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Problem Deeper Than Pitches

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Problem Deeper Than Pitches: The Vice-president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, Mark Neita, says Windies fast-bowling legend Sir Curtly Ambrose is only partially correct in his assessment that the regional side’s poor showing in New Zealand is down to bad pitches in the Caribbean.

The Windies did not win any matches on the tour having lost both games in the two-match Test series, all three games in the One-Day Internationals and two of the three Twenty20 Internationals, with the other being rained out.

Ambrose, also a former Windies bowling coach, told the Trinidad Guardian newspaper that the pitches in the region need to be suited to both spin and fast bowling, but also allow for batsmen to score runs. He said that this was how it used to be in the past, with the West Indies being considered the best team in the world.

“The pitches in the Caribbean are terrible, and that’s why when we go overseas and the pitches are bouncing, the players are all at sea. We need to get back quick, bouncy pitches in the Caribbean. It will make better players and fast-bowlers,” Ambrose said.

BATTING ALSO WEAK

Neita agrees, saying that pitches today in the region only encourage spin bowling, but he said that the Windies’ batting throughout the series was not good enough.

“Our pitches have not promoted fast bowling and our batsmen’s ability to bat fast bowling,” the former Jamaica wicketkeeper-batsman said. “But I would not say that the reason why we performed so poorly in New Zealand is entirely based on that. For the most part, the batsmen have shown poor technique, poor temperament, and that is a contributing factor in addition to the pitches.

“The pitches have been like this for a long, long time,” he continued. “There’s no pitch in the region now [of the right standard]. If there is, there might be one that you can say is a good pitch for fast bowlers. All our pitches are tailor-made for spin bowlers. It’s right across the board.”

Neita, the Melbourne Cricket Club president, then went on to say that groundsmen across the Caribbean are not given the respect they deserve, unlike their English counterparts.

“In Jamaica, we don’t have professional groundsmen,” he shared. “It is considered almost a demeaning job to be a groundsman, whereas in England, it’s a top job. It is well respected! We think that our groundsmen must be common labourers, although, in reality, it is proven that being a groundsman or a curator of a ground is much more than being a labourer. There’s a lot of science to it. You have to know how much water to put in the pitch and how much grass is needed. You have to know what consistency is all about. Who in the region knows all about that? So here lies our challenge.”

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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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BASIS Launch New Standard

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BASIS Launch New Standard: BASIS, an independent standard setting and auditing organisation, have launched a new standard aimed at the professional domestic lawn care sector. The Lawn Assured Standard will help to ensure a consistent and high level of practice within the professional lawn care sector. 

Lindsay Smith Boam, BASIS logistics manager, explains that all individuals applying pesticides are expected to work sustainably, effectively and efficiently, in order to protect themselves, the general public and the environment.

“The new voluntary standard has been launched in response to industry demand, and aims to help domestic lawn care contractors demonstrate that they’re operating in a responsible manner to both the public and the regulatory authorities,” she says.

“The benchmarking standard will also help remove any variability across the sector, ensuring a consistent level of performance, as well as improving business credentials,” adds Lindsay.

“BASIS is encouraging, professionals to use the accreditation to prove and promote the quality and value of service to new and current customers.”

To become certified as a Lawn Assured, an organisation or company is expected to complete a self-audit, which covers key areas related to training and certification as well as health and safety regulations, and documentation, such as risk assessments.

Following completion, an on-site audit is required to verify the documentation and check compliance, and that the operator is working in a professional manner, in line with best practice.

Lindsay explains that although BASIS is not an enforcement body, the organisation aims to help companies to meet legal, regulatory and best practice standards. “Our assessment team is highly experienced and can advise and assist as part of the independent site-visit.”

To register for the new standard, or find out more please contact the BASIS office on 01335 343945 or visit the website at www.basis-reg.co.uk.

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Cold Start Boosts Greens

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Cold Start Boosts Greens: The Course Manager at Edgbaston Golf Club in Birmingham, Eddie Mills, feels that his fully integrated iTurf programme has helped him to maintain his particularly stubborn clay-based greens to an exceptional standard.

Established in 1896, Edgbaston Golf Club is considered one of the best private member golf clubs in the Midlands, with an 18 hole course designed by the legendary H.S. Colt. The challenging course includes an ornamental lake and plays through mature and extensive woodland with small greens and tight fairways.

Cold Start Boosts Edgbaston’s Greens

If there is one man who feels particularly at home within these beautiful surroundings then it is without doubt Eddie Mills. Having joined the club straight from school as an apprentice greenkeeper thirty years ago, Eddie worked his way through the ranks and now holds the position of Course Manager.

He has been in the role for the last ten years and having faced a baptism of fire with major irrigation and drainage work in his first year as Course Manager, Eddie has since reaped the rewards after embarking on a fully integrated ICL iTurf programme.

Commenting on the on-going programme Eddie said: “What we look at are the results we have achieved through products applied throughout the year and whether we think it has worked for us.

“There are always a few little tweaks here and there but on the whole we stick to what we know works best for us. If you’ve got something that works for you then I don’t think there is any point in changing that.”

Prior to the drainage work on the greens, frequent wet winters would often take up to six greens out of action at any given time. This has since changed but Eddie is keen to avoid having to move members onto temporary greens again, and although faced with problematic soil temperatures, he believes that the greens are in as good a condition as they have ever been. This is, in part, thanks to an early granular application of Greenmaster Pro-Lite Cold Start 11-5-5+8Fe.

Cold Start Boosts Edgbaston’s Greens

“We always used to get a bit of a false start here and because it is clay based, the soil temperatures take a lot longer to get to where you need them. But since we have been using Cold Start, we don’t have that problem anymore. The Cold Start kicks in immediately and gives us a great start on the greens.

“Six weeks after that one application of Cold Start, we then apply a Sierraform GT Spring Starter 16-0-16+Fe+Mn – and this technology delivers fantastic results.

“In further maintaining the greens we use SeaMax – which has been brilliant for us. We apply on the greens every month which is supported by a fortnightly application of Primo Maxx. This has been essential, especially with the amount of growth that we have here – at times the growth is quite excessive.

“We also apply Primo Maxx on the tees, approaches and surrounds and it has really ‘thickened’ those areas up – they don’t seem to burn off as much now when the weather gets hot. We have also seen strong rooting from using Primo Maxx, so it is definitely a good product for us.”

On Edgbaston’s tees, Eddie highlighted Sierrablen 27-5-5+Fe (8-9 mths) as his stand out performer.

“We use Sierrablen which goes on the tees in March or April which sits there and works away all year. We don’t have to worry about it at all and we have always seen great results. The sward is always really strong because it just sits there as a base feed and everything ticking along throughout the playing season.”

Cold Start Boosts Edgbaston’s Greens

Having been at Edgbaston for the past thirty years Eddie has seen many company representatives come and go, but for the last fourteen years he has been working closely with ICL’s Emma Kilby and he was quick to praise the support he receives from her.

“I have always had a good relationship with Emma. It is great to have  someone that you can trust and is not just here to sell you products for the sake of it. When I first started in this role I was adamant that I wanted to build  relationships with people who genuinely cared about our course. Emma does and that counts for a lot.

“Together we develop the programme, and Emma will go out and regularly look at the course, look at the products we have used, assess how things are and there is a constant stream of information between us.

“I use ICL products because we are guaranteed quality and the customer service just adds to the overall package.”

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

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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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