John May Elected By Deere & Company

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John May Elected By Deere & Company: The Deere & Company board of directors has elected John C May as a member of the board, effective immediately, and to the position of chief executive officer, effective November 4, 2019. May has served as Deere’s president and chief operating officer since April 2019.

“John’s record of success and proven leadership skills make him highly qualified to lead Deere and guide its success in the years ahead,” said Samuel R Allen, chairman and chief executive officer. “His experience in precision agriculture, information technology and overseas operations will be instrumental in driving the company’s digitalisation journey and extending its success in agricultural and construction equipment.”

John May Elected By Deere & Company

Allen will continue as chairman of the board of directors after he steps down from the CEO position. May becomes the 10th chief executive in the company’s 182-year history.

The 50-year-old May joined Deere in 1997 and became part of the senior management team in 2012 as president, agricultural solutions and chief information officer. Last year he was named president, worldwide agriculture & turf division, with responsibility for the Americas and Australia, the global harvesting, turf & utility and crop care platforms, and the intelligent solutions group.

Earlier in his career, May headed the company’s China operations, served as factory manager at the Dubuque (Iowa) Works, and was vice-president of the turf and utility platform.

A native of Maine, May holds a bachelor’s degree in health information management from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Maine.

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Vandals Rip Up Furness GC

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Vandals Rip Up Furness GC: Golfers have called on the community to ‘grass up’ the mindless vandals who caused a ‘hole’ lot of damage on their course.

Over the last two decades officials at Furness Golf Club on Walney have had to contend with regular incidents of criminal damage on the greens.

These have ranged from someone using a pitchfork to leave a trail of holes across the course to fires being started in the gorse.

As a result the club has had to fork out thousands of pounds on repairs with the greenkeeper’s time spent painstakingly fixing the divots.

Greens chairman Jon Clarke said the club hopes the community will keep a close eye out for any culprits after the latest incident this week where wedges of turf had been pulled from the green.

“I can’t see what anyone would get out of it; it’s completely mindless and senseless,” he said.

“It’s been going on for the last 15 or 20 years; every year there’s been at least 10 examples of vandalism.

“We had one where it looked like somebody had gone across the green and used a pitchfork to put holes all over the place.

“Just four weeks ago the gorse was set on fire and it took 48 hours to put out. That’s not just a drain on our resources but also for the police and fire.”

Club members have spent hundreds of hours repairing the damage which also impacts on them indirectly through increased membership fees.

“It’s incredibly frustrating because all golf courses now are struggling to keep going and it is our members who end up having to pay for the repairs because we need to recoup the costs somehow,” Mr Clarke added.

Over the years club officials estimate they have spent half a million pounds repairing damage caused by vandals.

Every year maintenance of the course costs around £250,000.

Barrow Police have confirmed they are investigating reports of vandalism to the golf course.

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GM3 At West Herts 50 Years On

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GM3 At West Herts 50 Years On: The first Toro Greensmaster 3 ride-on mower was sold to the West Herts Golf Club in Hertfordshire in 1969. And fifty years later the GM3 is back at the club where it all began, united with the person who sold it all those years ago.

Rochelle Bedford, marketing manager at Reesink Turfcare, the sole Toro distributor in the UK for golf and sports fields equipment and irrigation products, says: “As Toro celebrates its centennial milestone serving the golf industry across the world, it encouraged us to look back at how it all began for Toro in the UK.

Andy Smith – Course Manager and John Cockburn – (former) Oliver Landpower

 

“We discovered that the very first GM3 sold in the UK was still going 50 years later! Also uncovered was the club that bought the machine and who sold it!”

The person in question, John Cockburn, tells us how it all came about: “I was working for Flymo in 1968 when I was told we’d be receiving a prototype of a new machine to trial and debut at a three-day exhibition in Meyrick Park in Bournemouth. That machine was the Toro Greensmaster 3.

“I was working with two demonstrators, Graham Pooley and Geoff Urquhart, at the time and seeing as none of us had used the machine, we decided to ask Meyrick Park Golf Club, which neighboured the exhibition centre, if we could trial the machine there. They kindly said yes, so early in the morning of the first day of the show we cut all the greens at the club to see how the machine performed.

“We were all really impressed, and with a better knowledge of how well the machine worked we cleaned it down and returned it to our show stand. We were able to demonstrate the machine with more confidence and got good feedback from customers.”

And it was this positive response which led to Flymo ordering 14 machines when they launched, the first of which John promptly installed at West Herts Golf Club. Many things have changed over the years, but there are some constants. Installation training upon delivery and the brand’s reputation for producing long-lasting, reliable mowers to name just a couple.

John says: “The machines proved to be extremely reliable, doing a first-class job and quickly building up a good reputation. We easily sold all 14 of the GM3 mowers in that first year, along with others that followed.”

Andy Smith, course manager at West Herts Golf Club since 1993, says it was a ‘blast from the past’ having the GM3 back at the club: “Seeing the GM3 really took me back to how things used to be. West Herts is a Toro club through and through. From the very beginning it recognised the quality of Toro and all these years later, we still consider it to be the brand to be beaten.”

In the early-80s Lely UK, as now Reesink, took over the distribution of Toro and what has built up since is a reputation centered on reliability, durability and support, says David Cole, managing director of Reesink.

“The Toro Greensmaster 3 was an innovative ride-on product born from Toro’s established golf focus and it projected the brand into the UK as a producer of high quality, innovative golf equipment. Since then a mutual trust has developed between our customers, us as distributor and Toro which can be truly viewed as a partnership. We’re extremely proud to have represented Toro and its product values for so many years and we thank our UK golf customers for their long-standing loyalty, confidence and trust.”

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Ernest Doe Acquire Bartram Mowers

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Ernest Doe Acquire Bartram Mowers: Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd has purchased the business of Bartram Mowers.

Mark Bartram approached Ernest Doe to buy the Bartram Mowers business following notification that Ransomes Jacobsen were expanding Ernest Doe’s territory for their franchise to incorporate Suffolk and Norfolk.

Ernest Doe Acquire Bartram Mowers

Ernest Doe’s Managing Director, Colin Doe, said:

“The Bartram Mowers business is a good fit for Ernest Doe. We have three branches in Norfolk and three in Suffolk from which to support customers in the area. The Bartram Ipswich depot has moved to our Framlingham branch today, but we will trade from Bartram’s Norwich site for three months before moving it to our North Walsham branch.”

As part of the deal, Ernest Doe has also acquired Bartram’s established lawnmowersdirect e-commerce platform.
Colin Doe commented further:

“With our network of established branches in Norfolk and Suffolk, we are focussed on building on the high level of service Bartram have provided to their customers and are looking forward to fresh challenges as we enter this exciting new phase of our business.”

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European Tour & Toro Renew Partnership

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European Tour & Toro Renew Partnership: The European Tour and The Toro Company have extended their long-term partnership by four years, as the worldwide provider of outdoor environment solutions celebrates its 100th year serving the golf industry.

The renewed agreement takes the European Tour’s relationship with Toro to more than 20 years,   meaning they will continue to supply turf maintenance and irrigation products across the European Tour, Challenge Tour and Staysure Tour in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, as well as servicing the European Tour Destinations portfolio of world class golf venues.

European Tour & Toro Renew Partnership

The agreement is a highlight of a milestone year for Toro as it celebrates a century of innovation in the golf market, which started with the introduction of the industry’s first motorised fairway mower in 1919.

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “The Toro Company has a long history of excellence in the golf industry, and we are delighted to extend a relationship which is instrumental in presenting host courses across the world in the best possible condition.

“Toro is a company that shares our values in areas such as sustainability and innovation, and we look forward to working with them over the next four years, extending one of our longest-running supplier associations.”

Andy Brown, Senior Sales Manager EMEA at The Toro Company, said: “We are proud to continue our longstanding relationship with the European Tour as official supplier of turf maintenance and irrigation products.

“This has been an important relationship for The Toro Company over the past 20 years, and we look forward to continuing to provide equipment and support. It’s a privilege to have a role in preparing world-class courses for some of the greatest players in the game.”

Toro products that range from mowers and utility vehicles to bunker rakes and irrigation systems, have become synonymous with quality, durability and value. Away from golf, the company’s products are used at venues and events including the Château de Versailles in France, Real Madrid Club de Fútbol in Spain and Walt Disney World® Resort.

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