Finance Deal At Rochford Hundred

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Finance Deal At Rochford Hundred: Essex-based Rochford Hundred Golf Club celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2018, and boasts a Grade One listed building which dates back to the late 15th century as its clubhouse. The imposing Rochford Hall was the principal hall in the ‘Hundred’ of Rochford (the term dating back to Saxon times), which is listed in the Domesday Book as being the biggest in the county.

This historic setting has much more recently seen the arrival of a new John Deere machinery fleet supplied by golf division sales manager Neil Peachey of local dealer P Tuckwell Ltd at Ardleigh, near Colchester.

Finance Deal At Rochford Hundred

This includes three 2500E hybrid electric greens & tees mowers; a 7700A PrecisionCut fairway mower; a 7400A TerrainCut rotary trim & surrounds mower; 9009A and 1570 TerrainCut rotary rough mowers; a 3038R compact tractor; a TE 4×2 electric Gator utility vehicle; two Pro Gator utility vehicles plus an HD300 sprayer with covered boom; and an Aercore 800 pedestrian aerator.

In a first for the club, most of the new machines have been acquired using a John Deere Financial operating lease including PowerGard Protection Plus warranty and maintenance cover. Course manager Dave Rand describes this as the ideal solution to help fix costs and enable the purchase of advanced technology equipment with a good resale value at the end of the term.

“We were falling behind on the latest technology, and also had a couple of years when we had to buy more machines than we’d budgeted for in order to keep up, which was proving more expensive than it needed to be,” Dave Rand explains. “With this new leasing deal, we’ve been able to bring in more kit compared with paying for individual machines in a year by year purchase programme, and the annual expenditure is actually less.

“We’ve now got everything covered in one simple monthly payment plan, plus the machines have extended warranty for the length of the deal so there will be no unforeseen costs or additional bills. With the key annual maintenance work included, it takes downtime out of the equation, raises standards and helps us to be more productive and efficient.

“In turn that means more golf can be played, which provides more income for the club. The members also pay their fees monthly now, so it’s a much more financially viable solution all round.

“We bought the new 9009A mower to do a better job on the rough, and this works on the large grass areas alongside the 1570 front rotary, which does the more intricate work around the trees and other landscape features,” Dave adds.

“These two machines now get the job done more quickly and have made a great improvement – the rough looks much better now. The electric Gator is also great for getting around the course quietly without disturbing golfers, and I really like the new A Model mower technology with the TechControl display, which helps to deliver a more consistent, quality finish around the course.”

For more information, visit: www.JohnDeere.co.uk

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Toro Impresses At Leicestershire

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Toro Impresses At Leicestershire: The Leicestershire Golf Club presents a tough cut for its fleet of machinery. The 6329-yard par 68 parkland course which was established in 1890 has a hefty percentage of ridge and furrow, which is challenging for any kind of machinery. And not just coping, but excelling at the challenge is Toro.

In particular, a 14-year-old Groundsmaster 4500-D and 21-year-old Reelmaster 6500-D continue to surprise Chris Lewis, course manager. “The machines manage the challenging ridge and furrow, which was created by a system of ploughing in the middle ages, with relative ease and that’s why we’re a 100 percent Toro club. Not only that, they also demonstrate incredibly good value in their longevity and continually impressive performance; especially the older machines, which are still running problem-free.

Toro Impresses At Leicestershire

“These two machines in particular are surprising us with just how well they are performing despite their age and the number of hours on their clocks. They are a great example of why we stick with Toro year after year.”

In fact, Chris has spoken specifically about how impressed he is with these two machines before. In 2012 when the machines had clocked up 15,000 hours between them, well over the average machine life expectancy, he praised their robust build-quality and reliability. Five years on and nothing has changed. Now the GM4500-D boasts almost 10,000 hours of work, with the RM6500 just 1500 miles behind that.

And the workload at the popular course, which is home to the English Men’s Open Mid-Amateur Strokeplay (Logan Trophy), shows no signs of slowing down. Some bunkers are being repositioned as part of an ongoing course improvement programme and there are plans to extend the course by introducing two par fives, making the par 70 course around 6400-yards. But what will remain the same are the contours for the mowers to manoeuvre and the steeper areas that the RM6500-D in particular has to climb. The wear and tear the machines get as a result makes their longevity all the more remarkable.

“The GM4500-D has a pretty tough workload to contend with. As the only mower doing all the semi-rough cutting across the course, it’s out cutting all day, up to five days a week.”

So, what’s the secret? “Build quality, good mechanics and regular thorough machinery maintenance,” says Chris with the utmost confidence and the hours on the clock to prove it.

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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New Rigby Taylor Brochure

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New Rigby Taylor Brochure: Rigby Taylor – the company at the forefront of supplying innovative products for the successful management and maintenance of turf surfaces – have introduced a new two-in-one brochure which focuses on key products for both grounds maintenance and landscaping.

The informative, 60-page publication – which complements the company’s Professional Products range brochure – includes a wide range of grass and flower seed mixtures, fertilisers, herbicides (both for selective and total weed control), wetting agents and biostimulants, tree and ground protection, bark, turf, knapsacks and spreaders, PPE and much more.

New Rigby Taylor Brochure

For a free copy or more information, contact your local Rigby Taylor area manager or Freephone 0800 424 919, email sales@rigbytaylor.com or visit rigbytaylor.com

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Först At EHS

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Först At EHS: Först will be showcasing its new sub 750kg petrol powered woodchipper at next year’s Executive Hire Show, as diesel alternatives are continuing to prove more and more popular amongst contractors, arborists and landscapers. 

The ST6P is an extension of Först’s popular range of six-inch capacity machines, which is powered by a 37hp V twin petrol engine, meaning the woodchipper is not only compliant with the new Stage V emissions legislation coming into play in 2019, but also matches the strength and performance that users have come to expect from Först’s diesel powered machines.

Först At EHS

Först were able to manufacture the sub 750kg ST6P woodchipper through the use of a lighter engine, GRP panels and a shorter chassis. This allowed Först to utilise the same chipping chamber, flywheel, hopper, and feed roller system used on its popular ST6 machine, building on its reputation of bringing fast, aggressive and robust woodchippers to market.

Doug Ghinn, Director at Först, commented: “We are very excited to be exhibiting at the Executive Hire Show as this provides us with the perfect platform to showcase to operators the performance levels our petrol powered machines can achieve. Diesel engines will continue to be popular in the arboriculture industry, but it’s important that users are aware that petrol engines can maintain the power and robustness that diesel engines provide, with the added benefit of being far more fuel efficient and a lot quieter during operation.

“The ST6P not only delivers exceptional performance and reliability, but also ensures users don’t have to incur costs to obtain the necessary licence to tow a machine over 750kg, offering true value to tree surgeons and contractors.”

The ST6P woodchipper boasts the features and benefits contractors and tree surgeons have come to expect with Först, including the manufacturer’s unique feedroller system (FörstGrip), which ensures exceptional crushing power. The FörstGrip top feed roller climbs on an arc toward the timber, pulling material down toward the flywheel and naturally climbing butt ends to make the infeed grip exceptional to break the toughest of forks and limbs.

The machine also features an open top flywheel system ensuring chip is thrown, not blown, minimising blockages on wet material and helping to maintain increased velocity when chipping.

As with the whole range of Först woodchippers, the ST6P comes with a three-year warranty as standard for complete peace of mind and is backed up by Först first class service offering.

To get a closer look at the ST6P, visit stand XX at The Executive Hire Show at The Ricoh Arena, Coventry, on the 7th – 8th February 2018. For more information on Först’s high performance range of woodchippers, or to book a demonstration, visit www.forst-woodchippers.com or call 01264 721790.

Alternatively, follow Först on Twitter (@ForstChippers) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/ForstChippers/).

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Tree Causes Pitch Damage

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Tree Causes Pitch Damage: It should have been a case for the Special Branch, but solving the most recent tree problem at Romsey Town’s Bypass Ground was far from a laughing matter.

The Sydenhams Wessex One club face a bill of around £350-£400 to repair the damage caused when a giant poplar was uprooted in gale force winds last week, crashing through the barrier next to the goal and damaging part of the pitch in the process.

It took two tree surgeons the whole of last Saturday to chop the tree up and move it bit by bit.

The next job was to call out the groundsman to tend to the damaged turf.

The first club secretary Clare Crossland knew of the fallen tree was when she got a call from the chairman’s wife last Thursday.

“I asked her if she thought we could move it and she said ‘let’s put it this way, you and I couldn’t do it,” said Crossland.

“I then had the bright idea of asking if the players could be diverted to the ground on their way back from training on a 3G pitch to see if they could help.

“There were 15 of them and I thought we might be able to move it with pure manpower, but when I put the lights on there was raucous laughter going on. The tree was absolutely massive!

“There was no way even 15 of them could have shifted it.

“Even the tree surgeons said it would have to be cut into very small chunks to enable them to move it.

“I’ve not had the bill from the groundsman yet, but I’d estimate that altogether it will end up costing us in the region of £350-£400. It’s also severed the pitch-side barrier and bent it.”

It’s not the first time a tree has caused havoc at Romsey.

Two years ago a root was discovered growing under the pitch, forcing a first-team fixture to be postponed.

Last weekend Romsey had been due to play away, although their match at Fawley AFC was rained off.

On Saturday Andy Samuels’ men travel to Totton & Eling, while the shadow squad will host Brockenhurst in the Wyvern Combination League.

Romsey, who have not played since December 23, are fifth in the Wessex table, nine points adrift of leaders Andover New Street with two games in hand.

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