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John Deere supports the ECGC Masters

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John Deere supports the ECGC Masters: The month of April is synonymous in golf for the Masters, and each year Education City Golf Cub runs its own version of the tournament over the 18-hole Championship course, which recently hosted the European Tour’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

The ECGC Masters was held on April 9 & 10, and this year John Deere supported the club event in conjunction with the effort that went into setting up the golf course to present Augusta-like conditions.

John Deere supports the ECGC Masters

John Deere supports the ECGC Masters

The tournament aims to ensure that all details are aligned to the Masters in terms of course conditions, fast greens and immaculate presentation, all prepared by a fleet of 93 John Deere machines including tractors and greens, fairway & rough mowers, giving members and guests an exceptional experience over the two-day event. Players competed in the gross division for the ECGC Masters green jacket, while others could compete in the net division for some great prizes.

“The ECGC Masters is a signature event at Education City Golf Club,” said the club’s Director of Golf Rhys Beecher. “It is an opportunity to showcase the fantastic playing surfaces and course conditions during a two-day tournament. The team here enjoy making the small touches that bring the ECGC Masters to life for both our members and the guests that participate. John Deere is a terrific partner, as its precision equipment helps elevate the ECGC Masters to one of the most significant weekends in the golfing calendar.”

In 2018, in line with the club’s sustainability vision, John Deere was selected as the perfect match to support the club’s vision in becoming a pioneer for sustainable practices and superior playing surfaces. Hybrid electric technology was chosen and is now used on over 90 per cent of the mowing fleet.

Education City Golf Club’s General Manager Michael Braidwood said: “Our core product is the golf course and therefore it must be presented in immaculate condition. We aim to highlight this annually at a number of key tournaments and the ECGC Masters is one of these prestigious events.”

Carlos Aragones, John Deere European golf & turf sales & marketing manager, added: “Together with our local dealer Progressive Trading, we were delighted to be involved with Education City Golf Club in helping to prepare the Championship Course for this signature event at such a wonderful venue. Our partnership approach helps everyone to achieve the best possible results where they matter, out on the course, and keep things running as smoothly as possible throughout the tournament.”

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STIHL adds two new brushcutters

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STIHL adds two new brushcutters: STIHL has expanded its range of professional high-performance brushcutters with the launch of the new FSA 135 and FSA 135 R.

The new robust and powerful brushcutters build on the popularity of the FSA 130 with new compatibility with STIHL’s AP battery system, making it ideal for contractors and grounds management tackling large areas of grass and brush with a variety of cutting attachments.

STIHL adds two new brushcutters

STIHL adds two new brushcutters

The FSA 135 bike handle brushcutter comes with the GrassCut 260-2 blade as standard and has an expected working time of 100 minutes when used with the recommended AP 300 S battery. The FSA 135 R loop handle version comes with an AutoCut 26-2 line head and has an expected working time of 45 minutes when used with an AP 300 S battery.

The new cordless tools feature a traditional brushcutter layout from the petrol models, with engine, drive-shaft and gearbox, meaning that the FSA 135 can fit metal cutting attachments designed for brush and wood.

Both models feature ergonomic control handles with three-level speed pre-selection with LED display, as well as infinitely variable trigger speed control for energy-efficient working and longer running times depending on the cutting attachment or conditions.

Like all of the STIHL AP range, the FSA 135 and FSA 135 R can work in all weather conditions with waterproof components. The motor also requires little-to-no servicing, whilst the easy to clean air filter ensures a long service life and optimum engine cooling.

Both brushcutters feature a sturdy battery housing with a new design, enabling users to easily slot in a battery from STIHL’s high-performance 36V AP range, ideal for professional use. A range of accessories are available for both models, including Advanced Plus Harness, Advanced X-TREEm Harness and a wide range of line and metal cutting heads.

For more information on STIHL’s range of brushcutters, including the FSA 135 and FSA 135 R, please visit www.stihl.co.uk.

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Auto Roller celebrate 100 years

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Auto Roller celebrate 100 years: Auto-Roller – the world famous cricket roller is celebrating its 100 year anniversary, the first design finalised in 1921, manufactured and delivered all over the world ever since. An iconic design that still continues to be the choice of the world’s top groundsmen, from village cricket clubs to international grounds.

History:

Auto-Roller began its life as a product of the Auto-Mower Company (of Norton St.Philip, Bath, Somerset) founded by G Grist in 1920 upon leaving the army in 1918.

Auto Roller celebrate 100 years

Auto Roller celebrate 100 years

Back in the 1920’s the first Auto-Rollers were made from castings (supplied by Dennings of Chard) and bolted together, the design (finalised in 1921) has somewhat evolved since. The earliest Auto-Rollers can be identified by looking at the hand of the steering worm spur gears as these were used to get the steering to work the right way! The original engines were water cooled petrol engines, mainly JA Prestwich Engines.

A variety of rollers were manufactured for a number of applications, including hockey pitches, and as modified tractors rolling airfields.

Following on from this the Mower manufacturing rights were bought in 1946 by Ransome, Sims and Jefferies and the remainder of the business (including The Auto-Roller) was sold to TH White, Devizes in 1968.

At their time at TH White (Frome, Somerset) several types of engines were used; Briggs and Stratton petrol Engines or a Lister diesel Engines, eventually evolving to using a Kubota air cooled Engine (OC95) with just one fitted with power steering.

In 1995 Autoguide Equipment purchased the Auto-Roller Business from TH White thus keeping the Auto-Roller manufacturing and its history in Wiltshire. The traditions set by Auto Mower and followed by TH White are still being followed by us to this day.

The Auto-Rollers history with Autoguide from 1995:

  • We have always manufactured the Auto-Rollers with power steering and hydrostatic transmission
  • Due to some locations having a number of pitches some distance apart, we designed the roller to include a Twin Cylinder water cooled diesel engine, this made the journey that much faster.
  • USB Socket has been added (for the modern world)
  • The ECB guidelines for rolling pitches show that our standard rollers achieve the optimum mass/width factor for all pitch performance levels and we supply the Auto-Roller worldwide to Test Wickets as well as at County and Club level.
  • All Auto-Rollers now use precision ball bearings, which keep power requirement and maintenance to a minimum. The rolls are fully machined from 20mm thick steel, ensuring perfect concentricity and allowing the optimum radius at the roll edges.
  • Auto-Rollers as old as 1948 can have our repower kit fitted. This is effectively a ‘heart transplant’, giving them a new lease of life.

At Autoguide it is in our nature to always strive to look at ways we can improve design and engineering across all of our products. We have been working on concepts for our new ‘Green’ Auto-Roller which we endeavour to share with you soon!

Auto-Roller Range:

Standard Features:

Diesel Engine
Power Steering
Electric Start
Fully Hydrostatic Transmission

Up to 5mph Forward and Reverse
Tiltable steering wheel for best visibility
Bio-degradable oil

4ft Auto-Roller

Liquid cooled low emission Kubota 2 cylinder diesel engine

Smooth, quiet operation

Pre-lubricated bearings on roller shafts and precision machined rolls

Perfect pitch preparation

Full hydrostatic transmission and power steering, fully contained and run on biodegradable oil

Simple, safe and easy use

3ft Auto-Roller

Air-cooled low emission Hatz diesel engine

Easy maintainability

Smaller 3ft roll width, with no compromise to pitch preparation or ease of use

Cost effective option

Lower weight, with option of additional water ballast when in use

Towable by  suitable commercial vehicles

Our Re-Power Kit – Bringing the more mature rollers back to life!

The Re-Power Kit is an Auto-Roller specific bolt-in kit to update your existing machine. Having removed the existing engine, transmission and steering linkage, the Re-Power Kit (Hatz Diesel 9hp) simply bolts in.

The Re-power Kit can be installed by your own workshop or local engineer. Alternatively we offer a fitting service at our Wiltshire factory with the option of a complete refurbishment with shotblasting and respray of the old Roller.

Worldwide Stories:

Auto-Rollers are exported to wickets all over the world.  We have rollers on many of the Caribbean islands, In Bangladesh, and this year we shipped a gold one in our container shipment of Auto-Rollers to Australia!

There was a time when we shipped a roller to the Caribbean, bought through the foreign commonwealth office. We received a fax from the governor’s office explaining that the roller would stop after an hour’s use. We thought this could be due to the heat. It transpired that the back roll kept going round but the front roll stopped. After a series of fax exchanges we suggested that they jack up the rollers front rolls and put some grease in the grease nipples in the end of the roll shaft and roll the rolls. They hadn’t greased it for 18 months and the rolls had seized as they warmed up! That prompted us to change the design of the front rolls so they had lubricated for life ball bearings in them, which they still have to this day.

Auto-Roller travelling:  a local college has multiple pitches of which are accessed via grass slopes. The brakes were notorious for not working, this called for a redesign on the brake (whilst the hydrostatic transmission would enable control of the roller on hills) if the engine stops and the transmission fails the brake was then able to stop the roller.

In Jamaica they had to postpone a test match as they were unable to get the ground even using a single roll, they decided to buy an AutoRoller to rectify the problem – the roller was air freighted to Jamaica to arrive in the soonest possible time and to this day it would have been the fastest travelling Auto-Roller!

Edgbaston

We are proud that the Auto-Roller is the first choice of Test Cricket and were delighted that Edgbaston chose to have their new roller in gold and are the first ground in the UK to have received one.  Gary Barwell is a pleasure to work with, we enjoyed meeting the fantastic grounds team who work incredibly hard to keep the grounds pitch perfect.

It was a privilege to able to retake a photo of the same member of the team 20 years on, first on Edgbaston’s blue roller (only recently refurbished) and then on their new gold roller 20 years later.

Edgbaston have been a long standing customer of ours and we love nothing more than to see our Auto-Rollers at home on the grounds.

Centenary Celebrations

As part of our centenary celebrations we are offering to paint our newly manufactured rollers in gold at no extra charge, as well as returning back to the original front plaque on all of our rollers. Due to the personality that evolves with the life of the Auto-Rollers each roller is now named.

There will be various competitions opening up on our twitter page (@autoroller) so please follow to keep up to date with the latest information.

There is a beauty in the heritage of our Auto-Rollers, we are very proud of the prestige and design that has evolved over the years. We hold a book of serial numbers dating back to the 1940s, some rollers are still continuing to roll with our re-power kits, bringing the more mature rollers back to life.

We are holding various competitions on our twitter page @autoroller to celebrate. And if a new roller – gold or green – is of interest please don’t hesitate to get in touch 01380 850885 – www.cricketroller.co.uk

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Gullane and Toro partnership to hit 25 years

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Gullane and Toro partnership to hit 25 years: Gullane Golf Club in Scotland and Toro certainly have history. With the latest deal taking it to 25 years, it’s a partnership claimed to have produced putting surfaces as close to perfection as nature will allow. 

That accolade was made about the effect of the Greensmaster TriFlex Hybrid 3420 mowers on the course for the Scottish Open three years ago and with a new machine in the club’s last order, clearly the Toro effect continues.

Gullane and Toro partnership to hit 25 years

Gullane and Toro partnership to hit 25 years

“Toro gave us the attention to detail to create near-perfect conditions. It always has, and it’s why this latest deal takes our relationship to a quarter of a century,” says course manager Stewart Duff.

With three 18-hole courses, Gullane No. 1 carved into ancient links turf, Gullane No. 2 sweeping down to a nature reserve, and Gullane No. 3 with views across Aberlady Bay to the Firth of Forth and beyond, it’s no wonder the club is regarded as one of the most picturesque golf spots in the world. And with a state of the art short game practice area, driving range and children’s course as well, Toro certainly has a lot of area to cover when it comes to maintaining the course. Helping with that is the Groundsmaster 4700-D, which is a like-for-like replacement in the last order from Toro distributor Reesink Turfcare.

Stewart explains: “We split our Toro fleet between the courses as we have so much ground to cover, but there are a couple of machines we use across all three; the Groundsmaster 4700-D is one of those machines. With a cutting width of 12.5ft alongside a high-powered engine it’s incredibly productive.”

And it certainly gets put to good use at Gullane, says Stewart: “In the growing season we have the machine in use five days a week across all the courses, doing three times the amount of work compared to our machines that just work on the one course. So the 4700-D that we had in our last fleet for four years, actually did the equivalent of 12 years’ worth of work – but even then, it was still going strong when we signed the new agreement.”

Joining the Groundsmaster 4700-D and the Greensmaster TriFlex Hybrid 3420 mowers in the last fleet purchase was the Toro Workman utility vehicle and ProPass 200 topdresser.

Stewart continues: “We’re constantly looking at small tweaks we can make in order to get the best possible results and improve the courses for all, and Toro plays a big part in that. For example, we opted for the two Reelmaster 3550-D fairway mowers as the smaller sized cutting units allowed us to follow the contours better, which results in a better quality of cut. The slick tyres on the machines also prevent any turf damage when turning.”

Included as part of Gullane’s tournament support fleet in 2018 were Toro’s GTX electric utility vehicles and they certainly impressed Stewart with him saying at the time he’d be changing his utility vehicles to be Toro based on his positive experience. The arrival of three Workman utility vehicles in the last order sees Stewart true to his word and it sounds as though Toro will be around for many more years to come at Gullane.

Stewart concludes: “The team and I are delighted to have Toro here at the club for another five years; although realistically that’s more than likely going to be another 10 years. We really do feel as though we have the best possible machinery for the courses and with a club that wholeheartedly supports that relationship, I can only see us continuing to invest in Toro in the future.”

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Choosing the right topdressing brush

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Choosing the right topdressing brush: Topdressing has been an essential greenkeeping technique for over 150 years, since the days of Old Tom Morris.  It serves multiple purposes; to help maintain a true surface, to balance and dilute the buildup of organic matter, to fill coring holes, and to maintain a free-draining surface.

Modern topdressers can apply both heavy and light dressings

Topdressing is spread in different thicknesses, from just a frequent light dusting, to a heavy dressing after hollow coring. Over the years various methods have been used to incorporate the topdressing into the turf canopy.  For many years metal link drag-mats were the norm, but these tended to scrape the dressing across the surface, and were particularly aggressive on the crowns of undulations.

Choosing the right topdressing brush

Choosing the right topdressing brush

In recent years, brushes have become accepted as the optimal tool for working-in topdressing.  However, even these have significant subtle differences between different types.

Which type of brush is best for different greens?

Since its introduction in the 1990’s the Greens-Groomer has been recognized as one of the most effective topdressing brushes ever invented. It has 16 separate brushes mounted in a triple zig-zag pattern.  As the Greens-Groomer passes over the turf, the brushes move the sand forwards and sideways in three directions, making it ideal for filling coring holes. The absence of power-driven rotating brushes ensures that the turf is not bruised and unpleasant dust is not generated, even when operating at speed.

The Greens-Groomer is fast and very effective, and doesn’t bruise the turf

The Greens-Groomer’s large 1.8 x 1.2m (6’ x 4’) footprint has a luting effect, keeping the surface of the green flat and true.

However, if your greens are intentionally undulating, you need a totally different type of brush that will accurately follow the contours and evenly brush-in the dressing.  This is the purpose of the Thatch-Away topdressing brushes.  These fit into the Thatch-Away interchangeable cassette system, and attach to all popular greensmowers.  The three individual brush units run on their own front and rear guide wheels to accurately follow the contours of the green without scraping the crowns or filling up the hollows.

Thatch-Away topdressing brushes accurately follow the contours of the green

Topdressing technology has come a long way since the days of Old Tom, but were he still here he would surely be pleased to see the way that the correct choice of topdressing brush can help to maintain the original characteristics of the greens.

For a free demonstration of these innovative brushes, contact GreenTek on 0113 267 7000.

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