don’t need such a fine finish, and they’re doing a great job and will do for a good few years.”

It requires foresight and planning, but a plan like this ensures Kim and his greenkeeping team of six always have the best for the course and consider their machines with the long-term in mind.

Economy is the reason for bringing in the Workman utility vehicles. “We are a 200 acre course, so the new GTX, which is a light utility suited to a broad and diverse range of jobs, is ideal.”

Being surrounded as it is by some of Europe’s finest trees and heathland thanks to its close proximity to the legendary Sherwood Forest, the golf club is now a designated site of specific scientific interest due to it containing the largest area of low-lying heathland in the Midlands. It has, says Kim, been an intentional decision to focus on the heathland aspect of the course rather than opting to be a parkland course, which would have been possible, and potentially an easier decision, considering the club’s location. Instead Kim and the team have focussed on bringing in plenty of heather and are delighted that it is making a difference. And with plans in place for a new golf academy and driving range just opposite the course, it’s from one challenge to the next!

Not that it’s a bother says Kim with a shed of Toro and the support of dealer Chris Sellars Groundcare, with whom Kim and the club have a long-standing relationship: “I’ve always said Toro machines are the Rolls Royce of the industry, you can tell it just by looking at them, let alone using them, and they always prove their worth.”

Groundsmen To Be Judged On Friday

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THREE groundsmen will go head-to-head on Friday to see who will be crowned the Suffolk FA Groundsman of the Year for 2017.

The competition is open to clubs at Step 7 and below, and the Judging Panel will be visiting Bacton United 89, Claydon and Old Newton United, before deciding the winning club.

Ransomes Jacobsen, who are one of the world’s largest suppliers of groundscare equipment, are sponsoring the competition for this first time this season.

The Ipswich-based company have doubled the prize money on offer, with the winning groundsman receiving £200, as opposed to £100 last year, to be spent on groundscare equipment.

Prize money for the runner-up and third-placed groundsmen has also increased to £100 and £50 respectively.

The judging panel will be as follows:

Ben Connell, Head Groundsman at Ipswich Town FC

Michael Cornall, Senior Football Development Officer at Suffolk FA

Tim Parker, Parkers Pitches

Will Parker, Parkers Pitches

Ella Boyden, PR & Communications Officer at Ransomes Jacobsen

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Rigby Taylor Launches New Ryegrass Seed Range

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Rigby Taylor, the company at the forefront of supplying innovative products for the successful management and maintenance of turf surfaces, has introduced eight new grass seed mixtures featuring tetraploid technology ryegrasses, all with Germin-8 liquid seed treatment.

The new tetraploid grasses boast double the number of chromosones compared to diploid perennial ryegrass – which increases cellular chloroplasts that boost chlorophyll production for energy absorption. This results in a more robust, healthier plant with stronger deeper roots, greater disease and drought tolerance as well as superb colour.

A particular benefit during the main renovation and transitional sowing periods is the plants’ ability to provide faster germination at temperatures from 4°C and superior winter wear. Also included are varieties ideal for cold temperature divotting. There is a recommended mixture for every grass surface for construction, renovation, transitional seeding and repairs.

Each individual grass seed in all mixtures is pre-applied with Germin-8 liquid seed treatment, a potent cocktail of speciality penetrating surfactants, targeted nutrients, stimulants and micronised mycorrhizae. The benefits of Germin-8 are activated when the seed comes in contact with moisture in the rootzone, stimulating rapid cell division for faster germination and emergence plus earlier root mass development.

Independent trials have shown up to 100% increases in germination achieved after just 10 days.

Alan Ferguson, FA Group Head of Grounds & Estates, commented: “The tetraploid technology mixtures R140 and R14 CR were specially selected to be used on England’s Euro 2016 training pitches to replicate the surfaces that the players are used to when training at St George’s Park or playing at Wembley. Both seed mixtures rapidly outcompeted the existing grasses to bring the surfaces up to the standard we required. Both mixtures were treated with Germin-8.”

All Doe for GKB

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Ernest Doe are expanding their successful hire fleet to introduce a whole range of specialist turf machinery for groundsmen and greenkeepers. Whilst the company covers the whole country, over six hundred golf clubs in their immediate territory put aerators and sandfillers high on their list of priorities for equipment. A visit to the new, state-of-the-art GKB factory in Holland was the ideal opportunity to assess the performance of the latest GKB Sandfiller, and the demonstration quickly confirmed this was the right choice for the fleet. Designed to offer a fast solution to tackling areas on the golf course, especially the greens, and all types of sports pitches, the GKB Sandfiller provides an all-in-one combination of aeration and sand filling.

“This is an exciting new venture for us,” says Ernest Doe’s Andy Turbin, “and any kit we introduce has to stand the rigours of the hire market. The GKB Sandfiller not only does a good job it’s also quality, solidly built machinery. We had a lot of recommendations from customers who had bought them and our staff were impressed with the demos. Tom Shinkins from GKB is great to work with and we think we have the perfect choice for the fleet with their machine. We’ll be adding more as we build the new venture.”

Use of the GKB Sandfiller for intensive aeration of the grass also leads to faster drainage of surface water and quicker recovery. The combination of aerating and filling the topsoil with sand creates the right conditions for root growth without the need for complete renovation. Material that is removed by verticutting is collected in a tipping container, so the whole operation is done quickly and cleanly in one pass.

Mischievous Groundsman’s Prank Gone Wrong

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A cleaner at a school on Australia’s Gold Coast has been awarded more than $156,000 in compensation after workmates led him to believe there had been a “sex romp” in the staffroom as a practical joke.

Lawyers for Shane Green, a cleaner at Helensvale state school, said he was shocked to find dishevelled bedclothes, empty bottles and condoms in the school’s staffroom on 24 September 2014.

A male groundsman and a fellow cleaner, a woman who acted as Green’s supervisor, had set up the scene to give the impression that an orgy had taken place in an escalation of a series of pranks involving the three of them.

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal found on 10 January that Green had been subjected to sexual harassment and victimised and awarded him a payout of more than $156,000 in compensation.

The judgment, published online on Monday afternoon, said that the staffroom had been prepared “so that it portrayed the aftermath of a sex romp” involving two other named members of staff.

A mattress, a pillow and bedclothes were taken from the school’s sick room, arranged in the staffroom and littered with empty wine and beer bottles, a packet of condoms into which cream had been squirted and women’s underwear bought specifically for the cause.

Discharged party poppers and “some of the contents of a packet of chips” on the floor were the finishing touches.

Helensvale state school has been contacted for comment.

Bruce Simmonds of Parker Simmonds Solicitors & Lawyers, who represented Green, said he was greatly distressed by what he saw because his two children attended the school.

When the perpetrators did not tell Green that it was a practical joke, he was consequently torn about who to tell about what he had seen, Simmonds said.

“He was horrified and subjected to great emotional stress by this trauma especially when they didn’t own up to the joke and left him believing it was real,” Simmonds said. “He was devastated by the incident.

“Who could he speak to? Who should he report this to? He bottled it up.”

When the groundsman eventually told Green that it had been a prank two days later, the judgment said, Green fell to his knees in disgust – though the respondents said this was in laughter.

Following other incidents of sexual harassment and victimisation by the groundsman, Green stepped down from his job on 20 October 2014 and relied on workers’ compensation payouts from WorkCover Queensland.

He eventually lodged a complaint to Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland on 21 November 2014. When attempts to resolve the matter in conciliation were unsuccessful, it was referred to the Tribunal on 1 April 2015.

The tribunal ordered on 10 January that Green had been subjected to sexual harassment and victimisation on this incident and other occasions between September 2014 and June 2015.

The two named respondents and the state of Queensland – which was found vicariously liable for the acts – have been ordered to pay Green compensation of $156,051.

Simmonds said Green would like to resume his job at the school but still felt humiliated.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education and Training said it was committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of staff.

“Every staff member has a right to feel safe at work and not be subjected to inappropriate conduct,” they said.

“As Qcat has found, the type of behaviour reported is not acceptable workplace behaviour and the department has high expectations of all of its staff to uphold the public sector code of conduct.”

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