Richard Peel Groundcare keep the water moving at Dyrham Park

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Richard Peel Groundcare keep the water moving at Dyrham Park Golf and Country Club: Richard Peel Groundcare has installed sand-banding on 14 greens at Dyrham Park Golf and Country Club to enhance their primary drainage system.

The picturesque Hertfordshire course is renowned for its water hazards, with several placed across the 6,497 yards, but keeping water off the greens is what head greenkeeper, David Hicks was concentrated on.

Richard Peel Groundcare keep the water moving at Dyrham Park

The club had new drainage installed in their greens in 2015 and to make the system more efficient David wanted to use sand banding to link the two systems together, prompting him to use Richard Peel Groundcare’s Imants SandCat for the job.

“We’ve had main drainage installed at a deeper depth on our greens and we just wanted to keep the top surface open, and link the two systems up,” David said. “We wanted to remove the surface water and the sand will aid it getting into the lower drains and prevent any standing water.

“There are four sand based greens here that drain like a sieves so we didn’t have any work done on those, but it did go over 14 of our greens and our putting green which is the size of two greens.

“We’ve had some rain on the course and I’m pleased with how the water has drained through so far, albeit a small amount.”

Richard Peel (contact number is 07930 336594) places great emphasis on having the best machines for the job and this has led to investment in the highest quality possible, in this case the SandCat. “The SandCat offers sand injection to 10-15mm and uses de-compacting blades that cause very little disturbance and have minimal recovery time.” He explains

“Its compact size makes it ideal for greens and tees, and these factors combined are why the 14 greens at Dyrham Park now have consistently draining greens.”

But it wasn’t only the machine that impressed David. He also commended the workmanship and management of the work, which had to be completed during the clubs’ maintenance week.

“Because the project was going on during our maintenance week it was important that we were able to get on with the other work we had on, so it was important for us to be able to leave the operator on his own to work,” David explained.

“The operator, Tom, was a conscientious hard-working lad who picked up our course really quickly and used a good bit of common sense, so we were very comfortable with leaving him to get on with the job.

“I was very happy with the service overall because sometimes you have contractors offer things they can’t deliver, so it was very refreshing to work with a company who delivered on what they said.”

Overall the project took four and a half days to complete, with one day lost due to 51mm of rainfall over 24-hours that stopped all work on the course. However, at a rate of six greens a day all work was completed well within the pre-arranged time frame.

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Lees Hall The Latest Golf Club To Purchase Ventrac 4500

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Lees Hall In Sheffield Is The Latest Golf Club To Purchase A Ventrac 4500: Lees Hall Golf Club is the latest purchaser of a Ventrac 4500 compact tractor and attachments. Situated three miles south of Sheffield, it was designed by Alex Herd, the Open Champion of 1902, and opened in 1907 as a 9-hole course. It was remodelled to 18-holes in 1911 creating a 6,171 yard, par 71 parkland course with commanding views over the city.

Ian Whitehead is the Head Greenkeeper and heads a team of four dedicated greenkeepers. He has been in the job for 16 months, having previously been Course Manager at Hillsborough Golf Club for 23 years.

Lees Hall The Latest Golf Club To Purchase Ventrac 4500

 

“I’m really lucky to have a very supportive committee with the president and greens chairman putting their trust in me and providing the funds to help with my suggested improvement programme. It’s no secret that the course has been in decline for some years, but I see this as a challenge. We’ve implemented some immediate improvements and the members are making the right comments. We have upgraded various machines including a greens mower, tees mower and a greens iron.

“However, the purchase of the Ventrac 4500 from local dealer, Russells Groundcare, has been the real bonus. It’s a powerful, multi-purpose compact tractor on which you put many attachments. Glen Sawyer of Russells recommended it to me and I trust his judgement. We had a demonstration and it was a no-brainer; we had to have it. We had intensive operator training when it was delivered so everyone can get the maximum out of it.

“Like other recent purchasers of Ventrac, I was sceptical when I first saw the machine, it’s a bit quirky, but once you’ve sat on it you realise it’s a powerful and versatile tractor, very smooth to drive and the articulating Contour mower deck leaves a great finish. Its hill climbing is excellent and that’s a prime consideration here.

“We’re already looking at other attachments as we prepare our 2018 budget. There’s so much that this single machine can do with its selection of accessories which include a Tough Cut deck, Stump Grinder, Edger, Blower and more. I’m really excited about this machine and the challenge ahead; the perception of the club is already changing in the local area and membership is moving in the right direction. Good greenkeeping practices and the equipment to carry them out are essential. With the continued support of the club, we’ll get there.

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Trilo S3 Makes Light Work Of Leaf Clearance

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A Trilo S3 Makes Light Work Of Leaf Clearance At Keele University: Any machinery that makes time-consuming tasks more manageable is desirable and in the area of leaf clearance, a Trilo S3 is just that. At 617 acres, Keele University’s single-site campus is the largest in Europe. With woodland, gardens, sports facilities, halls of residence and academic areas to maintain the in-house maintenance team of 12 have their work cut out – that’s where the Trilo S3 comes in.

Jane Barker has been Head of Grounds at Keele University for 3 years but her knowledge of Trilo kit pre-dates this. “I’ve worked in grounds for the last 20 years, including for the MoD at Catterick Garrison, which is where I first came across the Trilo brand. We worked with a contractor at the time who used Trilo equipment and I was immediately impressed.” Upon Jane joining Keele, leaf collection was a task that was still done by hand, meaning it was both very labour intensive and tedious for the staff involved. “With over 4,500 deciduous trees on our site, generating millions of leaves, the clearance of these would very often go right through the winter and into the spring.”

Trilo S3 Makes Light Work Of Leaf Clearance

“One of my first decisions here was to invest in a Trilo S3 vacuum sweeper. Though it was greeted with initial scepticism based on past experiences of similar machinery, very quickly indeed they were all converted and were singing its praises.” Since the purchase, leaves are now completely cleared before the Christmas break which allows staff to be put to better use elsewhere. “It’s made an absolutely massive improvement!”

Working at a convenient 1.5 metres wide, but with a large 3m3 capacity, Jane says the Trilo S3 is the perfect size unit for their campus. “We have lots of narrow, twisty roads and paths and attached to our tractor we can take the S3 nearly every area we need to and those few spaces it can’t reach, we can blow the leaves to somewhere that it can.” The team were so impressed with the S3 that when it came to their tri-annual machinery replacement process, the S3 was top of the list with their new unit being delivered in April. “We always look at possible alternatives but everyone has been so pleased that going for a new S3 was the preferred choice. Our new unit comes complete with a flail and scarifier attachment which has delivered great results in its initial scarification work on some of the sites sports pitches.”

Final word from Jane, “The service and support we’ve received from Jon Proffitt has been great and thanks to him suggesting the additional attachments, our new S3 will now play an even greater year-round role in the maintenance of our site.”

For more information go to www.trilo.com

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Rigby Taylor Has An Award-Winning Way To Mark Pitches

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Rigby Taylor Has A Very Intelligent – And Award-Winning Way To Mark And Over-Mark Pitches: Intelligent One (iO), the world’s first autonomous robot dedicated to the hands-free, initial marking and over-marking of sports pitches, running tracks and much more, has won the prestigious Innovation Award at the SALTEX 2017 exhibition.

Available from Rigby Taylor – the company at the forefront of supplying innovative products for the successful management and maintenance of turf surfaces – iO combines the very latest technology with the award winning, global-leading Impact ready-to-use paint and is ideally suited for multi-pitches and multi-facilities marking.

Rigby Taylor Has An Award-Winning Way To Mark Pitches

It was for these reasons that a panel of expert judges selected iO the winner over a host of other contenders for the award at SALTEX.

Featuring a sophisticated built-in GPS-RTK receiver that links with a portable base station for accurate and reliable global satellite referencing, the iO operating tablet can plot and store multi-use line marking templates.

Once manoeuvred into place by the operator from directions sent by the tablet, the iO will, for example, mark out a football pitch – all the perimeter and playing area straight lines, the ‘D’ areas, centre circle, corner angles and even the penalty spot without the operator having any physical contact with the machine. Even pitches with fixed post sockets can be marked.

The iO can be programmed to mark multiple pitches as, for instance, at a training ground and will move to an adjacent pitch to carry on marking. It can mark all day long because it comes with rechargeable lithium ion batteries and changer.

Impact paint provides the brightest, whitest line that lasts, and as it is a ready-to-use formulation, there is no mixing, no measuring no pouring and no added water. The operator has virtually no contact with the paint since a flow tube is simply inserted into the paint container then the iO can start marking.

The iO is capable of marking the following sports surfaces: football – any length/width and including fixed sockets; rugby (union and league); multi-lane athletic running tracks; tennis courts; and lacrosse, hockey and American football pitches. The iO marking of additional sports surfaces is currently under development.

For a leaflet, demonstration or more information contact your local Rigby Taylor area manager or Freephone 0800 424 919, email sales@rigbytaylor.com or visit rigbytaylor.com

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Pitch Competition Deadline Looming

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Pitch Competition Deadline Looming: Amateur sports teams who need a helping hand in looking after their pitch have until the end of November to make their application to win £3,000 worth of grounds maintenance machinery.

Pitch To Play, a competition ran by Allett Lawnmowers and the Institute of Groundsmanship (the IOG), is open to all amateur sports teams with an under 18s team, no matter what the sport. The winner will receive £3,000 to spend on a new Allett mower to help maintain their pitch to a professional, premiership standard! They will also receive a tailor-made maintenance programme from the IOG to help maintain the pitch for the future and tackle any problems.

Pitch Competition Deadline Looming

Entering is easy. Simply visit www.pitchtoplay.co.uk before 1st December 2017 and submit at least three photos showing why your club deserves to win.

 Leigh Bowers, sales director at Allett, said: “We know that there is nothing worse than trying to play on a poor-quality sports pitch, and appreciate the hours of hard work that groundsteams and volunteers put in. The winter is undoubtedly the most challenging time for groundsteams and the looming December deadline gives people the chance to strengthen their entry for the competition and make sure that those most in need of help are in with the chance of winning.”

Allett and the IOG want to recognise the hard work that amateur groundsteams and volunteers undertake across the country, often with limited resources and equipment, and reward them for all that they do. Pitch to Play champions amateur groundstaff and gives them the opportunity to renovate the pitches that they look after, whilst brightening the future for their club.

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

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