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NEWS ARTICLES

It’s ‘Sandfiller Season’ says GKB Machines

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It’s ‘Sandfiller Season’ says GKB Machines: Careful management of organic matter levels is critical to optimising both the health and play characteristics of golf greens.

When it comes to managing these thatch layers, there is no universal tool or technique that will suit every course, however methods and machines are now at our disposal that are far less disruptive and can incorporate additional operations such as simultaneous sand injection which helps to bring surfaces back into play even quicker. One such machine is the Sandfiller from GKB.

It’s ‘Sandfiller Season’ says GKB Machines

It’s ‘Sandfiller Season’ says GKB Machines

The GKB Sandfiller scarifies the surface down to depths of up to 40mm, removing organic matter and creating channels which are simultaneously filled with sand or a combination of sand and seed – maximising efficiency and improving drainage and ground firmness in one pass. The unit features a 400L hopper to collect the removed material, leaving a clean and tidy finish and allowing the surface to be back in play almost instantly.

One venue who employed the services of a contractor last September to conduct the Sandfiller operation is Wenvoe Castle Golf Club. Head Greenkeeper Lucy Sellick explains, “The wetter winters, combined with a smaller than normal greenkeeping team, meant we were looking for a fast and effective solution to removing organic matter and firming up the greens. The contractor began on a Thursday morning, and by Friday lunchtime all 19 greens were back in play – with organic matter removed, backfilled with 22 tons of kiln-dried sand and just one team member brushing in the remaining surface sand. Any concerns we had about how the Sandfiller would handle our Mackenzie style slopes and undulations were also unfounded.”

“Now in February, our organic matter readings have reduced, and the greens are definitely firmer. Despite all the rainfall, we’ve managed to get a triple on the greens which just wouldn’t have been possible before.” She concludes, “We had the Sandfiller in during spring renovations back in 2023 to carry out scarification work only, and have it booked in again this September where it’ll play an important role in our pre-winter renovations and organic matter management once again.”

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Rangeline improves range economics and visuals

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Rangeline improves range economics and visuals: Sand bunkers are expensive items for golf courses to maintain, given the standards now expected by golfers. This level of maintenance is only justifiable for bunkers that get plenty of use: if a lot of players visit a bunker, then it is worth spending the money to keep it in primo condition. 

But on practice ranges, where bunkers are purely aiming tools, and never get any actual play, bunker maintenance is wholly a waste of money. Thus it is tempting for course operators to dig holes on their range, fill them with sand, and leave them be. But this approach too has its problems: wind and rain will cause the bunker sand to move around and to be contaminated with other substances, reducing, even possibily eliminating, the value of having the bunker on the range in the first place. The newly-launched RANGEline product from ZLine Products, is the answer.

Rangeline improves range economics and visuals

Rangeline improves range economics and visuals

RANGEline consists of sand-coloured synthetic material, which is installed on the range in lieu of bunkers. It is UV coated to ensure that the color can withstand sunlight exposure and seamlessly replicates the aesthetic value of sand bunkers on the range, giving golfers a powerful aiming tool, but it is essentially maintenance-free. The product was formerly known at SRL-16, but has been redesigned to be thicker and denser, so it absorbs impacts better.

“RANGEline helps course operators improve the playability and shotmaking of their practice ranges, without increasing maintenance costs,” says Casey Jones, inernational operations manager of ZLine. “It is very cost-effective – the cost of the product is roughly the same as sand – and over time it will produce an excellent return on investment. Ball picking from RANGEline is much easier than from a sand bunker, as the picking machine can drive over it. Even if the ‘bunker’ is inaccessible to the picker, it is far easier to rake up the balls than to pick them from sand – which has to be done by hand.”

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AIM for clean greens

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AIM for clean greens: A new Syngenta one-box fungicide programme is now available, providing a well-proven, cost effective and agronomically strong season-long disease control strategy.   

The AIM programme contains three leading Syngenta fungicides, specifically selected to provide an effective sequential strategy for summer through to winter, including Ascernity, Instrata Elite and Medallion TL.

AIM for clean greens

AIM for clean greens

Sean Loakes, Syngenta Turf Technical Manager for UK & Ireland, advocated the AIM approach optimises the potential to protect turf from immediate disease risks, while also providing longer term pathogen reductions that more effectively prevents disease outbreaks right through the season.

“Starting the programme with Ascernity, targeted at the increasing issues of summer anthracnose and dollar spot infections, followed by Instrata Elite in early autumn has proven to prevent the hugely damaging early outbreaks of microdochium patch.

“The AIM pack then gives a further follow up of Medallion TL for when conditions cool. That gives outstanding protection against damage through the critical time of limited turf recovery,” he advised. AIM is available for golf courses, sports turf and any turf surfaces covered by the products’ label recommendations.

The AIM strategy is fully supported by the Syngenta Turf Advisor App designed to guide optimum fungicide application timing. That includes local disease risk forecast models and disease pressure levels over recent days and weeks, along with a host of weather data to refine decision making.

“Turf Advisor also provides instant assessment of growth potential (GP) of turf, for appropriate product selection.” Sean advocates the multi-active benefits of systemic Ascernity are best utilised while turf is actively growing, with a GP above 20%, while Instrata Elite remains extremely effective as growth slows to 5%-25% GP.

When growth slows further, the contact activity of Medallion TL effectively protects the leaf from disease infection, while also targeting pathogen spores in the thatch and root crown to reduce the risk of infection.

The further advantage of the AIM strategy is that each application contains different fungicide modes of action. The rotation of fungicides and utilising multiple modes of action is the basis of a good fungicide resistance management plan, he added.

“Targeting disease earlier in the season prevents damage to the leaf, reduces stress on the plant and effectively breaks the disease cycle – enabling fungicide programmes to maintain playing surface quality and longer lasting results throughout the season.

“Early disease outbreaks act as infection source for further spread as the season progresses,” he warned. Even where scars have dried up, millions of spores would have been released that can be waiting in thatch or organic matter for the right conditions to develop and trigger new infections.

“Disease management in the autumn is essentially a numbers game. The potential for disease outbreaks is dependent on both the number of pathogens present, and the conditions for it to multiply rapidly.

“Reducing the initial turf disease pathogen population gives the opportunity for cultural Integrated Turf Management (ITM) controls to be more effective.”

STRI trials in Yorkshire showed how the AIM programme of Ascernity at the onset of microdochium patch pressure, followed by Instrata Elite and then Medallion TL, kept disease down below 3% of surface area affected throughout the season, when infection in the untreated area quickly hit 15% and reached over 25% of disease cover. In high pressure trials at ISTI in Ireland, the AIM strategy was the only fungicide treatment approach to keep disease in complete control.

“The actual timing of each application and number of treatments required will be site specific, according to risks and pressure,” pointed out Sean. “The sequence of using the three products is now very well proven, and more convenient and cost effective in the AIM one-box solution.”

Preventing disease outbreaks from mid-summer gives the best chance to go into winter clean, and come out green in the spring.

AIM is distributed in the UK and Ireland by ICL. The AIM one-box solution is also eligible for extra Turf Rewards points to qualify for turf management products and education resources: www.icl-growingsolutions.uk

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Seismic shift in golf entertainment growth

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Seismic shift in golf entertainment growth: Golf clubs and courses can drive new business by learning from the “seismic shift” and growth in the golf entertainment sector, new research from Syngenta and Ipsos has found.

Golf & Social Media: Golf Entertainment, published today, reveals customers new to golf perceive golf entertainment venues to offer “more engaging” and “more welcoming” experiences.

Seismic shift in golf entertainment growth

Seismic shift in golf entertainment growth

Launching the report, which analyzed 16.1 million social media posts, shares and comments in the United States and United Kingdom, Syngenta Global Head of Marketing Mark Birchmore said: “The emergence of golf entertainment has been one of the most seismic shifts we’ve witnessed in the industry in recent years.

“According to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), off-course play has skyrocketed by 55% since 2017, now totalling 32.9m participants, compared with a more modest 8% growth in green grass players.

“It begs the question, have green grass clubs and facilities missed out on new customers by not creating the right offer? Nearly a decade ago we carried out market research to look at youth participation and asked ‘what would encourage young people to start golf?’. This revealed a number of pull factors, including the desire for casual dress, an enjoyable, fun, social environment and golf games and new formats: all areas golf entertainment venues excel at.”

The research found that ranges and putting venues are seen to be more engaging and have a better image and reputation among customers than traditional green grass golf courses. Golf entertainment venues are perceived as open to all, offering informal, inclusive experiences for groups of friends with food and drink on tap.

Social media posts also revealed customers thought golf entertainment venues were more welcoming and less intimidating than green grass clubs and courses, with a relaxed atmosphere and no dress code making it the ideal place to sample golf.

The new report is part of a wider study, Golf & Social Media: The Great Divide, which found that there is a clear division between customers who perceive they are a golfer (Insiders) and those who do not (Outsiders).

Many visitors to entertainment outlets such as Topgolf, where technology, gaming and hospitality combine, fall into the Outsiders camp.

“Golf entertainment venues and their success at attracting a huge, new diverse audience presents a massive opportunity for golf course businesses,” continued Mark Birchmore.

“Creating inclusive, welcoming experiences characterized by fun and informality, promoted online with viral content, is something green grass golf venues can take and adapt. In this way, golf’s image and reputation can also be improved, helping attract and engage new waves of customers.”

The report also shines a light on the people around the world shaping golf entertainment’s growth, such as 3s, the 12-hole floodlit concept backed by Justin Timberlake, and a college student posting viral mini-golf videos on TikTok.

Data for the report was provided by Ipsos, with 16.1 million mentions of golf on social media in the United States and UK analyzed over a three-year period (2019-2022).

To download this report and all previous Syngenta market studies, visit: www.syngentagolf.com/golf-industry-reports

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Hybrid technology taken to the next level

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Hybrid technology taken to the next level: New for this year, the industry’s first and only fairway mower with a true hybrid drive system, the Toro Reelmaster 5010-H, has been given a comprehensive upgrade.

Toro is always listening to its customers, and it turns out there are quite a few improvements made to this revolutionary mower based on R&D and customer feedback, all with the intention to enhance performance and provide better machine control.

Hybrid technology taken to the next level

Hybrid technology taken to the next level

Jon Cole, divisional business manager for Toro’s UK distributor Reesink Turfcare, explains:

“The technology of the 5010-H is proven beyond doubt since its launch in 2015 with the hybrid elements of the engine design particularly impressing customers. Therefore, what I think many will be pleased to learn is that most of these advances relate to the hybrid technology.”

In brief, more electronic components have been added. Leading with the fact that the hydrostatic drive is now electronically controlled, and with this simple change, Toro has added its SmartPower system to automatically control mowing speed and optimise cutting performance.

In essence, what this technology does is monitor the engine’s RPM. Previously, the operator was responsible for controlling the machine’s speed when mowing long or wet grass or climbing a steep hill, now, the machine does it automatically. As the RPM drops, traction speed decreases until it recovers back to the desired speed and by maintaining optimal cylinder and blade speed a better and more consistent cut is produced.

The same technology also means that as speed decreases the traction pedal still moves an entire stroke giving increased resolution for tight turning in tight quarters. So, for customers mowing training grounds or a relatively flat golf course, they can slow down the engine speed to peak torque curve rather than peak of the horsepower curve.

It means the same results can be achieved with the engine 2600rpm on flat ground compared to 3000rpm, saving on fuel consumption, and lowering the noise level output.

With SmartPower also comes cruise control and this allows for a more consistent clip rate. Rather than relying on the operator’s foot to maintain a consistent speed the machine does that, as well as allowing maximum speed settings to be set. Whether the setting is at four or six miles an hour doesn’t affect quality, clip rate is not affected, and the same results will be achieved, it just helps with operator training and preferences.

There is so much more that’s been tweaked with this machine but the real benefits for customers as Jon sees it are: “These changes mean customers can focus on cutting, on achieving that fine mowing detail, following the clean-up edge of the fairway for example, rather than focusing on the speed at which they’re mowing. This is where everyone including members will see the difference, there’s more precision for better presentation.”

To discuss the greener option for the golf course, contact Reesink Turfcare on 01480 226800 or visit reesinkturfcare.co.uk.

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