Whitecraigs GC updates Jacobsen fleet

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Whitecraigs GC updates Jacobsen fleet: Whitecraigs Golf Club on Glasgow’s south side has renewed its fleet of Jacobsen machines with dealer Fairways GM.  Six new machines will help maintain their main 18 hole and nine hole Par 3 courses.

Delivered to the club were two LF570 lightweight large area reel mowers, an Eclipse 322 greens mower, two GP 400 greens mowers and a TR 330 tight area mower.

Whitecraigs GC updates Jacobsen fleet

Whitecraigs GC updates Jacobsen fleet

Peter Hall, Course Manager, said: “We had a good look around elsewhere before we made what I think are some sound choices. It’s ’like for like’ with everything improved. Everyone was comfortable with what we had so we are just going that step further. We’ve also got a maintenance contract which is peace of mind and guarantees everything to be in top working order. It’s a good deal for my team and for the club.”

“The two GP400s for example are three wheel drive, as opposed to the two wheel drive machines they replaced. They climb steep bankings effortlessly, even in wet conditions. The TR 330 with cutting units that move side to side allows us to alter wheel tracks around bunkers each time we cut. This enables us to spread the wear and keeps the turf healthier.”

Fairways GM’s Regional Sales Manager, Rob Hogarth, said “The whole package was delivered shortly after lock down ended so it’s great to see Peter and his team enjoying their new machines as much.  We pride ourselves on good service so their contract means we absolutely go the extra mile to keep everything running smoothly. At demo the TR 330 impressed. Its technology allows operators to effortlessly shift all three cutting reels to either side of the machine, creating up to 45 cm of offset. Bunkers and other hazards can be trimmed while keeping the mower away from the edges.  You can see already the difference the TR 330 is starting to make.”

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New technology works well for North Shore

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New technology works well for North Shore: Set on the Lincolnshire coast with beautiful views over the North Sea, the James Braid designed North Shore golf course at Skegness offers a challenge to all levels of golfer with its interesting and attractive mixture of links and parkland holes crossing over each other in two loops of nine.

Like many golf clubs across the country, North Shore has seen a growth in membership during the coronavirus lockdown, and owner/director William Mitchell anticipates their biggest increase for several years when the club’s country members return to play safely. Country membership is available to anyone living outside a 30-mile radius of Skegness, and local legend has it that at one time North Shore could boast the largest holiday membership in the world.

New technology works well for North Shore

New technology works well for North Shore

The pandemic also interrupted, but ultimately did not affect, an order for the club’s first new fleet of John Deere course maintenance equipment from local dealer F G Adamson & Son of Langworth near Lincoln. This was originally finalised before the lockdown started, but with the closure of the club’s popular hotel as well as the course, payment had to be postponed.

“John Deere Financial were very understanding and flexible about the finance lease on the new kit,” says William. “This has been structured around a six-year seasonal profile matched to our normal income stream, based on membership renewals in April and summer visitors to both the course and hotel. The whole deal has been very straightforward and works very well for the club, especially in the current circumstances.

“Annual full membership makes up a small proportion of rounds played, with our main business relying on visitors staying with us on golf breaks. Skegness’ population is about 20,000, but summer visitors account for 10 times that number, so we really rely on that influx of people each year. Groups stay at the hotel for a couple of nights, play four rounds of golf and hold their own competitions.

“The course therefore has to be in tip-top condition – if that side of the business isn’t as good as we can make it, the rest wouldn’t stack up. We’re happy to say that we’ve had really good feedback from members on the course’s playability since the John Deere machines were introduced, right from the start. Kudos to our head greenkeeper Brett Cornelius, too – he did an amazing job during lockdown and the members have really appreciated it.”

The new fleet consists of a John Deere 7700A PrecisionCut fairway mower, 8800A TerrainCut rotary roughs mower, two 2500E hybrid electric triplex mowers equipped with greens and tees cylinder cutting units, a TH 6×4 Gator utility vehicle and a Tru-Turf greens iron.

“We lost our head mechanic last December, but Brett combines his greenkeeping expertise with mechanical skills,” adds William. “This cemented in our minds that we needed to move from a shed of old kit to new, up-to-date machines and technology that are reliable and efficient.”

Brett had used John Deere equipment before coming to North Shore as head greenkeeper seven years ago, so he discussed what was available with Adamson’s area sales manager Scott Trestrail and had all the recommended machines on demonstration before finalising the deal.

New technology works well for North Shore

New technology works well for North Shore

“The machines we chose were pretty much like for like replacements, although we hadn’t had a dedicated ride-on rough mower before, so that made the biggest immediate improvement,” he says. “The 8800A rides the course contours well and you can raise and lower the cutting height in five minutes, it’s really easy. I had used a Gator at my previous course and it’s such a versatile vehicle, with the six-wheel design providing very low ground pressure.”

Brett carried out very basic course maintenance during lockdown – he was originally furloughed along with the rest of the staff, but only took about 10 days off before opting to return and keep the course looking as tidy as possible. “Basically I just did a lot of mowing!” he says.

“The initial drought conditions meant the links holes browned off straight away and didn’t need much attention, so I was lucky in that respect. Since reopening in May we’re still doing a lot of catching up, but having new machines has helped us enormously. They’ve made us more productive and we spend far less time in the workshop than before.”

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New dealer for fully electric skid steer loader

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New dealer for fully electric skid steer loader: Family-run Cotswold company Heming Engineering Ltd is showing the way in challenging times for the economy by being named as a dealer for the world’s first fully electric skid steer loader.

The company – which has been in business for 52 years and is based in Willersey, near Broadway – is adding to its burgeoning sales portfolio by becoming sole dealer in five counties for the state-of-the-art Elise 900 loader made by Kovaco Electric Company, which is headquartered in Prague in the Czech Republic.

New dealer for fully electric skid steer loader

New dealer for fully electric skid steer loader

The loader is 100 per cent electric, operates for more than eight hours on one charge and boasts zero environmental impact.

Heming Engineering has been appointed as sole dealer for the loader across Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Oxfordshire.

The Elise 900 can be driven manually by way of two in-cab joysticks or remotely via a mobile phone supplied with the machine as standard – or via an optional 433 Mhz two joystick control set.

The Kovaco Electric mobile phone application is available to download from the internet. This application allows the mobile phone to be used as a remote dashboard when operating from outside the cab or as a conventional type dashboard when operating the machine whilst in the cab. The display documents the speed at which the hydraulics and forward motion are set at (four speeds), bucket self-levelling operations, battery usage and life – as well as the two-joystick control function when in “remote mode”.

The Kovaco Electric Company have made two battery types available to its customers to ideally suit all operations and budgets. The first battery (240Ah) affords the operator up to six hours of continuous operation and the second bigger battery (400 Ah) will allow usage of 8 hours and upwards. These batteries can be charged to 100% in 3.5 hours. The company also recently introduced the MINI Z compact loader, which is also completely electric-powered.

Peter Heming, MD of parent company Heming Group, said: “The beauty of the Kovaco Electric machines is that you get all the performance of diesel vehicles without emissions and noise. As there are only electrical motors in the machine service costs are set to a minimum, while operational cost savings compared to a conventional loader are dramatic and should pay for the machine within the first years of operation.”

Finlay Bassett, UK Business Development Manager for Kovaco Electric, said: “Heming Group is a very versatile business operating in various different sectors of industry and this greatly appealed to me.”

The Elise 900 is ideal for use on poultry, pig and fruit farms, as well as in factories, builders’ yards and the construction industry – especially in confined spaces. It is also perfectly suited to the landscaping, amenities and equine sectors.

Earlier this year Mr Heming became Chairman for BAGMA (British Agricultural and Garden Machinery Association) for the four counties regional group of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire. He has played a pivotal role in the growth of Heming Group, which also comprises Heming Services, Heming Plant Hire, Ford Electrical and Major Cooling and Heating – as well as Heming Engineering.

Heming Engineering has built its reputation on providing tractor parts and machinery spares, the servicing and repair of all types of agricultural equipment, commercial and four-wheel drive vehicles and the maintenance of industrial and construction equipment.

heming-engineering.co.uk

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INFINICUT® introduce new 60Ah

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INFINICUT® introduce new 60Ah: As part of their continuous product development programme, INFINICUT® have announced the introduction of a new 60Ah battery module. The new power unit joins the line-up, alongside the industry-leading 30Ah option, to offer extended run-time and more power for increased overall flexibility.

The benefits of battery power have become increasingly evident for products in our everyday lives, and with the INFINICUT® range, it has been an integral part of its design. Together with a significantly reduced carbon footprint compared to that of a petrol-driven mower, the modular de-mountable battery configuration of the INFINICUT® has proven to deliver a reduction in noise output and significant improvements to the Hand-Arm Vibration (HAV) levels for the operator.

INFINICUT® introduce new 60Ah

INFINICUT® introduce new 60Ah

This new, larger 60Ah battery offers a run-time of up to 390 minutes (dependant on machine, set-up and conditions) and supersedes the current 40Ah module option, giving the operator the opportunity of matching battery capacity with the specification required to deliver desired work patterns. The 30Ah and 60Ah module units are standard and interchangeable across the entire INFINICUT® range – including the floating head and fixed head cylinder mower collection, and SM34 Rotary model – to give reliable, consistent performance with the option of purchasing further interchangeable battery modules as required.

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SISIS puts Pitmedden back on track

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SISIS puts Pitmedden back on track: Two SISIS machines have helped Ian Fraser, Head Greenkeeper at Pitmedden Bowls Club in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, turn around the fortunes of the green and transform it into one of the best in Scotland.

Ian and his family have a long affinity with Pitmedden Bowls Club. In the 1930’s his grandfather became the Head Greenkeeper for three decades before passing the baton to Ian’s father who then maintained the green for many years after.

SISIS puts Pitmedden back on track

SISIS puts Pitmedden back on track

Although it was inevitable that Ian himself would eventually follow in their footsteps, this didn’t happen for a number of years. When he did accept the position of head greenkeeper, he quickly found that he had his work cut out, as he explains.

“Upon my return to the club it is safe to say that the green needed a lot of attention,” he said.

“I was determined to get the green back in good shape and I started doing my research and learning the biology of turf and soil. What became apparent was that we desperately needed some new equipment.”

While on the hunt for some new turf maintenance equipment, Ian attended a Dennis and SISIS bowling green maintenance seminar in Aberdeen. It was here that he became acquainted with a range of SISIS machinery, and as a result, he purchased two pieces of equipment with the help of a grant from his local Windmill Community Trust.

Finding a machine that would help with aeration was his main priority as he explains.

“We identified that aeration was going to be one the most important tasks in getting the green back to being functional again,” said Ian. “At that time, we were hiring a lot of machinery and because we were using them so much, we decided that we needed our own.

We found what we were looking for in the SISIS Dart.”

The SISIS Dart is an independently powered vertical action aerator and has a working depth of up to 100mm (4 inches) which can be easily adjusted from the operator’s position using the balanced depth control lever. Powered by a 6.5hp engine, the unit can also be fitted with a wide range of interchangeable tines to meet the operator’s requirements making it ideal as a bowling green aerator.

SISIS puts Pitmedden back on track

SISIS puts Pitmedden back on track

“I use the Dart once a month and it gives us great results every time,” continued Ian. “We have a nice variety of the interchangeable tines which help for a number of different tasks. It was the first step to improving the health of the green and it has worked wonders.”

Ian’s second purchase with the grant was the SISIS Auto Rotorake MK 5 – a self-propelled heavy-duty pedestrian scarifier. It is designed for the removal and control of thatch on fine turf and features a contra-rotating reel with specially designed tipped blades for a clean, consistent cut and maximum thatch removal. A variety of maintenance tasks can also be carried out due to a selection of seven different interchangeable reels.

Ian purchased the verticutting reel, the scarifying reel, and the brush to accompany the machine and believes that it covers all bases.

“The Auto Rotorake MK 5 has been a heaven-send and I would say it has been our best ever purchase. It just does everything you need to keep a green in the best possible playing condition.

“I will scarify with it at the start and at the end of the season; I’ll verticut once a month and then run the Rolaspike Reel over the green maybe 2 or 3 times a month. The brush also prepares the turf nicely after verticutting or scarifying. I would recommend it to any greenkeeper.

“These two pieces of SISIS equipment play an integral role in the maintenance programme here and have been instrumental in improving the green.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact SISIS on 01332 824 777 or visit www.sisis.com

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow SISIS on Twitter and Instagram @SISISMachinery and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/SISISMachinery. You can also view the latest SISIS videos by visiting www.youtube.com/SISISMachinery

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