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Amateur Sports Pitches Can Win A Premiership Makeover

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Amateur Sports Pitches Can Win A Premiership Makeover: Amateur sports teams across the country are in with the chance to be able to renovate their pitch to premiership standards!Amateur Sports Pitches Can Win A Premiership Makeover

“Pitch to Play” has been launched by Allett and the Institute of Groundsmanship (the IOG) to find the amateur pitch that is most in need of a makeover, and will award the chosen club with some top of the range groundskeeping equipment worth £3,000, plus a bespoke pitch maintenance programme from the IOG.

Pitch to Play is open to any amateur sports team in the UK that has an under 18s team, no matter what sport.

Allett and the IOG want to recognise the hard work that amateur groundsteams and volunteers are undertaking across the country, often with limited resources and equipment. 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.

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 volutneers put in. We are eager to help transform the winner’s grounds into something that not only their team, but also their community, can be proud of.”

“Allett lawnmowers are the best in business for professional groundskeepers. Our machines are used on some of the top premiership pitches and the most famous sports grounds around the world. Pitch to Play gives grassroots teams the chance to win equipment to renovate their pitches which will reap benefits for seasons to come!” he added.

The winner of Pitch to Play will receive £3,000 to be used on the purchase of a new Allett lawnmower to help maintain the pitch to a professional, premiership standard. The runners up will win £500 towards the club kitty and third place will win £250. All prize winners will also receive a tailor-made maintenance programme from the IOG to help maintain the pitch for the future, along with a new kit and pitch side sponsorship.

If you think that your pitch needs some TLC, then visit www.pitchtoplay.co.uk to enter and send in at least three photos, showing why your club deserves to win.

The closing date is 1 November 2017.

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Montrose Rewrites History With Landmark Name Change

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Montrose Rewrites History With Landmark Name Change: Montrose Golf Links has announced unprecedented plans to rename one of the oldest golf courses in the world. The bid to relaunch the renowned Medal Course at Montrose as the 1562 Course is part of an enterprising plan to recognise the significant role played by the ancient east coast course in the world of golf.

Montrose Rewrites History With Landmark Name Change

The rebranding exercise will be the first time the course has gone through such a process and will be completed during the 2018 season when the world’s oldest major; the Open Championship, returns to the Angus region. The historic change will also be accompanied by a number of exciting initiatives designed to celebrate 450 years of golf at the two-times Open Championship Final Qualifying venue.

Jason Boyd, PGA Professional and Operations Manager at Montrose Golf Links, described the launch of the 1562 Course as an exciting and positive move. “We don’t make enough of the fact that golf was first recorded in Montrose in 1562,” said Boyd who spearheaded the idea. “The name change will give even more credibility to our golf offering and by doing so will open up new doors. Bringing 1562 to the fore will make a huge difference. It’s the most important aspect we have and it is our biggest marketing strength – we need to make as much of it as we can.”

The renaissance of the Montrose course, which hosted the PGA EuroPro Tour’s Eagle Orchid Scottish Masters in June, will be unveiled through a series of events and announcements leading up to the formal relaunch at the start of the golfing season. The idea to rename the fifth oldest golf course in the world certainly breaks with convention and is believed to be unprecedented in modern times.

“This is a fairly bold move, especially in the world of golf,” noted Boyd. “Courses that have been around for 450 years don’t often receive makeovers like this, but we feel assigning the date to the course name clearly illustrates the extraordinary golfing heritage that exists here as well as the significance of Montrose in terms of the development of the game.”

The stunning east coast course, which features seven spectacular cliff-face holes and regularly appears in the most prestigious golf rankings, has been shaped by some of the foremost names in golf including Willie Park Jr, Old Tom Morris and Harry Colt. Indeed, with over four centuries of golf under its belt, the current layout has a classic feel and is widely regarded as one of the most natural links layouts in Scotland.

“It’s very natural. It has stuck to the same layout for more than 100 years,” said Boyd. “Changing the name gives us an opportunity to raise awareness of the course and reach out to a wider audience. As soon as you mention 1562, you open doors that haven’t have been open to us until now. Golfers realise the significance of dates in golf and they know how important they are. The fact we are celebrating the fabulous golfing heritage that is synonymous with Montrose will only serve to attract more people to visit this unique place and play one of the oldest courses in the world for themselves.”

Montrose Golf Links features two traditional links courses; The Medal and The Broomfield and is located a 30-minute drive from Carnoustie – host of the 147th Open Championship – and 1 ½-hrs drive from St Andrews.

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First E-Z-GO ELiTE Golf Cars Purchased in Europe

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Golfsociëteit De Lage Vuursche First in Europe to Purchase E-Z-GO ELiTE Golf Cars: Golfsociëteit De Lage Vuursche, located in the Dutch province of Utrecht is the first golf club to purchase a fleet of E-Z-GO ELiTE Series golf cars in Europe. The delivery was made by local dealer Van der Pols.

Golfsociëteit De Lage Vuursche First in Europe to Purchase E-Z-GO ELiTE Golf Cars

The Dutch golfing society was also the first club in Europe to purchase a fleet of 10 E-Z-GO RXV golf cars in 2008. The new fleet comprises of 15 E-Z-GO RXV ELiTE golf cars, all of which feature integrated Textron Fleet Management GPS (TFM GPS).

Arnoud de Jager is the managing director at the club after being involved in the construction of the golf course as head greenkeeper in 2000. Arnoud has held his current position for 10 years now. Commenting on the recent investment, he said:

“It feels great to be the first in Europe to adopt this new technology, and be able to offer our members a unique, immersive golfing experience. We have around 700 members, and our top priority is providing them with the best quality whether that is playing surfaces, clubhouse facilities or golf cars.

“Our maintenance team also loves the new vehicles; there is zero maintenance required on the batteries of the new golf cars, and they are light, which means there is less stress on the turf. The charging time has also been dramatically reduced, which saves us time and energy costs. It really was a no-brainer investment.

“Our relationship with Van der Pols and E-Z-GO is fantastic. We are very proud to be the first customers not once, but twice. A big part of our purchasing decision was due to the superb after-sales support from our dealer, and the knowledge that all of the staff have at the company. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience, and we are very pleased with the results so far.”

Andre Andrade, International Director of Golf Sales at Textron Golf said:

“We are very appreciative of the support and confidence that Golfsociëteit De Lage Vuursche has placed in our E-Z-GO product range from day one. We believe the quality and innovation of our products are key in meeting the needs of our customers. We always listen to what they want when we design our products, and this is evident in the new ELiTE Series that we have recently launched. We have already received a huge volume of enquires and orders for the new golf cars, which is testament to the product development team at Textron Golf.”

Golfsociëteit De Lage Vuursche is a members-only club which opened in 2000. The 18-hole course was designed by Kyle Phillips and is regarded as one of the best in the country. Facilities include a wellness centre, meeting rooms and a restaurant.

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New Addition To ICL’s Greenmaster Pro-Lite Range

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New Addition To ICL’s Greenmaster Pro-Lite Range: ICL has announced the launch of an upgrade to its autumn/winter fine turf fertilizer range.

New Addition To ICL’s Greenmaster Pro-Lite Range

Greenmaster Pro-Lite Invigorator Plus 4-0-14 +8Fe +2MgO is a new formulation to fit within the autumn/winter turf range with higher iron and potassium content than the original Invigorator.

Over recent years, ICL’s Greenmaster Pro-Lite fertilizers have gained a reputation as an outstanding micro-granular fertilizer range, for high quality, fine turf nutrition. With eleven various formulations within the range, Greenmaster Pro-Lite offers a solution for every requirement in every season.

“The new formulation Invigorator Plus has been developed to give an improved colour response and greater longevity,” says Henry Bechelet, Technical Sales Manager for ICL Turf & Landscape in the UK & Ireland. “It is designed to sustain turf health through autumn, winter and spring and help reduce the risk of disease and moss invasion into high quality turf. We are excited about this new formulation because it contains the mineral polyhalite, which we have found can bring enhanced turf colour and quality responses.”

Polyhalite is an organic multi-fertilizer which contains sulphur, potassium, magnesium and calcium which are all fully available to the plant. Deposited over 200 million years ago, it is a complex crystal product which has been discovered at a depth of 1300 metres below the earth’s surface under the North Sea and is mined at ICL’s own mine in Cleveland.

With polyhalite now included in a number of ICL fertilizers, turf managers have been quick to report excellent results and Henry believes that this trend is set to continue with the launch of Invigorator Plus.

“This new analysis was tested against various alternatives and proved to be the best in terms of turf colour, quality and longevity. We know that the original Greenmaster Invigorator already has a loyal following and so we are running the Invigorator Plus alongside its sister formulation. We hope that everyone using Invigorator Plus this autumn and winter will see the added benefits of this new formulation.”

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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Ralph Awarded National League Groundsman Of The Year

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Ralph Awarded National League Groundsman Of The Year 2016/17: Torquay United groundsman Chris Ralph has received a top award from the Football Association for the standard of the pitch in 2016/17.

Ralph attended an awards ceremony at St George’s Park today along with other clubs that were also honoured. He receives the award for the best pitch in the National League, and the National League North and South.

Aldershot Town, who are well-known to have an excellent surface received second place in the category.

Chris was understandably delighted with being awarded FA Groundsman of the Year for the National League: “The winning doesn’t matter, it is the recognition for the job which sometimes goes unnoticed that is the best part. There is a lot of hard work that goes into the pitch.

“I’d like to thank the club, the team of volunteers that help me on match days. People like Mark White that come in to help after match days. Assistant groundsman, Julian Gouldthorpe who is now employed by the club, but he volunteered a lot of help last season.

“Without the volunteers that help, the pitch wouldn’t come together as well as it does.”

Other factors also helped throughout the season.

“Having a dry winter helped, but what has also helped is that the Gaffer respects the pitch. He hasn’t trained on it anything like what previous managers have. When the teams does train on it, he is respectful of what I ask him not to do.”

Ralph receives this award through the judgement of groundsmen Darren Baldwin (Tottenham Hotspur) and Dougie Robertson (West Ham) who visited the ground last season.

Torquay United General Manager, Geoff Harrop is delighted for Chris to receive this award.

“We’re absolutely over the moon with this award for Chris,” said Geoff.

“Chris is a great guy and an exceptional groundsman. He works night and day to get the pitch looking fantastic and to a level that we want at our football club.

“We have put extra investment into the pitch this year and at the end of last season to maintain the high levels that Chris has set.

“A huge congratulations to him, and the team of volunteers that help the club. I’m sure he’ll enjoy the accolade. I look forward to seeing him upon his return with the trophy”.

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