Textron Keeps Meldrum Peaceful

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Textron Keeps Meldrum Peaceful: Meldrum House Country Hotel & Golf Course extended its hotel in 2016 to 55 rooms, and since then has invested in golf course maintenance equipment and vehicles from Textron Golf in order to lessen noise levels around the hotel grounds. The equipment featured on the five-year lease deal includes mowers and vehicles across the Jacobsen, Cushman and E-Z-GO brands. Local dealer Fairways GM facilitated the purchasing process and is providing continued after-sales support.

Meldrum House Country Hotel is a four-star hotel in a 13th-century estate house, the oldest stone building in Aberdeenshire. The hotel is set in beautifully manicured grounds which are maintained by Kenny Harper, Golf Course and Estate Grounds Manager, and his team. Having spent five years at Gleneagles, and 20 at Meldrum House, Kenny said:

Textron Golf Keeps Meldrum Peaceful

“The golf course here is a members-only course, and it is crucial that whilst we keep our members happy, we also need to be mindful of our hotel guests, as the rooms and the golf course are very close to each other geographically.

“I looked into the Jacobsen Eclipse 322 riding greens mower, and it ticked all of the boxes for us. The noise levels are dramatically reduced, meaning that we can cut greens around the hotel whenever we like without disturbing anyone. As well as the noise advantage, the Eclipse 322 doesn’t use any hydraulic oil, which means there aren’t any disastrous leaks on the greens either. I also like being able to set speeds and clip rates using a passcode so that everything is being cut consistently. The members have noticed the difference on the course; our greens have never looked better.”

As well as three Eclipse 322 greens mowers, Meldrum House has also invested in two LF570 fairway mowers, two Cushman Hauler Pro vehicles (one with a sprayer, and one with a topdresser), three Cushman XD-R vehicles one Jacobsen TR-3 mower, one AR-3, one HR500 wide-area mower, one Truckster XD, and Iseki tractor and 10 E-Z-GO RXV electric golf cars.

“The Eclipse 322 and the electric E-Z-GO vehicles are another addition to our environmental plan. The reduced noise and air pollution is important to us, and we are already using wood-burning boilers to provide hot water and heat to the hotel and maintenance facility. We also use recycled rain water for washing down machines, and wild-flower plantations were used around the hotel extension which has allowed us to have bee hives on site which we produce our own honey from. Pesticides are being reduced to protect our bees and wildlife, and our new machinery also plays a crucial role in our environmental efforts.

“We are very happy with all of the machinery from Textron Golf. Textron Golf really has its finger on the pulse right now with the latest technology and providing machinery and vehicles which are built to last. We’re very pleased with what we have, and most importantly, the back-up from Fairways is superb; nothing is too much trouble, and a representative is always in to check on us.”

Meldrum House Country Hotel & Golf Course was purchased by its current owners in 1995. A nine-hole golf course designed by Graeme Webster was opened in 1999, and an 18-hole, 7,000-yard parkland course followed in 2000.

About Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc.

Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc. is a leading global manufacturer of golf cars, utility and personal transportation vehicles, snowmobiles, side-by-sides, all-terrain vehicles, professional turf-care equipment, and ground support equipment. Textron Specialized Vehicles markets products under the E-Z-GO®, Cushman®, Arctic Cat®, Textron Off Road™, Jacobsen®, Dixie Chopper®, Ransomes®, TUG™, Douglas™, Premier™ and Safeaero™ brands. Its vehicles are found in environments ranging from golf courses to factories, airports to planned communities, and theme parks to hunting preserves.

 About Textron Inc.

Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna, Beechcraft, Hawker, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, Textron Off Road, Arctic Cat, Textron Systems, and TRU Simulation + Training.

For more information, visit: www.textron.com

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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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Double A Decrease Grind Times

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Double A decrease Grind Times: Grinding by its nature is a precise process that can involve a lot of time, but The Double A Trading Company Ltd is hoping for decreased grind times with their new Foley Accu-Pro 633 with AccuTouch 3 Control, which was supplied by ProSport UK Ltd.

During her 13-years as Service Manager at Double A, Erin Mackie has compiled countless, run efficiency reports, whilst deciding what new equipment to buy, and she’ll consult with those that use them to find out exactly what they want from it.

Double A Increase Grind Times

When it came to choose a new grinder, Erin, considering the opinions of her grinding technicians, wanted a fully automatic computerised machine that would provide a quicker high-quality grind whilst allowing the operators to be proactive elsewhere.

With these requirements in mind Erin decided to opt for the grinder recommended by managing director of ProSport UK and Foley UK distributor Ian Robson.  Erin explains “We looked at grinders from different manufactures but were most impressed with the Foley Accu-Pro 633 as it met all the criteria needed to deliver the best grinding service.

“We offer this service primarily for professional golf course machinery but also for any of our customers machines and our own demo mowers that need sharpening.

“One of the many reasons I chose the Foley Accu-Pro 633, and why the engineers preferred that grinder to the others on offer, is because it is completely computerised. It offers us spin and relief grinding and it’s fully automatic. So, while the grinder is in action our technicians can be away and working on something else. “It’s also fully enclosed so it meets all our health and safety regulations, reducing the excessive noise that we used to get with our other fully open machine.

“Purchasing the Accu-Pro will significantly improve our efficiency for grinding, and in turn this will increase our capacity.

“I’m looking forward to working out exactly how much more work we will be able to complete compared to our old grinder.”

The increase in efficiency comes from the automation of the machine, but more specifically the processes within it. The ‘Automatic Placement System’ uses the Accu-Reel Selector and Cylinder Height Stop, which combined, locate the reel exactly where required for a fast and easy spin and relief grind.

Pre-set relief angles are easily identified on the ‘Relief Angle Adjuster’, making grinding the correct angle with the proper clearances for each reel type, a simple task.

As the grinder uses the AccuTouch 3 Control with its built-in training programme, the operator training although still required is quick and easy and Erin was very impressed just how rapidly Ian carried out the full installation and training process.

“Ian has been very helpful; the guys didn’t have any quibbles. He went through the machine thoroughly with them and trained all of our operators within a short period of time, which was great.”

For more information, visit: www.prosportukltd.com

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Irrigation At St Andrews

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Irrigation At St Andrews: The Castle Course at St Andrews Links is benefitting from an upgrade of Toro irrigation. Switching from Toro Site Pro to Lynx GAC software and from Flex to Infinity sprinklers, the upgrade brings the most modern technology available on the market to this majestic clifftop golf course.

Forming the first irrigation deal since the Home of Golf reached a long-term agreement with The Toro Company to ensure Toro equipment and irrigation will maintain the seven courses for many years to come, Director of Greenkeeping Gordon Moir says: “The Site Pro system has served us well for many years, although we did suffer a severe lightning storm on one particular occasion, which over time has caused decoder failures. It was also time to extend and enlarge the pipework for an increase in flow, so the timing was right on all fronts. It was an easy decision to choose Lynx from the Toro range. It’s the newest system on the market and its features will make life easier from an operational point of view.”

Irrigation At St Andrews

Course manager Jon Wood confirms: “Many features stand out with the Lynx software, but especially the mapping and testing capabilities. From behind the desk you can narrow down the problems quickly, so by the time you go out on the course you have a pretty comprehensive idea of what the issue might be. Plus, there’s no need for endless sheets of paper, the mapping feature gives you all the site info you need on screen.

“While the software will make a big difference to how we run the irrigation on The Castle Course, making the biggest difference are the Infinity sprinklers. The ground here is different to the other six courses in that it’s more soil with a little bit of sand rather than sand-based and that makes it much tougher going when digging up sprinklers for maintenance and repairs. To know that we don’t have to do that anymore thanks to the fact that they are accessible from the top is fantastic for the team.”

As well as extending and enlarging the pipework, the opportunity was also taken to audit the site and make water savings where possible. That’s why the decision was made to break up some of the pairs of sprinklers running down the fairways, as Jon explains: “Out of the 300-400 pairs of sprinklers we have on the course we have split 100 for more effective water consumption. This will prevent over-watering the same area or areas we don’t need to water.”

The next step in the irrigation upgrade is to move to Toro B-series sprinklers on the tees over winter 2018. This will make all the sprinklers on the course interchangeable so the Trust won’t need to hold as much spare stock.

Jon concludes: “We were in America at the Toro headquarters earlier this year and we were talking about upcoming irrigation developments and basically the future is interchangeable. With this combination of Infinity and B-series sprinklers we’re not only taking the irrigation on The Castle Course to where it needs to be now, but we’re making it future proof, too. From now on, we’ll be able to leave the externals and just change out the internals such as the nozzles when required.”

And this progressive approach and attitude toward sustainability validates the reasons why St Andrews Link Trust entered into the long-term partnership with Toro this time last year. Not only was it felt that Toro was the best choice to maintain the playing conditions required now, but also gave the best fit for the club’s vision for the future, which is nicely illustrated here.

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Felixstowe Ferry Opts For Toro

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Felixstowe Ferry Opts For Toro: Suffolk-based Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club has once again opted for Toro as it scales up its fairway aeration programme. The Toro ProCore SR72 has been purchased through UK distributor Reesink Turfcare alongside a TYM T603 tractor to pull it.

The SR72 aerator joins the smaller Toro ProCore SR48, as course manager Glenn Rayfield explains: “We were already operating a SR48 aerator on smaller areas of approaches and fairways. After hosting the Ladies National County Finals, we decided to embark on a fairway aeration programme to keep the standard of the course up, and the SR72 is ideal for that.”

Felixstowe Ferry Opts For Toro

With a working width of 72 inches, the SR72 is a good choice for large scale aeration. This tough machine is able to puncture up to 40cm of the most compacted soil, while being light enough to work on greens and fairways. Depth control is made while the machine is in operation by using the hydraulic top link from the tractor. This one-of-a-kind feature means the operator can apply the ideal tine position for every soil type and condition without leaving the tractor’s seat.

Purchased to tow the SR72 is the 60hp T603 tractor, which enables the club to scale up its tractor tasks, bringing the power to do all the jobs the club previously couldn’t. Glenn explains: “We chose the T603 because it can handle large volume equipment and the club didn’t have another tractor like it.

“Aeration is just one of many tasks it will be performing around the club. With it we can also tow flail mowers, hedge trimmers and larger trailers for construction. Plus it is installed with a front bucket which is used for loading and moving tasks.”

Both machines are a hit with Felixstowe’s greenkeeping team: “The guys were fully onboard with the choices as they played a large part in the selection process. After trying a range of machines, their feedback cemented the order,” Glenn says.

Another factor in the decision was Glenn’s previous experience with Toro and Reesink, having most recently purchased two Toro Triflex 3400 mowers in 2016: “Reesink distributes reliable equipment and is all about customer service. The two Toro mowers we purchased from them in 2016 are superb and they provide cut perfection!”

He continues: “Whenever I’ve had a query, Reesink has been on the case straightway. Over the years I’ve secured a friendship with our local representative Julian Copping, who provides good service, knowledge and can’t help enough.”

It all means exciting times are ahead for one of the oldest and finest links courses in the country, as the addition of the Toro ProCore SR72 and TYM T603 allows all sorts of new tasks for the greenstaff to keep the course in excellent condition.

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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