Terra Float Air Delights in Lancashire

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Terra Float Air Delights in Lancashire: In a previous life Stuart Hogg, Course Manager at The West Lancashire GC was among the first to own the Wiedenmann Terra Float & Terra Seed. Last year, more by coincidence than by design, he found himself back in the market for an overseeder just as the Terra Float Air was re-engineered and relaunched with an added computerised pneumatic unit.

“We bought one of the original launch Terra Float and Terra Seed combinations in autumn 2010 when I was Course Manager at St Anne’s Old Links, on the Fylde coast. They served extremely well. When I moved to The West Lancashire in April 2015, I inherited a more traditional type seeder. For the first couple of seasons we made do then we hired in equipment. Last winter a funding package allowed us to invest in a new machine. Darren Barker at dealers, Balmers GM, showed me some others but I liked that the three Wiedenmann drums are floating so cope well with undulations of a links green.  I knew I liked it before and the Air version was better again,” he said.

Terra Float Air Delights in Lancashire

Offering maximum accuracy at quantities as little as 1 g / m² the Terra Float Air, combines three units in one. A base unit aerates or loosens soil to 30 mm using either spikes or fine slits assuring a receptive seed bed either pre or post top dressing. Next the distribution of the seed is absolutely uniform via the air flow and deflector system.  Finally, a brush and roller combination incorporates top dressing materials to the ground before smoothing the surface.  With its very fine seed rollers exact calibration is achievable. Those with expensive or ‘rare seed’ can be confident of success while memory function on the control pad stores input and calibration data for the next use.

The West Lancashire GC is a proud host of R&A and England Golf competitions as well as featuring in the Top 100 Golf Courses in Great Britain.  It is one of England’s ten oldest clubs and will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2023. The role earmarked for the Wiedenmann Terra Float Air has been well considered to help deliver incremental improvements to the quality of the course and take advantage of the machine’s versatility and potential.

“This purchase is not just about one area or one type of grass or indeed just limited to seeding,” said Stuart Hogg.  “We want to be able to do tees, greens, fairways and walkways with different grass species.  The fact that the seed delivery hoses are kept dry and clean with the airflow is a big plus. If we want we can brush the greens without overseeding or we can sarrel roll the greens. There is much that can be done. But for now we’re going with little and often; playing the long game. It will take a period of time before we see a change of any botanical composition in the grass but that’s where we want to be in seasons to come.

“So far the Air has had one outing around the pathways with dwarf rye fescue mix, a couple of passes on the tees and three passes on the greens both with a pure fescue mix but we’re on a break until after The R&A’s Open qualifying and the club championships.  During August, September and possibly October, weather dependant, I expect it to be constantly overseeding the greens every two to three weeks to let germination happen ahead of winter.”

Terra Float Air Delights in Lancashire

Where the Air comes into its own is its high performance air stream which effortlessly directs precise amounts of the seed to the prepared perforated holes A series of steel deflector plates ensures uniform depositing of the seeds from a short distance while lifting the unit automatically triggers a shut off.

“The in-cab control saves time and effort.  Our team really likes this. If one of the greens, or a specific area is a bit weaker there’s no requirement to get out and recalibrate the machine.  It’s a couple of presses of a button and the machine does it for you, storing the data for next time. You are far more in control of which green gets what and such versatility on a golf course makes the job a little bit easier,” concluded Stuart Hogg.

Stuart Hogg is one of a rare breed of course managers having spent his entire career on links courses.  He took up his Course Manager post at The West Lancashire GC after 11 years at St Anne’s Old Links and before that spells at two other links courses, Fortrose & Rosemarkie GC on the Black Isle and West Kilbride GC at Seamill in Ayrshire. At The West Lancashire he is supported by a team of seven full time plus three seasonal staff.

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Get More With Toro Cylinders

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Get More With Toro Cylinders: Reesink Turfcare is reminding customers that replacing or upgrading to new Toro cylinders offers customers so much more than a perfect finish, among many other things they bring the best possible value, too.

Value, one of the most important factors determining purchasing decisions. Budget control is something all course managers and greenkeepers will feel the pressure from and getting value from what is spent is paramount. Which is what makes Toro cylinders such a sensible option. Here we look at the reasons why.

Get More With Toro Cylinders

With the workings of a cylinder mower so intricate, it would be unwise to upset the equilibrium by putting anything other than genuine parts in your Toro, and only genuine Toro cylinders balance with genuine Toro bedknives for the perfect fit.

Fitting an inferior ‘will-fit’ part against a genuine Toro bedknife removes the guarantee of a consistently accurate cut right down to 2.5mm, increasing the risk of turf damage. This means only genuine Toro cylinders give you the best fit and deliver the cleanest cut, promoting healthier turf and giving you an amazing after-cut appearance.

And because genuine Toro cylinders are built strong and fit in the cutting units so well, they wear less, so the need for constant cylinder grinding is less, meaning less maintenance and more efficient mowing operation.

Toro cylinders are also the only cylinders available in 5, 7, 8, 11 and 14-blade configurations to fit all cylinder mowers, including the Greensmaster and Reelmaster ranges.

Add to that Reesink’s parts backup is widely accepted as being second-to-none -15,000 Toro items, with performance parts delivered within 24 hours’ notice pretty much anywhere in the UK and 12,000 fast-moving lines are housed at the European distribution centre in Belgium with 48-hour availability. If all else fails, a 72-hour trans-Atlantic airfreight service comes into action calling on parts held at Toro’s Minneapolis manufacturing base. This is all at no extra cost to the customer and represents the kind of reassurance Reesink wants to give greenkeepers: minimum downtime, maximum productivity and more customer service.

In fact, it’s this approach, focusing on keeping the customer’s total cost of ownership as low as possible – a shared philosophy with The Toro Company, that has seen Reesink recognised by The Toro Company for outstanding performance in Parts, Service and Technical Training in the past.

 Contact distributor Reesink Turfcare’s Toro parts department on 01480 226800, email info@reesinkturfcare.co.uk or visit reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Jacobsen Support Golf Tournaments

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Jacobsen Support Golf Tournaments: Jacobsen® turf equipment is an Official Supplier of The 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National, and is providing tournament support to the greenkeeping team throughout the competition as well as the HNA Open de France tournament taking place between 28th June – 1st July. Technical staff from the Ransomes Jacobsen facility in Ipswich, U.K. will support staff based at Ransomes Jacobsen France (RJF) in Toulouse throughout both competitions.

Jacobsen turf equipment is designed and manufactured by Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company.

Jacobsen Support Golf Tournaments

In 2016, Le Golf National signed a five-year preferred supplier agreement with Ransomes Jacobsen. The prestigious golf course, which belongs to the French Federation of Golf, has demonstrated its confidence in Ransomes Jacobsen France, which has supplied equipment to the facility since 2010.

 In addition to the course’s regular fleet of Jacobsen equipment, an additional 31 pieces of equipment have been delivered to support The Ryder Cup and HNA Open de France. The additional machinery consists of nine Eclipse 2 greens mowers, three SLF-1880 fairway mowers, three AR-3 rotary mowers, two Jacobsen Trucksters, four Smithco Lite rollers and 11 mower caddies. An additional three Eclipse 2 greens mowers will be delivered after the HNA Open de France, to assist with The Ryder Cup preparations.

Alejandro Reyes, Golf and Courses and Estate Manager at Le Golf National, said of the support provided by Jacobsen and RJF:

“Le Golf National has been in partnership with Jacobsen since 2011. The quality of machinery, the back-up support, and the product innovation are just some of the reasons we choose Jacobsen. Together, we have created a world-class golf course that will host the HNA Open de France, The 2018 Ryder Cup and the Olympics in 2024.

Jacobsen Support Golf Tournaments

“We are excited to use Jacobsen equipment during The Ryder Cup. I am confident that it will assist us in making the Albatros course absolutely spectacular for such a huge event. We are prepared for the HNA Open de France, and we will make sure that we maintain high standards all the way through until the Ryder Cup in September.”

Since opening in 1990, Le Golf National has hosted the Open de France 25 times. It consists of three courses: the Albatros, an18-hole championship course, on which the Open de France and Ryder Cup will be played; the Eagle, a second 18-hole course; and the Oiselet, a 9-hole course.

For more information, visit: www.jacobsen.com

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“Fantastic Results” From Toro

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“Fantastic Results” From Toro: Scarborough Borough Council’s recently appointed parks and countryside manager, Tim Allison, has invested in Toro for the first time in the form of five new Toro LT-F3000 triple flail mowers, and the green spaces of the North Yorkshire seaside town are already benefitting from the change.

Previously cut by cylinder mowers that struggled with long grass and dandelions, the highway verges, small open spaces and mini golfs of Scarborough are now being maintained by the five innovative flail mowers, five days a week.

"Fantastic Results" From Toro

With 28 years’ experience working in various roles within Scarborough’s parks and countryside service, Tim wanted to re-evaluate the council’s grounds strategy to uphold its national reputation for prestigious green flag award-winning parks and open spaces, such as Peasholm and Falsgrave Park.

He explains why he decided to take this new approach of using flail instead of cylinder mowers and Toro, which is distributed in the UK by Reesink Turfcare: “Jon Wright from our local dealer Russells Groundcare was especially helpful during the decision-making process by helping organise a demo of machines across the market.

“We lined up five different cylinder, rotary and flail mowers from different brands and put them to use in a local park. The Toro LT-F3000s were agreed to be by far the best, both in build quality and the standard of cut they produced.

“In fact”, he continues, “the machines are only on their second cuts across the borough and already we’ve received positive feedback from the public, councillors, managers and, most importantly, the operatives about the quality of cut and improvement in after-cut appearance.”

Tim compares the after-cut appearance produced by the machines to a ‘green carpet’: “Thanks to the ability of the LT-F3000 to tackle longer grass, we’ve raised the height of cut and there are many benefits to doing this.

“Firstly,” he says, “there are shorter grass clippings, which are swept into the freshly-cut sward. Because of the space in the flail head, where grass does not build up, clippings are not left in clumps but spread evenly in the machine’s wake and hidden from view – giving the impression of a green carpet.”

Reduced grass growth is another, says Tim: “The higher you cut grass, the less you promote its growth. So while grass isn’t cut as short as when we used cylinders, it remains a neater length for longer. This is ideal because time is of the essence.”

Finally, and most importantly, Tim adds, there is public perception: “Rather than seeing short grass for a moment followed by a long period of rapid growth, the public is now seeing spaces across the borough maintained at a constant rate. The build-up of grass cuttings have gone and they are reassured that we are out looking after the green spaces of Scarborough regularly.”

Buoyed with positive comments from all angles, Tim concludes: “Councils can quite often become stuck in the old ways of doing things, so by going against the status quo there was additional pressure for the machines to perform. With such fantastic results, these new Toro LT-F3000 flail mowers have left no room for doubt that they are up to the job.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Foley ‘Up The Game’ In Russia

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Foley ‘Up The Game’ In Russia: Twenty Neary grinders are upping the game at training centres and stadiums across Russia for the 2018 World Cup.

In March 2018, well before the latest festival of football kicked off at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Foley United’s / Neary European sales representative, Arjen Spek, delivered a grinding workshop at a Turf Professional event in Moscow, organised by the Russian Neary distributor Unisaw, with 130 attendees getting hands on experience with the Neary machines while learning the benefits of grinding to OEM specifications.

Foley 'Up The Game' In Russia

Arjen Spek was delighted with the interest shown and the subsequent installation of twenty Neary Grinders across the World Cup venues in Russia,says “Neary distributor for Russia; Unisaw, organised this event very well in March and all the groundsmen from the stadiums and training grounds attended, with the main goal to educate / train and the Neary seminar “quality of cut and after cut appearance” was a high topic during this event.

“The already highly qualified groundsmen went home with the correct knowledge of how to maintain a cutting unit according OEM specification.”

32 teams will compete in 64 games at the World Cup with hundreds of training sessions taking place in-between. The heavy usage of the pitches at the stadia and training centres over the four-week tournament makes a first-class cut imperative and the quick high-quality grind offered by the Foley United brand of machines stands to be the reason a majority of venues opted for Neary.

Tests carried out by leading manufacturers have established that relief ground cylinders stay on cut up to three times longer than spun ground ones and require less horsepower to drive the unit, resulting in greater fuel efficiency and less stress on the hydraulic power systems. In addition, a relief ground cylinder will with stand the abrasive effects of topdressing far better than one spun ground because the relief edge on both the bed-knife and the cylinder allows the topdressing to clear the cutting blades easily, helping to prevent the dulling effect seen on spun only units.

Foley 'Up The Game' In Russia

Continual relief grinding also decreases the squeezing and tearing of the grass as the units get dull and, most importantly, it allows the cylinder to be returned to a factory specification perfect cylinder as quickly as possible.

The overall cleaner cut achieved by relief grinding gives a better after-cut appearance, increased recovery rate due to the clean cut of the grass and reduces the stress on components because less horsepower is needed to drive the cylinder.

Foley United and Arjen Spek are proud to play a part in the preparation of pitches for the world’s biggest tournament.

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