Toro Instrumental For Golf Course Reinvention

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Toro Instrumental For Golf Course Reinvention: Toro machinery has been instrumental in the reinvention of two municipal golf clubs located in the South Liverpool and Merseyside areas.

Managed by golf operators Green Circles Estates, there has been a heavy investment in the vision to create two venues providing accessible, affordable golf for all. As a result, Allerton Manor Golf Club in South Liverpool and Sherdley Park Golf Course in St Helens, Merseyside have both undergone significant transformations in recent years.

Toro Instrumental For Golf Course Reinvention

When Green Circle Estates became the Operating Partner with Liverpool City Council in 2015 for Allerton Manor Golf Course, it was an easy decision to purchase a fleet of Toro machinery to maintain the greens. Confidence in Toro was confirmed when Green Circle Estates became the Operating Partner of St Helens Council in May 2018 for Sherdley Park Golf Course and additional Toro machinery was purchased.

Significant investment has gone into the leisure facilities at Allerton Manor Golf Club, there is The Old Stables Restaurant, The Hay Loft Function Room and Fletcher’s Bar. There are plans in place for a new clubhouse at Sherdley Park Golf Course and both have benefitted from substantial investment to the golf courses.

Bryan Joelson-Mulhall, director of golf says: “The investment and redevelopment of each is in a bid to provide an affordable and accessible golf offering true to the courses’ pay and play roots, but with the kind of facilities and standards expected at private members’ golf clubs. We support public access and welcome anyone to play and enjoy the facilities at either of these fantastic golfing locations.”

Allerton Manor Golf Club has benefitted from new Championship tees, bunkers and reshaped fairways, and Bryan says: “The investment in state-of-the-art Toro greenkeeping machinery will now improve the playability of the course, focusing on raising the standard and improving the quality of the turf across the site. Only Toro was ever considered for this role.”

Toro is used exclusively at both clubs and Richie Shields, as Allerton Manor’s new head greenkeeper explains: “I’ve used all the brands in my career and I always revert back to Toro thanks to its exceptional track record for performance and for, time and again, delivering a good result. It has been great to join Allerton Manor Golf Club at this exciting stage in its development, with investment being made, plans being realised and a brand-new fleet of machinery, to ensure we achieve the objectives for the course.”

The fleet deal includes the Reelmaster 3100-D, two Greensmaster 1600 and two Greensmaster 1000 pedestrian mowers, a Greensmaster TriFlex 3400, a Reelmaster 5510-D, Groundsmaster 3500-D and two Groundsmaster 4000-D machines. These are joined by two aerators in the ProCore 648 and SR48, the ProPass 200 topdresser, two Workman HDX utility vehicles, a debris blower 600 and a TYM T353 compact tractor, all supplied by dealer Cheshire Turf Machinery and Reesink Turfcare, a UK distributor of Toro and TYM Tractors.

It’s the pedestrian mowers Richie is so pleased to see arrive: “I’m very much in favour of hand-cutting the greens, there’s less disruption, you can get a faster pace on the greens and it improves presentation.”

Allerton Manor Golf Club is the first municipal pay and play golf course in the UK to undergo this kind of high-level refurbishment. Alongside the work being done to reinvent the Manor House and put the newly refurbished leisure and dining facilities on the South Liverpool map, are plans for lengthening the par 67 18-hole course to a par 72 Championship course.

The next course operated by Green Circle Estates to benefit from similar refurbishment is Sherdley Park Golf Course. Aiding the large-scale improvement works there are a new Reelmaster 6700-D fairway mower, Groundsmaster 4000-D for cutting roughs and surrounds, Greensmaster TriFlex 3400 for pristine tees and greens and the durable Workman HDX utility vehicle.

Partnering with Green Circle has enabled Liverpool City Council and St Helen’s Council to bring to an end to the uncertainty over the sites’ futures, breathing life back into the community surrounding each and creating leisure resorts and golfing facilities for all to access and enjoy.

There are exciting future plans for both clubs, both on and off the course and Toro will play a key part in on-course developments across the Green Circle Estates portfolio.

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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ECHO’s New 58V Battery Chainsaw

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ECHO’s New 58V Battery Chainsaw: ECHO has launched an all-new 58V battery chainsaw to their growing range of lithium ion outdoor power equipment. The CS-58V4AH has the cutting performance of its petrol counterparts, with the additional benefits of battery power.  Low noise and low vibration are immediately evident in this effortless yet powerful product. It makes little noise when running, while the lack of vibration compared to a petrol model greatly reduces stress and fatigue for the user. What also makes a real difference to the working environment is the fact that with battery power you have no emissions, no fuel filling with two-stroke and there is no need to store petrol.

The CS-58V4AH is easy to use. With battery power you just charge up and go! The chainsaw uses a 4Ah battery which gives you plenty of run time for logging and felling small trees, and the quick charger will have it rapidly charged to reduce downtime. The lithium ion battery also fits other 58V battery products in the range so you can run a trimmer, hedge trimmer, lawn mower and power blower using the same battery. Additional batteries can be purchased as a back-up for when you need to get on with bigger jobs without interruption.

ECHO's New 58V Battery Chainsaw

Using the chainsaw you’ll find the 0.043 gauge cutting bar gives a sharp and smooth cut and the automatic oiler gives the chain optimum oiling for longer life. There is easy side access to the chain tensioner to allow quick chain adjustment, and the oil tank is translucent for easy level checks. The power comes from the long-lasting brushless motor which requires minimal maintenance due to non-wearing parts, which means you save on servicing costs as well as petrol bills.

For the home owner and semi-professional it’s hard to see why you wouldn’t choose the benefits of the CS-58V4AH. The chainsaw comes with a two-year domestic or one-year professional warranty and the 58V battery carries a two-year warranty for added peace of mind.

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Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB

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Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB: St Andrew’s’ University Park is well known for its grass pitches being among the finest in Scotland, winning high praise from visiting professionals. With such a reputation to live up to it’s vital the synthetic pitches are maintained to equally high standards.

University Park called on the specialist services of Throsk based Greentech Sportsturf and their GKB equipment for that purpose. The 3G rubbercrumb pitch, constructed in 2012, is a full size, floodlit, FIFA 2 Star World Rugby approved Third Generation synthetic pitch, used for rugby, football, ultimate Frisbee and lacrosse as well as a venue for regular club fixtures. The Park’s sand dressed pitch is used as a training and match venue for a number of sports clubs, including hockey and football, and is home to a number of community sports programes and weekly sports leagues.

Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB

A programme of consistent high quality pre-season maintenance is essential and Greentech undertook decompaction and deep cleaning of the surfaces using a GKB Quick Clean for powerful in-depth cleaning and removal of coarse dirt, small stone particles and loose fibres. The synthetic turf brush casts contaminated infill material onto a vibrating screen for removal to a collection container, while dust and fibres are absorbed by a suction unit to a dust bag.

“We use, in conjunction with the Quick Clean, a GKB Rotobrush with its extra rigid bristles for deep compaction and that loosens up the infill for us.” Says Ewan Peddie, Greentech Synthetic Turf Manager. “Then we run our Quick Clean over the surface, taking out any contamination from the playing surface, as well as extracting any loose fibres.” Moss and algae settlements are often most persistent around the edges of synthetic sports pitches. These pose the danger of a slippery surface for players and the Rotobrush also tackles the problem extremely effectively.

Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB

“We were pleased to be called in by St Andrews for their maintenance programme,” add Ewan, “and equally so for Dundee United FC, where we carried out similar treatment for their 3G rubber crumb training pitch in October, to get it to a standard ready for FIFA approval.”

For more information, visit: www.gkbmachines.com

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Compact Tractors Combat The Cold

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Compact Tractors Combat The Cold: After successfully dealing with last winter’s heavy snow across the Tayside area of Scotland, Tayside Contracts has added seven new John Deere 2026R compact tractors to its existing fleet, supplied by local dealer Double A based at Cupar in Fife.

The ‘footpath gritter’ tractors, as they are known, are chiefly used for winter maintenance of public footpaths. For this task they are equipped with industrial tyres, a 54in front blade and Kuhn 360-litre rear-mounted spreaders. These feature one of three hopper types suitable for spreading salt or brine or spraying fine salt, to combat frost and ice. They are also specified with fully heated John Deere cabs, which incorporate a demister – vital for efficient and weatherproof operation on cold winter mornings.

Compact Tractors Combat The Cold

Tayside Contracts is a commercially based local authority contracting organisation providing catering, cleaning, roads and winter maintenance plus vehicle maintenance to the councils of Angus, Dundee City and Perth & Kinross. It reports to a joint committee representing the three councils and has an annual turnover of around £70m.

Tayside Contracts Construction Division, within which the transport unit sits, is the largest civil engineering construction organisation in this area of Scotland, employing over 400 people and with a turnover of almost £40m.

Purchasing decisions are based on an established tender process using the Scotland Excel collaborative procurement framework, which is designed specifically for the local government sector. This service is funded by Scotland’s 32 local authorities and is designed to ensure the sustainable delivery of the services that the community needs, while also helping councils meet the twin challenges of reducing budgets at a time of growing demand.

Transport services manager Bob Ritchie is responsible for overseeing the purchase and operation of the compact tractor fleet. This currently numbers 65 in total, including 40 John Deere models that also include the 2026R’s predecessors, the 2025R and 2320. Unusually for John Deere machines, they sport Tayside Contracts’ corporate colours of golden yellow and aircraft blue, and the latest models have been supplied with a three-year warranty.

“We have been buying compact tractors from Sandy Armit at Double A since 2012,” says Bob Ritchie. “The evaluation process is based on a 70/30 cost/quality equation, which means the lowest cost equipment doesn’t necessarily make the best choice – our experience of John Deere machines and the Double A dealer service that supports them has proved over time that we get tractors that do the job they are required to do reliably and efficiently, and work well in the conditions that they are faced with each winter.”

Tayside Contracts carries out all its own maintenance in three workshops based in each council area’s larger towns, so around 20 or so tractors are normally kept at these ready to go out over the winter when required. The councils dictate when this should be, usually based on when gritters are being used on the roads and the weather forecast is for ice to form on pavements.

“Typically we run the tractors up to around 200 hours a year depending on the winter conditions, but we’ve known years when this figure can be as low as 50 hours per machine in a mild winter,” says Bob Ritchie. “This can also depend on the routes the tractors take and the windows available for the work to be done. As with the road gritter crews, we try to focus on schools, main routes and public areas where you can have the biggest impact.

“GPS is used on every tractor to give us essential information, basically where they’ve been, what they’ve done and what speeds they’ve been working at. Being able to react quickly to public concerns is also very important – we’re now developing a live website that will show exactly where the tractors have been working, which will hopefully help to address these issues.”

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

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GKB Expand BTME Stand Size

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GKB Expand BTME Stand Size: After successful shows in recent years, GKB Machines have taken a larger stand in one of the new halls at this year’s BTME to display more of their machinery range. The new Topair 120 being introduced at the show is based on the popular Topair 160 model, offering a smaller machine for use on the golf course with compact tractors. A robust and reliable combined aerator/roller its GKB developed Evolvente® blades minimise upper layer disturbance to leave a smooth, levelled finish when used in conjunction with the water-filled roller. The two operations can also be done separately. The machine features optional cutting discs to leave a continuous slit to aid surface water drainage and the slicing of grubs.

In areas on the golf course where surface water and moss formation are a problem, the GKB Sandfiller goes to work offering a fast solution for drainage and intensive aeration. Top layer treatment is environmentally friendly and cost-effective with its all-in-one combination of aeration and sand filling. Intensive aeration of the grass leads to quicker recovery, greater green longevity and faster drainage of surface water, without the need for complete renovation.

GKB Expand BTME Stand Size

Meeting top dressing requirements for golf courses and all types of sports pitch the GKB SP100 Spreader has been developed on the back of the success of GKB’s trailed versions and to meet customer needs with easy mounting onto turf trucks, such as the John Deere Gator and Toro Workman. Mounting is straightforward with a simple bolt-on system and stand legs allow the SP100 to be quickly set up or removed. With its 1m3 hopper capacity the machine suits a variety of purposes, evenly distributing materials, such as sand and mulch, with variable spread widths and depths. It’s easily fitted with electro-hydraulic controls and runs directly off the hydraulics of the chosen turf truck.

The GKB Combiseeder offers a fast, efficient way of seeding and surface aerating with virtually no surface disturbance. Creating over 1500 holes per m² the Combiseeder provides accurate seed application at various rates to suit different seed mixes, with drag brushes to incorporate seed and topdressing. The Combiseeder can be used for overseeding and initial seeding and features two spiked rollers that open up the soil for the seed to then be spread accurately across the full width, in and around the holes. Two drag brushes incorporate the seed into the holes and this method results in minimal surface disruption.

GKB Expand BTME Stand Size

The latest GKB Vstrong improves on already proven technology to offer the professional a robust and reliable scarifying machine that swiftly deals with the problem with the minimum waste flow. Operating speeds up to 7.4mph/12km/h mean you can quickly cover a lot of ground for maximum productivity. At the heart of the Vstrong is the CombiRotor with generically developed 3mm carbide scarifying blades. The blades, in turn, are attached to the rotor by means of the QuickLock system which allows you to attain a depth of 5cm. In combination with the reversed rotation direction you’re guaranteed you don’t miss an inch.

There is also the option of 2mm or 4mm blades and you can alter the centre-to-centre distance of the scarifying blades. For added benefit a collection system can be used to catch the dispatched material.

GKB Machines at BTME Hall:Purple; Stand: 406.

For more information, visit: www.gkbmachines.com

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