Toro up for the job at Upminster

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Toro up for the job at Upminster: It was word of mouth and recommendations from nearby customers that saw Upminster Golf Club opt for Toro irrigation.

When Andy Cracknell assumed his new post as course manager at Upminster Golf Club two years ago, one of his first projects was overseeing the installation of a new irrigation system, all he had to do was choose who to go with.

Toro up for the job at Upminster

“By the time I came on board the decision had been made that the system needed to be replaced but it had not yet been decided who would be best to deliver on our objectives, which included a high degree of control to advance the turf quality on the fairways and approaches in particular.”

And it was fellow golf clubs in the vicinity of the club in Essex that made a potentially difficult decision straightforward, says Andy: “Some neighbouring clubs in the M25 area were using Toro irrigation and getting great results. The ground here is London clay and can be particularly difficult to work with, which meant I paid close attention to their experience using Toro irrigation, mainly the Lynx central control system. Everyone was raving about how effective it was.”

This is thanks to the level of control the Lynx system offers, as well as the option to choose sprinklers such as Infinity that can be accessed from the top down to prevent the messy, difficult and time-consuming process of digging up the sprinkler body for maintenance and servicing.

Clay soil needs to maintain a steady moisture level – if it gets overly wet or dry it’s easily damaged when dug up or walked on – hence the reason why Infinity sprinklers appealed so much to Andy.

“It was so important to have a system that offered us the ability to irrigate specifically to our soil’s unique needs,” he says. “We had moved past the point where it was okay to be irrigating in units of minutes, we needed to get down to the millimetre. When treated in the right way clay-based soil has the potential to be really fertile and we’re starting to see the positive difference this level of control is bringing to the quality of the soil.

“We have 150 Infinity sprinklers on the greens, surrounds, approaches and three of the fairways and there’s just no comparison when it comes to adjusting in the field, they’re so easy to use.”

The club also has T5 and T7 sprinklers fitted to specification on the tees and because says Andy “he wanted to keep everything all Toro”.

Apart from ease of use and better-quality turf, Andy says the benefits for going with Toro don’t stop there: “We’ve been using the system for seven months now and we’re definitely making a saving on the amount of water we’re using. We used to use about 70 cube of water a night on the greens but we’re using around 30 now. When you’re irrigating off the mains that’s significant.”

Hopefully though it won’t be long until Upminster has a degree of self-sufficiency to its irrigation, as Andy explains: “We have a river we can do more with. It can certainly be turned into a feature as an aesthetic benefit to the course, but more importantly we can irrigate from it too. That’s one of our next projects.”

Upminster Golf Club’s irrigation system was installed by Full Circle Irrigation and organised by Reesink Turfcare, the sole Toro distributor in the UK for golf and sports fields equipment and irrigation products, and Andy says “it’s been an excellent experience. We’ve had four or five site visits from Cevan Edwards from Reesink and everything has been very smooth.”

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Sherriff taking Bovey Castle back to the top

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Sherriff taking Bovey Castle back to the top: Scott Duff, head greenkeeper at Bovey Castle in Devon, is using a range of Sherriff Amenity products to help the club get back into the Top 100 Golf Courses.

Designed in 1926 by J F Abercromby, one of the finest British golf course designers of the last century, Bovey Castle’s 18 hole championship golf course is challenging and surrounded by the natural beauty of the Dartmoor.

Sherriff taking Bovey Castle back to the top

Scott, who has been at Bovey Castle for four years, started his turf career in football at Torquay United FC before switching to greenkeeping. He admits that it was somewhat of a challenging transition but claims that he has no regrets.

“When I was in football groundsmanship, I had always wanted to try greenkeeping but to be honest I was always worried that I would be out of my depth,” he said. “I went from looking after just one surface which had a fairly consistent maintenance regime to suddenly looking after a multitude of different areas – each with their own requirements. It was the biggest challenge in my career but also the best because I can confidently say that I love my job.”

Scott excelled in his new role and was rewarded two years ago when he was promoted to the position of head greenkeeper. Now, alongside Sean Bennett – course manager, the two of them have a very clear goal.

“We are a championship course which used to be in the top 100 but not anymore unfortunately. Quite simply our goal is to get back in there. I think with Sean’s knowledge of managing a course, his drive and his passion, along with the improvements he wants to make, I think it is very realistic.

“We are not a million miles away but we still have a lot of work to do and with people like David Chammings from Sherriff Amenity on-board then this will only boost our chances. David has really changed the way we approach our feed programmes and also some of the work we do out on the course because he draws up management plans which concentrate on what we should be doing throughout certain periods of the year.”

After consultation, David recommended a tank mixture consisting of iNTrench fertiliser 15.0.9 and GoGreen Energy bio-stimulant for the greens – two products which perfectly complement one another.

iNTrench is a controlled uptake nitrogen fertiliser designed specifically for the needs of professional sports turf. It gives up to ten weeks of improved blade colour and a higher quality turf with 66% the nitrogen rate of leading competitors. Its tank-mix partner, GoGreen Energy, is a concentrated bio-stimulant, formulated to assist plant health and relieve stress symptoms.

“Every course is different and you have to work out what is best for your site,” said Scott. “With iNTrench and GoGreen, we find that if we go at half rate (20 l/ha) every two weeks, then the greens seem to hold the nutrients a lot better. By applying it like this we notice healthier greens and also better longevity out of the products. This tank-mix has worked really well for us and there has been a big improvement in the greens.

“In fact, we also use this mix with the addition of seaweed on our tees if they need some instant colour-up.”

Scott also reported excellent results from Sherriff Amenity’s Aqua-Zorb 45 – a unique wetting agent, which helped him through a somewhat difficult summer last year.

“Last year, Aqua-Zorb was a real saviour for us. I would say that at least 90% of courses in the UK would say that the disease period for golf was horrendous last year and a good wetting agent could have saved money on fungicides and relieved the drought stress.

“We had such intense heat last year and Aqua-Zorb still worked incredibly well considering we were frequently seeing temperatures of 30°C plus.

“I feel we have been going through a massive transition period and this year we will see even more improvements to the course. The Sherriff Amenity products have played a big role in the success over the past couple of years and I can’t fault the service from David whatsoever.”

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

For more news and insightful views, you can follow Sherriff Amenity on Twitter @SherriffAmenity

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Matrax Pens Deal with Mercedes-Benz Stadium

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Matrax Pens Deal with Mercedes-Benz Stadium: 2019’s Sports Facility of the Year closes on the acquisition of a 108,150 square foot Matrax heavy duty turf protection event flooring system

Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a sports and entertainment stadium located in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia that serves as the official home to NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and MLS’ Atlanta United. In 2019, the stadium was named Sports Facility of the Year at the annual Sports Business Awards and was also named Facility of the Year at the World Football Summit this past September in Madrid. The stadium is host to a wide array of major sporting and non-sporting events including Super Bowl LIII, the college football national championship, the 2018 MLS Cup and MLS All-Star game and will play host to the Men’s NCAA Final Four in April of 2020. Over the years, the stadium has hosted major music artists such as Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Ed Sheeran.  Most recently, the venue was host to George Strait, joined by musical guests Christ Stapleton, Chris Janson, and Ashley McBryde.

Matrax Pens Deal with Mercedes-Benz Stadium

As the intensity and frequency of non-sporting events continues to increase at stadium venues like Mercedes-Benz Stadium, there is greater demand to ensure the playing surface is protected from heavy loads and vehicular traffic.  Where other field covering systems are designed from a flooring perspective, Matrax was engineered with temporary road building and heavy vehicular traffic in mind.

To meet the increasing operational demands, an official request for proposal was issued by the stadium in July 2019 seeking 108,150 square feet of heavy duty, drivable flooring. Additionally, Matrax was able to broker the re-sale of the depreciated asset, thus offering additional value to the RFP process.

“As a world class venue, we hold all of our vendors to the highest standard. Matrax was selected for its proven track record of superior field performance and durability. Matrax is a solid investment for our operations and will be an integral component to our success on the field during these non-sporting events.”  David Duernberger, Director of Stadium Operations, Mercedes-Benz Stadium

The first deployment of the new Matrax 4×4 HD system will occur in early November 2019 to support an epic weekend of live music to include musical artists Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Sam Hunt, Sugarland, Judah & the Lion, Cale Dodds, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Brothers Osborne, and Caylee Hammack.

Matrax has become the system of choice by many industry professionals and has been utilized at countless notable venues worldwide including but not limited to Banc of California Stadium, Petco Park, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, San Siro Stadium, MetLife Stadium, and Gillette Stadium.

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Hunter a ‘game-changer’ at Redditch GC

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Hunter a ‘game-changer’ at Redditch GC: Karl Williams, Course Manager at Redditch Golf Club, has reported significant improvements to the course since the installation of a new Hunter Irrigation system, which was installed by Prime Irrigation and supplied by KAR UK.

Founded in 1913, Redditch Golf Club is one of the finest parkland courses in the midlands and is well known for its woodlands, topography and quality playing surfaces.

Hunter a ‘game-changer’ at Redditch GC

Karl has been Course Manager at Redditch since October 2014 and within the first few months of his new role, he quickly identified an area which needed improvement.

“In 2015 we had an appraisal on the old irrigation system, which confirmed the inadequacies and poor reliability of the system. With continuous bursts and cable breaks, which resulted in an awful lot of hand watering,” said Karl.

Following the summer of 2018, the proposal to install a completely new irrigation system was passed by the committee and approved by 97% of the club’s members in favour.

A plan needed to be put into place quickly for the new system to cover all greens, tees, approaches and green surrounds. After speaking with Hunter Industries, there was no doubt in Karl’s mind due to their products, that it was the way to go.

G885D Series Rotors – With a built-in decoder offering single head control, superior uniformity coupled with the TTS technology allowing every serviceable element of the rotor to be accessed through the top so you can get to every component without disturbing the playing surface – no more digging, no more unsightly scars, and more importantly, one less item on a busy course manager’s schedule.

I-20 Series Rotors – A high performance rotor for tees and a popular choice for many turf managers, with the efficiency required for any site. Utilising the Match Precipitation Rate (MPR) nozzles ensures accurate, even distribution and water savings over a variety of mixed sprinkler arcs.

Pilot CCS PC-based central control system – a PC-based software package that makes central control of large-scale irrigation systems affordable, usable, and comprehensible.

“The new system has been an absolute game-changer,” said Karl. “It allows us to apply water in millimetres – simply replacing the daily deficit every night has made a huge difference. Even in the highest temperatures, the greens do not lose moisture and we no longer have to worry about them looking worn. They are consistently good which is great from a player’s point of view.”

Hunter a ‘game-changer’ at Redditch GC

“That has been a huge bonus, but the biggest area of improvement since the system was installed has been on the tees. For example, prior to the new system, the first tee had just four larger sprinklers along one side and they would overshoot, miss the tee and spill onto the path. Now we have five I-20 rotors on each side of the tee fitted with the Matched Precipitation Rate nozzles. This ensures that the water is applied to the tee playing surface at all times, receives excellent coverage and results in saving water, which makes it all very efficient!”

“It’s so good that we can now target individual areas because we have got some greens which face different directions – we’ve got slopes, banks and some areas that require more water than others. We can keep on top of everything at just the click of a button.”

“The system also allows a wide choice of options when planning a watering cycle, I can apply 2mm of water to all of the green’s at the start of a cycle and then it will go around the rest of the system before coming back to that same green and applying another 2mm if this is required. This is great because rather than the water running off the green surface it gives it time to soak in before the next part.”

From when Karl first started speaking to Hunter Industries, the whole project was completed within 14 months and any worries he had about the installation disturbing play were quickly alleviated.

“The members have been overwhelmed with how little obtrusion there was to play and throughout the whole installation period. There were no golf holes closed at any time – they couldn’t believe how tidy it was and how quickly it was installed, a testament to Prime Irrigation.”

“I’m just really pleased with the whole project and the service we have received has been fantastic. Back-up support from suppliers is vital in this industry and we absolutely get that.”

Hunter Golf Irrigation is distributed in the UK by KAR UK. For more information, please visit www.karuk.com and www.hunterindustries.com.

You can also follow KAR UK on Twitter @KARUK_LTD for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

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ICL The Remedy For Recovery

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ICL The Remedy For Recovery: Harry Cannon, Course Manager at Sand Martins Golf Club in Berkshire, believes that a range of ICL products have significantly helped the tees to combat signs of heavy wear.

Opened in 1993, the Sand Martins course has been cleverly designed with two distinct and contrasting nine holes. The front nine is set in parkland with lakes and water hazards whereas when you move to the back nine it is quite obvious to see that it transforms to a links style with deep revetted bunkers and hazards lurking on every hole.

ICL The Remedy For Recovery

Despite the variety in style between the two nines, one thing remains constant – the quality of the playing surfaces, and that is partly thanks to Harry, whose enthusiasm and commitment to the development of Sand Martins is clearly evident.

At just 28 years old Harry is a relatively young Course Manager but in his short career he already boasts a wealth of experience. It all started in 2007 when he embarked on a summer job at the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club and realised that he wanted to pursue a career in greenkeeeping. After completing his necessary qualifications and spending a further nine years at Mid-Surrey he landed the role as Deputy Course Manager at Sand Martins. It wasn’t long before the determined Harry made his mark and was promoted to the position of Course Manager.

“I have great support around me and the team are absolutely fantastic,” he said. “It is still quite a young golf course which brings its challenges but all 18 holes are managed the same and with the programmes that we have in place through ICL, we are able to keep the standards consistently high.”

While it is obvious that Harry takes most challenges in his stride, he admits to facing the most problematic period in his career last year when the Club, and most of the country, experienced extreme droughts.

Harry started by overseeding with ICL’s ProSelect 2 Tees/Fairway mixture which contains a blend of fine fescues and perennial ryegrass. Using a disc-seeder, he applied the seed at 15g/m2 to the tees and double passed.

“We had dried out so much we began to lose turf coverage in areas,” said Harry. “Therefore, we overseeded with ProSelect at the end of September and that got us out of jail massively – it was exactly what was needed. We were getting a great strike going into winter and fortunately because it was quite mild we had early germination.”

With the turf established, Harry’s attentions turned to maintaining the tees in order to control the amount of wear they were experiencing. After speaking to Matt Nutter, ICL Technical Area Sales Manager, he decided that the best way forward would be to apply a granular fertilizer in the form of ProTurf 15-5-15+2CaO+2MgO at the start of the season, followed by a monthly tank-mix consisting of Primo Maxx II growth regulator (1.6 L/ha), and a range of soluble fertilizers – Sportsmaster WSF High N (15Kg/ha), Sportsmaster WSF High K (15Kg/ha) and Sportsmaster WSF Iron (15Kg/ha).

“The purpose of using ProTurf at the start of season is to give the turf a jump-start coming out of winter and going into summer. At the start of June and throughout the whole month it is our Club Championships so we need to be looking sharp and this is what ProTurf gives you.

“The soluble feeds – the High N, the High K and the Iron just seem to keep them ticking over all the way through the year. It’s a perfect mixture and I think the good thing about these ICL products is that we can just amend the application rates depending on what is required. If we have had a lot of rain then we might not need as much N and if they are stressed then we may put in a little bit more K. These products really do allow you to micro-manage.

“For a club that has busy periods, with small tees, and at a time when we were experiencing a lot of stress from last year we have seen great recovery, an improved clipping yield and the density of the sward has considerably thickened. Therefore the biggest praise I can give these products is that they have enabled us to control the amount of wear.”

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

For more news and insightful views, you can follow ICL on Twitter @ICL_Turf

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