A new deal for Newquay Golf Club

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A new deal for Newquay Golf Club: Dan Kendle, head greenkeeper at Newquay Golf Club, says it is great being back at work after lockdown with his full team, on a busy golf course, with the added bonus of using several new John Deere course maintenance machines supplied by local dealer Masons Kings at St Columb.

Newquay’s scenic seaside location on the Cornish coast overlooks the world famous surfing venue of Fistral Beach, with the golf links guarded by pot bunkers and fringed with marram grass dunes – so when the wind is up, as it often is, it’s a course to be reckoned with.

A new deal for Newquay Golf Club

A new deal for Newquay Golf Club

Dan managed the course on his own during lockdown before the club opened again for play in May, mainly cutting grass and doing a bit of spraying to keep the course as tidy as the pandemic restrictions allowed. Since the rest of the greenkeeping team returned to work, he reckons they were just about on top of everything again by early September.

“And we needed to be, as we’ve been getting twice as many visitors compared to a normal year, as well as picking up new members,” says Dan. “On some days the club’s taken double the usual amount of green fees, which seems crazy but the demand has been there from the off.”

The first of the club’s new John Deere machines, a 2500E hybrid electric triplex greens mower, was delivered in September last year, with the remaining machines arriving this spring and summer. These included a second 2500E plus a 7700A PrecisionCut fairway mower and a new 4049R compact tractor plus front loader.

The compact replaced a 30 year old John Deere 1550 utility tractor, and the club had bought a number of Gator utility vehicles from Masons Kings before, but this was Newquay’s first John Deere fleet deal. The mowers have been bought on a five-year John Deere Financial operating lease, while the tractor is on hire purchase, and all service and maintenance operations are carried out on-site.

“Our previous mowers were coming to the end of their lease period, and for this new deal we were looking at new options, particularly in terms of dealer support,” says Dan Kendle. “Masons Kings is a very local dealership with a good reputation for reliable service and back-up, so it made sense for us to speak to them and have some machines in on demonstration.

“Everyone in the team had a go on the new machines, and we were all impressed with their operator comfort and user-friendly features. The quality of cut in particular sealed the deal for me, and I like the password protected TechControl system on the 7700A, which allows me to set the mower to get the same consistent results whoever is operating, in all conditions.

“The hybrid electric 2500Es also come into their own when cutting the practice putting green and the greens closest to the houses that surround three sides of the course. Their quiet operation keeps the neighbours happy while also reducing fuel consumption and the chance of any hydraulic leaks.

“As with all new machines, there were a few issues during the initial set-up but they were all sorted out very quickly by John Deere and Masons Kings, which was important. We’ve continued to receive great support and back-up from the dealership’s salesman David Barnes and technician Gavin Hearne, even during lockdown, so we’re very pleased all round as it shows we made the right decision.”

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Agrovista Amenity – The Winning Formula

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Agrovista Amenity – The Winning Formula: Steve Lloyd, Golf Course Manager at The Worcestershire Golf Club, admits to ‘sticking’ to what he knows works best and it is for this reason that he relies on a range of products from Agrovista Amenity.

The Worcestershire Golf Club is proud to be the oldest club in Worcestershire and one of the oldest in England – the 16th oldest to be precise. Nestled in the picturesque Malvern Hills, which provides a stunning backdrop, the 18-hole parkland course offers challenging play for golfers at every skill level.

Agrovista Amenity – The Winning Formula

Agrovista Amenity – The Winning Formula

Steve has been the Golf Course Manager for six years and oversees a greenkeeping team consisting of five full-time members of staff, a mechanic, and a summer casual. He claims that the robust and highly skilled team plays an integral role in the well-groomed fairways and meticulous greens.

Ever the perfectionist, Steve insists on only using products of the highest quality and once he finds the products he’s looking for, he rarely looks elsewhere.

“I’ve been working with Agrovista Amenity for the past three years, ever since Ray Hunt (Amenity Specialist for Agrovista Amenity) began coming to see me,” he said.

“Through Ray I had the opportunity to find out more about the company and products and it was very impressive. I carried out some trials and thought that it was a good fit.

“I don’t tend to chop and change products and once I’ve found ones that suit the course then I continue to use them.”

One of the first products Steve started using from Agrovista Amenity, and one which he particularly singled out for praise, is Humimax – a liquid humate product derived from a naturally occurring source. It operates both in the soil and the grass plant, and the micronised formulation is highly efficient for foliar absorption, making it especially useful for tank-mixing – which is exactly what Steve does.

Steve mixes Humimax with Biomass Sugar – a product which stimulates growth of both leaf and root. It is a unique natural formulation of sugars, macro nutrients and trace elements, approved as a biostimulant within the UK and used on many high-profile golf greens and sports pitches throughout Europe.

As part of the tank-mix, he applies Humimax at a rate of 10 L/ha and Biomass Sugar at 20 L/ha and he explains how this formula has made a difference to the greens.

“We apply this tank-mix once a month consistently throughout the growing season and we’ve found that it’s given us a fantastic colour, but more importantly, good plant health. In fact, we’ve actually been able to reduce our nitrogen input by approximately 20%.

“We find that this mix works particularly well when applying it about 15 days after a feed – it keeps a good density to the sward without getting any flushes of growth. It’s a perfect formula for summer and the last application will normally go down at the end of September. From then onwards we switch over to our winter nutritional programme.”

Steve is about to enter his second winter with Agrovista Amenity’s Bullet Phosphite after being impressed with his first taste of the product last year. Bullet Phosphite is a super-concentrated form (37%) of stabilised phosphite (PO3) derived from a blend of ammonium and potassium phosphate which is taken up quickly and mobilised around the whole plant.

This unique product provides protection for new and existing growth by assisting the plant in periods of stress, thereby increasing metabolic responses to pathogens. It is also a potent stimulator of plant root growth and unlike a lot of other phosphites, this formulation contains zero aluminium phosphite.

Agrovista Amenity – The Winning Formula

Agrovista Amenity – The Winning Formula

“With the reduction in chemicals and fungicides, Bullet Phosphite has become a major tool in our armoury, because it helps us with our integrated pest management programme aimed at minimising the risk of disease during the winter period,” said Steve. “We apply it at a rate of 20 L/ha and combine it with a turf hardener and a little bit of seaweed – just to strengthen things up in the colder months.

“Fundamentally, since we’ve been using this product as part of our IPM programme, we have seen very little disease and along with our other cultural practices, it has helped us to keep the greens as clean as possible.”

As well as reporting good results from the products, Steve also reserved praise for the customer service he receives.

“The customer service is fantastic – right through from dealing with Ray, where we will discuss our nutritional and maintenance programmes, to receiving orders ahead of schedule.

“In fact, the ordering process is one of the best I’ve seen, which gives me peace of mind when I’m ordering products that I know I will get them delivered on the specified dates.”

For more information, visit www.agrovista.co.uk/amenity.

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GA Plant take first GreenMech EVO 165P SUB-750

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GA Plant take first GreenMech EVO 165P SUB-750: GA Plant and Tool Hire in Swindon have become the first company to take delivery of a brand-new EVO 165P SUB-750 woodchipper from GreenMech.

Delivering the performance required by domestic and small commercial contractors, the EVO also meets the spec for Owner/Director Angus Lacy-Hulbert when it comes to ease of maintenance, ensuring the machine is serviced and ready for tight hire turnarounds.

GA Plant take first GreenMech EVO 165P SUB-750

GA Plant take first GreenMech EVO 165P SUB-750

With a 3” chipper on their hire fleet previously, Angus spotted the gap for a larger, road-tow machine and sought advice from local arborists on the options available. “We naturally gravitated to GreenMech. Being British engineered and backing up good product with local service and support is an ethos we like to follow ourselves” explains Angus, who established GA Plant and Tool Hire five years ago. A demonstration of the new 6” SUB-750kg EVO 165P sealed the deal and it was delivered by their local dealer, GA Groundcare, in September 2020.

“One of the major plus points was the ease of maintenance – the EVO has centralised greasing points which keeps the ongoing maintenance quick and simple. We also purchased the blade sharpening unit which means we can sharpen the blades as and when required, in-house, dramatically reducing downtime between hires. Being sub-750kg was critical for our largely domestic client base, delivering powerful performance in a package that can be towed on a standard car license.”

Within a week of delivery, the EVO 165P SUB-750 was out on its first hire – a domestic customer with 12 conifers to process. “Incredibly, the client completed the whole job in under an hour! They returned the machine with the biggest grin, complimenting it not just on performance but how simple and user-friendly it was to operate.”

The GreenMech EVO series sets a new standard for torque, bite and throughput to deliver exactly what is demanded by today’s industry professionals. Originally launched in road-tow format, the EVO 165D was joined by the fixed-track EVO 165DT in Autumn 2019 and then by a higher 45hp Limited-Edition option. The newest SUB-750 machine combines all of the proven EVO performance with a powerful yet economic 37hp B&S Vanguard petrol engine.

Angus concludes, “Together with performance, back up support is also incredibly important for us – our machines ultimately make no money if they’re out of service. Ashley at GA Groundcare is just down the road and is always on the end of the phone, even at weekends, with helpful support and advice if we need it.”

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Polaris People initiative launched

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Polaris People initiative launched: Since its founding in 1954, Polaris has been inviting people to Think Outside and discover the joy of being outdoors.

The innovation, performance and growth that has allowed Polaris to become a global leader in off-road vehicles have been driven by the diversity and passion of its customers, staff, dealers and stakeholders across the world. To celebrate the people behind the brand, Polaris has launched a new initiative, called Polaris People, to showcase how, for many people, Polaris isn’t just a brand but a life choice.

Polaris People initiative launched

Polaris People initiative launched

Polaris People is a video series documenting the stories of individuals across Europe, Middle East and Africa, where Polaris plays an essential role in their lives, all united by a thirst for the outdoors.

EP.1: Lukasz Zaremba

Despite its deep American roots, Polaris is a global brand that serves over 100 countries across the world. From the very first plant in Roseau, Minnesota to its first-ever European factory in Opole, Poland, Polaris prides its manufacturing process on first-class quality and constant innovation, thanks to the thousands of dedicated and skilled employees who engineer, design and build its off-road vehicles.

The first episode of Polaris People introduces Lukasz Zaremba – a Polaris Off Road employee who works as a Validation Engineer at the Opole facility in Poland – who has invested his passion for off-roading into building his career. For Lukasz, working for Polaris is more than just a job.

It’s not just a case of lifting and shifting the Polaris models from the US and using them in Europe. The Opole factory plays a significant role in product development, making sure each model meets the varying homologations, legal requirements and customer needs across the different markets. For Lukasz and the dedicated team of Polaris test riders, this means it’s important to fully test every aspect of each model in a range of different environments, to make sure they deliver in every scenario.

Check out the first episode of Polaris People to join Lukasz and the test riders in Poland as they give you an exclusive preview of the manufacturing process at the Opole factory and test the new 2021 Sportsman 570. Available to watch on the Polaris Off-Road International YouTube channel here.

For further media information on Polaris ORV products, please contact the Polaris ORV Media Office on +44 (0) 1525 270100 or email us at press@polaris-orv.media.

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