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Transformation At Teesside GC

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Transformation At Teesside GC: In the last 10 years Teesside Golf Club at Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees has undergone the biggest transformation of any club in the area, both on and off the course, which has been altered dramatically with the introduction of new tees, ponds and bunkers and the planting of more than 30,000 trees.

The 18-hole parkland course is situated on what used to be the old Stockton racecourse, while the clubhouse was originally a granary to which ships coming up the Tees delivered their grain. This has been fully renovated and extended, and future plans include improvements to both the practice and course facilities. Additional significant investment has more recently been made in new drainage, irrigation and John Deere course maintenance equipment to take the course and its presentation up to the desired level.

Transformation At Teesside GC

Supplied as a John Deere Financial lease package by dealer salesman Alastair Briggs of Greenlay at Cramlington, the latest equipment includes a new 9009A rotary rough mower; a used 3235C fairway cylinder mower that was specified for the practice area, but also fills in as back-up fairway mower; 2653B & 2653A tees & surrounds mowers, the latter an older machine that was refurbished as part of the deal; and a 2500B greens triplex mower.

Greens chairman Tony Foster joined Teesside Golf Club’s committee last year, and straight away consulted with long-serving head greenkeeper Gary Evans over the choice of new equipment and supplier. “Downtime is an invisible but huge cost,” says Tony. “We don’t want our greenkeepers to be in the workshop, we need them out on the course, which is our most important asset.

“Repairs and breakdowns were becoming uneconomic, not only in terms of the maintenance expense but also the time it was costing the club – it was not cost-effective for us to keep having to repair an ageing fleet. It had got to the point where it was simply unsustainable, so the timing was right to bring in some new kit.

“We’ve bought a few John Deere machines over the years, and we did look at other makes, but no-one did as much as Alastair and Greenlay to get the deal. They put on a robust series of demonstrations, which showed off all the key equipment and their capabilities really well to the greenkeeping team. They also spent a lot of time with us on the different finance options and quotes, to get the deal just right for the club.”

Transformation At Teesside GC

Gary Evans picks up the story: “There’s a huge amount of grass here, with big areas of rough to cover,” he says. “We’re cutting around 160 acres across 18 holes, compared to a normal average of about 120 acres – plus I like to cut the grass as often as possible, to keep it tidy and clean, so there’s a lot of work involved to achieve this.

“Therefore, the first machine we considered was the 9009A TerrainCut, as the rough was what we were really struggling with. It needed two men and machines before, but the John Deere did the job on its own in different cutting conditions, with no problems. We then went for the 2500B greens mower with QA5 cutting units, and the 2653B utility mower was the final choice – the older model has never failed us, so that was a no-brainer.

“It’s all about making the team more efficient and giving us more flexibility to cope with the course conditions, weather and timing of operations. The better the cut quality and finish, the better the course is for the golfers, it’s that simple.”

“Greenlay and John Deere gave us the confidence that they could provide the right back-up and support, which is the basis of a good working relationship,” Tony Foster adds. “Their whole approach to delivering a complete package of advice, equipment and training also meant we could promote the investment to both our members and new golfers as a really positive benefit to the club.

“I’m a great believer that you need the right tools to do the job, and with these John Deere machines we have them.”

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£40,000 Mower At Inverness Castle

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£40,000 Mower At Inverness Castle: Highland Council is planning to use a £40,000 remote-control lawn mower to target difficult-to-reach steep slopes around Inverness – including at the city’s famous Castle.

While the lush green banks by the castle and the River Ness are regarded as a major tourist attraction, they come with serious grass-cutting problems.

The local authority, while aware that keeping these areas well trimmed contributes significantly to the visitor experience, acknowledges that the safe maintenance of the banks has presented significant challenges.

Over the last three summers it had employed a contractor with specialist equipment to safely maintain the steep slopes.

But next week, at the City of Inverness Area Committee, councillors will be asked to consider buying their own machinery and completing the work in-house.

Purchasing the equipment would also allow enhanced maintenance of similar locations throughout the city.

The health and safety concerns associated with cutting the steep banks including the castle and river banks are being drawn to the attention of councillors.

They will be asked to approve the funding from the Common Good Fund for the 2019 season contractor, costing £14,430.

But officers are recommending the direct purchase of their own machinery at a cost of £40,000.

This would include a contribution from the Common Good Fund of £20,000. The remaining capital cost, plus the annual maintenance and operational running costs of the machine, would be met by the service.

In a report before the committee members, amenities manager Debbie Sutton says: “If the option to purchase a remote mower was approved then the added value this could facilitate would be cutting at numerous locations throughout the city including General Booth Road, Suilven Way, Leachkin Road, Scorguie Drive, Overton Avenue and Balnafettack Road.

“In addition to this, numerous other steep bank locations could be identified which have not previously been considered as safe to cut.

“Furthermore, outright ownership of this machinery would give the council greater control over the timing of the operation to ensure that it takes place at the most appropriate time rather than depending on the availability of the contractor.”

Over the last three years, a contractor has been engaged to cut the north side of the castle banks and the banks of the River Ness two or three times per summer using a remote-controlled mower.

Ms Sutton continued: “Whilst this has resulted in a high standard of maintenance of these areas, better value for money for the council could be achieved through the outright purchase of this type of machine.”

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ALS Purchase GroundPro MT200

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ALS Purchase GroundPro MT200: Telford based sports contractor, ALS Contracts has taken delivery of a Maredo MT200 Flex-Verticutter to expand and update its range of scarifiers for estates, fairways and sports pitches.

The tractor-mounted scarifier was launched by GroundPro, a trading division of Wiedenmann UK. It provides a rapid response to difficulties that may occur in the vital area lying just beneath the turf surface.

ALS Purchase GroundPro MT200

Dave Harvey, Contracts Manager at ALS said: “Controlling thatch in the top layer is key; too much organic matter can be a problem. This removes thatch cleanly and at speed. With three independent floating heads and an ‘A’ frame with pivot point that makes turning simple, you get straight to business.

 “Depending on what the issues are we can have the Flex-Verticutter remove a lot of organic matter or let the blades just touch the top layer for a light grooming. The heads combine to offer a span of 1.9 m, each working to a depth of 25 mm so it’s what a contractor needs as it covers a lot of ground fast.”

GroundPro machines will be featured on the Wiedenmann UK  Stand A080 at Saltex.

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INFINICUT Delivers At Chesterfield FC

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INFINICUT Delivers At Chesterfield FC: Equipped with the TurfClean™ cassette and a duo of INFINICUT® mowers, Head Groundsman at Chesterfield Football Club Liam Reynolds is delivering a premier finish at the clubs Proact Stadium.

Such is the standard of surface preparation and aesthetic quality that Liam was recently awarded runner-up in the National League Groundsman of the Year Awards for 2019.

INFINICUT Delivers At Chesterfield FC

Together with his colleagues at Premier Pitches, Liam took over the maintenance at Chesterfield FC in 2016. In addition to the wealth of experience within the team, Liam also brought with him a fleet of machinery including two INFINICUT® mowers from MTD Specialty Turf Products. “We have two 34” mowers, one Floating Head and one Fixed Head. These are used in conjunction with one another, with the INFINICUT® FL being our mower of choice for match day preparation. They deliver such exceptional cut quality, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the spectators, players and managers alike who all comment on the stripe definition and overall appearance.”

The most recent addition to his armoury is the TurfClean™ hygiene cassette, which Liam uses in the INFINICUT® FL for post-match clean-up. Fitted with an angled comb beneath a rotary brush, the TurfClean™ effectively collects divots, debris and organic matter while standing the grass plant up to help ensure a healthy sward. “With the two adjustable rollers on the FL, we can adjust both the height and the angle of the TurfClean™ cassette to clean deep down into the turf canopy or raise it up to just remove debris off the top.”

“It’s brilliant even in the wet” Liam explains. “Once debris is collected in the comb, the rotating brush then gives no option but to throw the collected material into the box, leaving nothing behind.” In use after every match and training session, the TurfClean™ also comes into its own through the winter, when the plant is at its most vulnerable. “When growth is slow, we will use the TurfClean™ during prep instead of cutting and it puts down a fantastic stripe without risking any unnecessary stress to the plant. The sharpness of cut delivered by the INFINI’s, together with the hygiene we’re achieving with the TurfClean™, has dramatically improved the health and condition of our surface.”

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Ecoline+ The Choice For Watford

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Ecoline+ The Choice For Watford: Pitchmark’s Ecoline+ has become the line marking paint of choice for FA Premier League club Watford FC.

The demand for using a premium paint at the Vicarage Road stadium led to trials last season, since when Pitchmark have been further developing Ecoline+. Watford FC became the first to use the improved formula at the opening game of the season against Brighton and Hove Albion in August this year.

Ecoline+The Choice For Watford

In 2018 Scott Tingley, Head Groundsman at Watford FC, set out on what was originally a cost exercise and to see if they could establish the use of one paint for all marking.

“We were using top end paint for the stadium and bottom end for the other pitches,” he says, “we wanted to make it one paint but of course the cost had to be taken into account. We looked at Pitchmark and what we found different was their specialisation solely in line marking products.”

The club had been using Pitchmark’s Direct at the Watford FC training ground and academy, located at the University College London Union Shenley Sports grounds in St Albans. Home to five full-size and two goalkeeping/warmup natural grass training pitches as well as a full-size artificial turf training pitch and fourteen college/academy natural grass pitches, there’s a sizeable amount of line marking required. In the stadium only premium quality is acceptable. Ecoline+ offered the ideal all-round solution.  Ecoline+ is one of the most advanced, low volume, ready-to-use line marking paints available, especially when used in combination with Pitchmark’s Eco and Hybrid markers and special nozzles.

Scott says: “we trialled Ecoline+ and we had no issues, only benefits. We use a Pitchmark Hybrid marker which gives us the quality of a spray marker, without compromising the precision and quality of a transfer marker. Fixture dependent, we can mark up to three times a week and with the traditional wheel to wheel and four-wheel spray markers you lose ground cover and it’s too easy to transfer paint.”

The Pitchmark Hybrid overcomes these problems with a three-wheeled spray design, which is easily manoeuvred over wet lines. The cone nozzles give perfect deep leaf coverage, so you only need one pass.

“It’s easy to use, it feels like a normal wheel marker and you get premium quality.” Scott adds, “it’s quite complex though and needs looking after but if we have any issues Olly Boys, the Turfix rep, gives us second to none service and back-up.” (Turfix is Pitchmark’s recently formed sole UK distribution arm). Using advanced Ecoline+ Watford FC join the many examples of Ecoline+ premium line marking seen every week on TV from the best leagues in the world, including the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League.

Pitchmark is a British company based in Bristol +44 (0)1454 776666 www.pitchmark.com

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