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Fleet Upgrade Pays Dividends

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Fleet Upgrade Pays Dividends: When Potters Point holiday resort in County Wicklow, Ireland replaced its golf course maintenance equipment fleet, it carried on a 20-year association with John Deere.

Fleet Upgrade Pays Dividends

This exclusive luxury mobile home park was established in 1957 and is situated in rolling parkland on a stunning headland overlooking Brittas Bay. Resort members have free use of Potters Point Golf Club; established in 1987, the nine-hole parkland course is also open to green fee paying non-members. Both the resort and the course were developed by Malachy McDaniel Stone.

“We bought our first John Deere machines in 1997,” says manager Irene Lacey. “John Deere machines last for ages – we’d had nothing new since 2008, so the fleet was getting old. This time, rather than replace the machines individually and pay for ongoing repairs, we decided to change all the equipment at the same time. The benefits were a better trade-in price and all the new machines being up-to-date and equipped with the latest technology.”

The new fleet includes three PrecisionCut cylinder mowers – an 8700A for the fairways, a 2653B for tees and surrounds and a 2500B for the greens – a JX90 walk-behind rotary mower, a 1200A bunker rake, two 3038R compact tractors equipped with mid-mounted rotary mower decks plus one front loader, and three 6×4 diesel Gator utility vehicles.

“We opted to replace two quad bikes with an extra utility vehicle, as the Gator is far more versatile,” says Irene. “In addition to the cargo bed, it can pull a trailer and carry two staff. The Gators are used as general purpose materials and staff transporters, and for jobs such as emptying the bins on the course. They’re four-wheel drive and fitted with heavy-duty all-purpose tyres, as it can be wet at times. The 3038R compacts are also used to mow the grass areas in the mobile home park.”

Whereas other makes have been demonstrated and test-driven in the past, this time Potters Point went straight to its long-time supplier, John Deere dealer Dublin Grass Machinery. “I have been on a number of John Deere courses, so I know the equipment better than other makes,” says head greenkeeper Eamonn Delaney. “We’ve dealt with Dublin Grass Machinery for the past 20 years and know that they provide a high level of after-sales service.

“I also have a good working relationship with their chief technician Roger Ingles. We carry out regular maintenance on-site, while Dublin Grass Machinery takes the machines in for winter servicing and blade changing, and provides a 24 hour turnaround. As the equipment is serviced regularly, we’ve very little downtime and it means the staff are not having to sort out machines when we could be doing something else around the resort.

“As far as the latest technology is concerned, compared to our older fleet, the quick-release system on the compact tractors’ mid-mounted deck is a fantastic piece of engineering. Setting up features such as the single-point height of cut adjustment on the mowers are a massive improvement too – they’re much easier and save a huge amount of time,” Eamonn adds.

“Engine noise has also been reduced considerably on all the machines and there are a lot more safety devices – the health and safety aspect has improved greatly.”

For more information, visit: www.JohnDeere.co.uk

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Reesink Turfcare Service Branch In East Anglia Expansion

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Reesink Turfcare service branch in East Anglia expansion: Reesink Turfcare has concluded a recruitment drive to expand its service branch in East Anglia with five new members joining the team in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.

Reesink Turfcare service branch in East Anglia expansion

Stuart Hall joins the company as service manager and Andrew Carpenter comes on board as parts supervisor. Both appointments further strengthen the philosophy of the brand to provide knowledge and expert advice while also giving customers direct access to maintenance, servicing and parts support.

In joining Reesink Turfcare at its East Anglia service branch, Stuart is fulfilling a long-held ambition to work for the company and brings to the role 16 years’ experience servicing and maintaining Toro‘s turfcare machinery. He says: “As workshop manager at John O’Gaunt Golf Club, where I worked for 25 years, I have been on the ‘other’ side of things and know exactly how important it is to be able to rely on distributor and manufacturer back-up and prompt parts delivery.

“I have worked through the preparation and hosting of major events including the 2010 Ryder Cup and can vouch that in order to keep to deadlines and tight schedules having direct access to factory-based technicians is essential.”

And that’s exactly what the teams at all Reesink Turfcare service branches offer and it’s also exactly why Reesink prides itself on recruiting those who understand that level of requirement and can confidently deal directly with customers, adding value and building strong relationships.

A couple of years as a service manager for a machinery dealership in Bedfordshire confirmed to Stuart that this was an area on which he wanted to focus his career.

Similarly, Andrew Carpenter is well aware of the high level of service expected from a distributor. Having worked for nine years with Lely Turfcare, this move continues a successful career during which Andrew progressed from temporary warehouse team member to parts sales supervisor. It was in this role that Andrew became the company’s first point of contact for technical parts queries and developed into the company’s TYM tractor product specialist.

Stuart and Andrew will be supported by a team that includes three newly appointed technicians. Matt Thomas, a mechanical engineer, and Liam Pindred with five years’ experience as a workshop technician and production workshop supervisor at Reesink, join the mobile technician team; and Keith Knight brings two years’ experience in the Reesink assembly and service department to the branch in his new role of internal workshop technician.

The Reesink Turfcare East Anglia branch operates from Reesink’s headquarters, supporting the region’s professional grounds maintenance customers, including golf clubs and sports clubs, leisure sites, local authorities, landscape maintenance contractors and large estates and private gardens.

Stuart concludes by saying: “The East Anglia branch provides its customers with access to experts in their fields, offering advice and guidance straight from the manufacturer and distributor, but with a local understanding. This recent expansion demonstrates the importance the company places on its local networks and why the region has developed a strong Toro and TYM customer base. These are exciting and busy times!”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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BREAKING NEWS! Sherriff Amenity & Terra Firma (Scotland) Ltd Combine

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BREAKING NEWS – Sherriff Amenity and Terra Firma (Scotland) Ltd combine

BREAKING NEWS! Sherriff Amenity & Terra Firma Combine

Sherriff Amenity, the fine turf and landscaping division of Agrovista UK Limited, one of the UK’s leading agronomy firms today announces the acquisition of Terra Firma (Scotland) Ltd, one of Scotland’s largest specialist suppliers to the amenity and local authority markets.

The purchase will allow the two businesses to combine existing technical expertise and broad product ranges to provide land managers, local authorities, contractors, groundsmen and greenkeepers in Scotland with a full agronomy service, research driven advice, new product innovation and access to an extensive local distribution network.

Commenting on the announcement Simon Gough, founder of Terra Firma (Scotland) said: “Terra Firma joining with Sherriff Amenity is a really exciting prospect. The combination of both companies’ industry knowledge, experience and customer service ethos will form a strong, sustainable and service focused business model moving forward.”

Chris Clayton, Managing Director of Agrovista commented: “We are delighted to welcome Simon and his team from Terra Firma into Sherriff Amenity. The acquisition will strengthen the business in Scotland and provide synergies across the business which will ultimately benefit our customers. This combined with further product developments will generate exciting opportunities from the combined business”.

The new structure will retain all existing staff and the combined team will be led by Simon Gough.

For further information, please contact Sherriff Amenity on 01638 721 888 or visit www.sherriffamenity.com

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Kubota UK Strengthens Marketing Team

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Kubota UK strengthens marketing team with key appointments: Kubota UK is pleased to announce it has strengthened and expanded its marketing team with the addition of four new appointments to support the company’s vision to become a centre of marketing excellence.

Kubota UK strengthens marketing team with key appointments

Caroline Brown, Shannon O’Connor, Sophie Sprowell and Victoria Nemar have bolstered the team, supporting Kubota’s Marketing Manager Karen Tipping to help continue to drive brand awareness and support the company’s industry leading products and first class aftersales proposition.

Karen Tipping commented: “It’s an extremely exciting time at Kubota UK as the business invests and innovates in its product and service offering.  In order to maintain the reputation of the brand and continue our growth across all industries, we must ensure our marketing team is as strong as it can be. In the last two years the team has increased from one to six people, highlighting the commitment and investment Kubota places on marketing activities and the support for our first class independent dealer network.

“It’s fantastic to welcome Caroline, Shannon, Sophie and Victoria into the marketing team. As we continue to increase awareness and market share in both established and new markets, supporting the first class solutions and aftercare service we provide, these key appointments will prove to be pivotal as we move forward.”

As part of Kubota UK’s investment in marketing, Karen will continue to be responsible for developing and implementing the marketing strategies that will deliver continued and long-term growth for the business.  Caroline joins Kubota as a Marketing Executive and will report directly into Karen, with responsibility of managing the day-to-day marketing activities with a specific focus on Kubota Engines.

Shannon, Sophie and Victoria have been appointed as marketing assistants, supporting Karen and Caroline, with Shannon focused on Kubota’s agricultural division, Sophie looking after the groundcare sector and Victoria responsible for the marketing of Kubota’s compact construction equipment.

Karen concluded: “These new appointments will help create a more organised and structured marketing team to deliver Kubota’s dynamic marketing strategy across the agricultural, groundcare, construction and engines divisions, whilst also helping with the growing number of exhibitions and events that Kubota has committed to across all market sectors.”

Caroline joins Kubota with over 30 years marketing experience, having previously worked for Oxfordshire County Council, Entertainment UK and WH Smith, along with specialist B2B brands Timbmet and Maccaferri.  Shannon previously worked in marketing at Ford, Sophie joins Kubota from Impact Sign Solutions where she worked as a graphic designer and Victoria joins from a printing company Lynx DPM.

For more information on Kubota UK call 01844 268000 or visit www.kubota.co.uk.

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18 Cub Cadet Infinicut™ Units At Wimbledon

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Mower fleet replaced at Wimbledon with 18 Cub Cadet Infinicut™ units: MTD Specialty Turf Products (formally ATT) has completed the order of 18 Cub Cadet Infinicut™ mowers to The All England Tennis Club at Wimbledon. 

18 Cub Cadet Infinicut™ Units At Wimbledon

The Cub Cadet Infinicut™ is a visually striking machine and has one of the shortest footprints of any walk behind mower on the market allowing ultra-low heights of cut.  The order comprised fifteen 21” models and three 30” variants and just 3 weeks before the tournament commenced, the grounds team took time out to line them all up for a photoshoot.

The Cub Cadet Infinicut™, with LiPo battery power, was supplied on trial for the 2016 tournament and was so successful with the grounds team, and for that matter the BBC because it made no noise during their daily briefings to air, that a firm order was placed.  They had them on demo before and during the 2016 tournament and were really impressed with the build quality of the units.  Says Head Groundsman Grant Cantin, “The new Infini mowers leave us a quality cut that is paramount to our operation here at Wimbledon.”

The Wimbledon venue is in close proximity to housing, and the site itself is compact with lots of closed structures within it, so switching over to a mower that produces extremely low levels of noise has been welcomed by all.

Tennis courts need a mower of 21” width in order to facilitate equal striping over the courts, and the 22” Infinicut™ was easily adapted to accept 21” cutting reels.  The reel motor position was also an issue but again switching it over to the opposite side, in order to present a clean side of the mower to the edge of the court, caused no problem.  Adaptations of this kind are possible because of the ‘state-of-the-art’ design of the unit where most other products on the market haven’t changed much in forty years.

They also took delivery of a number of SMARTUltraGroomer cassettes to go into the 21” units.  These cassettes remove huge amounts of debris, resulting in a smooth surface, with no detrimental effects on the surface.  The cassette will also remove seed heads in Poa annua turf and on newly established courts, it can help reduce the ingress of Poa annua by “grabbing” individual plants before they get a chance to take hold.

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