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NEWS ARTICLES

New Synthetic Bowling Green

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New Synthetic Bowling Green: Moe Bowling Club have been subjected to a longstading problem with soggy greens, but new work on the club’s bowling greens are going a long way to solving that issue.

Water-logged playing surfaces will soon be a thing of the past as new synthetic turf is rolled out across the club thanks to funding from the Latrobe Valley Authority and the state government.

Moe Bowling Club president Les Stolarik welcomed the facelift and said it had already raised the spirits of members.

“We realised a few years ago that the way we were going, there wouldn’t be a long-term future for the Moe Bowling Club,” Stolarik said.

“We had to do something a bit different and we’re very thankful for the new greens. It’s been enormous for us.”

Since the club was formed in 1946, the bulk of its spending has come at the cost of annual green-keeping fees, which will be eliminated with the new synthetic greens.

Turf greens also meant the club was forced to shut down for four months every year during winter.

“We looked like we were going to be going out the back door in about five or six years time, we just couldn’t continue pouring money into greenkeepers and not get the results we needed,” member Ian Caines said.

“With these greens, we can eliminate the greenkeeper side of things and instead do things for the club and the members.

“Now that we can be open 12 months a year we can get the community more involved with the club and open it up to the whole of Moe.”

Adding to its new look, the Moe Bowling Club has rebranded this year to join the pride of lions sporting clubs in the area.

“For a long time we have maintained the koala shirts but one of the young members suggested we join the football, netball and cricket clubs in the lions’ den,” Caines said.

“And here we are as the mighty lions. It has made a huge difference for us in terms of recognition from other clubs and the town so these little things help bring the club together and the broader Moe sporting community together.”

The front green is scheduled for completion in early April while works on the back green will begin shortly after.

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New Pitch Renovation Package

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New Pitch Renovation Package: Germinal Amenity has launched an all-in-one seed and fertiliser sports pitch renovation package.  Containing two key elements – Germinal’s A20 Premier Ryesport seed mixture plus an appropriate selection of fertiliser products – A20 Seed & Feed offers groundsmen everything they need in order to renovate their pitches and to create a sustainable playing surface within just six weeks of seeding.

The seed element of the A20 Seed & Feed package provides a combination of four top-performing species of perennial ryegrasses.  Together, these four cultivars create a dense sward with excellent fineness of leaf, a good cleanness of cut and which is exceptionally easy to mow into stripes.  The seed mixture – Germinal’s standard A20 Premier Ryesport mixture – also offers good levels of disease resistance and fantastic post-winter recovery.  The standard seed mixture can also be customised, allowing groundsmen to create their own bespoke specification.

New Pitch Renovation Package

For the fertiliser component of the A20 Seed & Feed package, groundsmen are able to select either a soil or sand based nutrient programme.  A third option, for park pitches and local community pitches, is also available.  All three nutrient programmes are F.A.C.T.S. (Fertiliser Advisers Certification and Training Scheme) approved and have been designed to enable the new sward to achieve the best possible results in terms of seedling establishment and sward development.  Each package contains a selection of phased release fertilisers and advanced soil conditioners which provide the necessary nutrients and trace elements required during the renovated pitch’s growing-in phase.

“The summer pitch renovation season is one of the busiest periods in any groundsman’s calendar,” explains Joe Hendy, Technical Sales Representative for Germinal.  “It can also be an exceptionally stressful time of year with groundsmen anxiously waiting for the renovated pitch to be ready in time for the start of the new playing season.  With that in mind, we have created an all-in-one seed, fertiliser and nutrient advice package to help ease the pressure.”

By providing a complementary package of seed, fertiliser and F.A.C.T.S. based nutrient advice, A20 Seed & Feed makes it easier and simpler for groundsmen to renovate their pitches and to successfully create a well-established and viable playing surface.

“All too often we speak to groundsmen who simply don’t have the time or resources, or in some cases the correct technical knowledge, to develop their own over-seeding and fertiliser programmes.  By following the simple advice laid out in our new A20 Seed & Feed packages, these groundsmen can be confident that they are using the correct rate of the most suitable products at the optimum time, and that they will be giving their pitch the very best chance of going into the new season in prime condition,” Joe adds.

“All three of the A20 Seed & Feed programmes use the very best phased-release fertilisers and soil conditioners from Compo Expert to ensure that every penny invested in pitch renovation works hard and delivers the required results.”

For more information go to www.germinal.com

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Posh Defender Turns Groundsman

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Posh Defender Turns Groundsman: Peterborough United defender Steven Taylor played an extended role in his team’s victory on Tuesday night, by helping to sweep snow off the lines at the ABAX Stadium.

Peterborough were hosting Walsall in a League One clash but heavy snow in the second half meant the pitch was hardly visible.

The Posh were 2-1 up in the 80th minute when the referee halted play to ensure snow could be cleared off the pitch.

And it was former England U21 captain and Newcastle centre-half Steven Taylor who was the hero of the hour.

Taylor was seen desperately shovelling snow to make the lines visable so play could continue.

“Steven Taylor is a hero,” one fan wrote on Twitter.

Another said: “Steven Taylor not only clears the backline he now helps clear the lines on the pitch.”

“So Steven taylor was literally playing the ‘sweeper’ role tonight. #PUFC,” said another supporter.

There was a seven minute break in play as the ground staff and home players brushed the snow on the pitch.

Peterborough eventually ran out 2-1 winners to earn their first victory in eight games.

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Firm Fast Greens At Knole Park

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Toro Delivers Firm Fast Greens At Knole Park GC: Located within the boundaries of Knole Estates in 1000 acres of outstanding Kent parkland and with 600 deer roaming freely around the estate is a club like no other.

Knole Park is one of the most unique courses in the country; not only for the aforementioned reasons, but also for the fact that this one course plays home to two clubs.

Course manager at the club, which is home to Knole Park Golf Club and Sevenoaks Town Golf Club, is Gavin Kyle who has been at the club for 15 years. Gavin keeps a regular annual machinery replacement programme and this year he had a focus on choosing the right machines to create firm, true, fast surfaces, which is where Toro joins the story.

Firm Fast Greens At Knole Park

“It is important to consistently maintain a challenge for players,” says Gavin. “It’s for this reason that recent years have seen us extend the course by 200 yards, with further extension planned in the next year. There is a fine balance between offering a good game to all golfers, including those with a five handicap and below. We have players of all abilities across our two-club membership including a lot of scratch players and our greens needed an update this year to offer a consistent challenge to all.

“When choosing our next greens machines we checked out the market, going through rounds of demos from distributors. If I’m honest I haven’t bought Toro since I’ve been at Knole Park, so for 15 years! But Toro is renowned for its greens machines in particular so were naturally included on the demo list. What appealed with the Greensmaster TriFlex 3420-H machines, which we went for, was that they’re hybrids. I sought to reduce the risk of hydraulic leaks on the greens and I wanted the advanced control these machines can offer.”

The TriFlex Hybrid’s electric cylinder circuit is designed to eliminate up to 90 percent of hydraulic leaks, and the Turf Guardian leak detection system provides immediate audio and visual indication of possible leaks. Plus, the electric cylinders have less drag and spin more freely than hydraulic motors providing a sharp cut which leads to firmer and faster greens, exactly what Gavin is after. “Firm, true and fast greens is what we’re all after and the Toro TriFlex is helping us achieve this at Knole Park,” he confirms.

Providing the advanced control Gavin mentioned is the machines’ Info Centre, which has an easily customised clip for different heights of cut as well as other operational settings to give complete machine control on cylinder speed, hours of function, system voltage for cylinders and diagnostic descriptions. It’s this that provides the advanced control that appealed to Gavin in the TriFlexes.

But as Gavin goes on to say, it’s never just as simple as the machines: “A machine is often only as good as the backup that comes with it. We’re dealing direct with Reesink Turfcare for the first time and we’ve found that to be a great experience so far.”

It seems opportune that Toro arrives back at Knole Park for the first time since the 1970s in the year that it hosted the Tillman Trophy, the tournament widely attributed to changing the face of amateur golf. We’re sure with Toro on side, Gavin and his greenkeeping team of six will change the challenge of the course for all its members.

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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First Intelligent One In The UK

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Richard Peel Groundcare first in the UK to offer GPS guided line marking with the Intelligent One Line Marker: Constantly adopting new innovations is a principle of Richard Peel Groundcare and the addition of the UK’s first Intelligent One Line Marker has brought a number of benefits to the company and their customers.

The GPS guided machine, supplied by Intelligent Marking’s UK distributor Rigby Taylor, can mark a FIFA regulation 11v11 football pitch from scratch in 29-minutes 45 seconds and can also be used for track and field marking, rugby union and league, lacrosse and customisable grids, shapes, and tracks.

First Intelligent One In The UK

Savings to customers come directly in terms of labour and paint. The machine can mark out two to three fields on one drum of paint depending on the nozzle used making it very easy to calculate when new paint is needed.

For Richard Peel Groundcare managing director, Richard Peel, being able to offer high-quality line marking at an affordable price to customers.

“We’re always looking at the new technology that’s coming into the market and I’m proud to say we’ve purchased the first Intelligent One Line Marker in the UK,” he said.

“Line marking is a skilled job that takes time and in the current climate restricted budgets make it difficult for clubs and councils to consistently mark their pitches. By using this marker, we can provide high-quality accurate marking every time whilst cutting costs on paint and labour.

“The feedback we’ve received from the demos we’ve done has been very positive and we expect the machine to be in high-demand in the near future.”

The intelligent nature of the machine means it is capable of marking a fixed socket 11-a-side football pitch and fixed socket rugby union and league pitches. There is also the option of marking a 11v11 football pitch with two 8-a-side pitches built in with all football pitches customisable in length and width.

All running track markings are also customisable in terms of the number of lanes, giving customers a large variety of options to choose from across all sports. For more information on availability please contact Richard Peel Groundcare at www.richard@pinhaw.com

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