Dennis & SISIS Seminar A Success

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Dennis & SISIS Seminar A Success: St. Albans School, Woollam Trust Playing Fields played host to the Dennis and SISIS Groundcare Seminar on Tuesday 19 February with delegates labeling the event a huge success. For a number of years, the Dennis and SISIS pre-season indoor seminars have toured up and down the country and have successfully seen over 1800 ground staff in attendance. As they continue to grow in both size and reputation, the seminars are continually evolving with the people of the industry in mind.

Designed to educate those involved in groundcare on a variety of sports turf topics, this seminar signalled an exciting new chapter in the series and it certainly didn’t disappoint the two hundred and fifty strong audience which consisted of volunteers and professionals representing schools, sports clubs, local authorities and contractors.

Dennis & SISIS Seminar A Success

The seminar was well supported by the industry and welcomed a number of key sponsors which included Bernhard and Company, Consolidate Turf, CricketWorld.com, Garside Sands, Harrod Sport, Headland Amenity, Limagrain UK, Poweroll, RT Machinery and SIS Pitches.

After an introduction from Dennis and SISIS’ Robert Jack, former Rugby Union star Kyran Bracken, arguably best known for his heroics in England’s victorious 2003 World Cup win, took to the stage to relay some highly interesting and humorous stories about that memorable campaign in Australia.

It was then straight to business with back-to-back presentations from key speakers Rob Kendle (ATB Sports Solutions), Dr. Iain James (TGMS Ltd) and Alex Vickers (IOG consultant).

Rob started proceedings by discussing best practice in renovating and rejuvenating a surface; Iain followed with a plethora of advice on how to get the most out of a sportsground construction project and Alex gave the audience a fantastic insight into drainage on sports pitches.

A complimentary lunch signalled the halfway point and attendees had the opportunity to network with one another and discuss individual projects with event sponsors.

Once refreshed, delegates settled into their seats for an afternoon feast of knowledge served by Chris Wood (ECB pitch consultant) and Keith Kent (RFU head groundsman, Twickenham).

Keith drew on his wealth of experience as a groundsman to explore the transformation of winter sports pitches into cricket outfields and Chris reflected on 50 years in cricket groundsmanship in which he focussed on vital techniques before discussing emerging trends which could become essential in the not too distant future.

The day concluded with a special recognition award by Tim Lamb, former chief executive of the ECB, to Chris Wood for his outstanding contribution to the game of cricket over the past 50 years, which also saw a standing ovation from the crowd.

Commenting on the event, Alison Davenport, general manager of the East London Community Sports Association said:

“We are currently having drainage issues with one of our pitches and fortunately today’s seminar has covered this at length,” she said. “In fact, we are in the process of trying to persuade our council to let us take over a contract for some grounds maintenance work and the knowledge we have gained today will only help our cause because we now feel confident that we can go back to them and showcase that we have the ability to do the work successfully. We have taken something from every element of this seminar and it has been invaluable.”

Nick Lockhart, cricket professional and head of grounds and gardens at Felsted School in Essex, brought two members of staff along with him and believes the Dennis and SISIS seminars are essential for anyone who wants to take their sports surfaces to the next level.

“It has been thoroughly enjoyable, informative and thought provoking. I would go as far as saying that it is a must-attend event for people in this industry. It has been incredibly interesting listening to all of the speakers who have all raised great points that we can take away with us and put into practice. Speakers aside, the networking opportunities are also important because it gives us a chance to speak to other delegates, find out what they might be doing differently to us and hopefully learn from them too.”

Echoing Nick was Andy Mackay, head groundsman at Sussex CCC, who said that the line-up of speakers was just too good to ignore.

“The quality of speakers at this particular event was a huge draw in my decision to come. I’ve been in turf for over 20 years and I still learn something new every single time I listen to Alex Vickers. The general atmosphere of the event was worth coming for and the whole programme was spectacular.”

Keith Kent may well be responsible for one of the most prestigious stadiums in world sport but claims that every day should still be a learning day.

“I think that as part of everybody’s education every day should be a school day and a seminar such as this, where there are such high-quality speakers, is a vital opportunity to progress. For me, it is all about the education and that is why I’ve brought my staff along. I like them to see what I do because I don’t want to be the boss who just disappears. They have come along, enjoyed the day, picked up new ideas and met lots of people from a range of different sports.”

Further information about the range of cricket maintenance products available can be found by visiting www.dennisuk.com / www.sisis.com.

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow Dennis on Twitter and Instagram @DennisMowers and SISIS @SISISMachinery. You can like the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/DennisMowersUK and www.facebook.com/SISISMachinery. You can also view the latest Dennis videos by visiting www.youtube.com/DennisMowers and www.youtube.com/SISISMachinery

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AGS Secure TurfTec Agreement

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AGS Secure TurfTec Agreement: Advance Grass Solutions Ltd is pleased to announce a UK exclusive agreement to distribute TTI products.

Turf Tec International is the leading manufacturer of diagnostic turfgrass tools and environmental test equipment in the world. The company was started by the late Tom Mascaro in 1976 to manufacture tools to benefit Golf Course and Sports Turf Managers in everyday maintenance. Tom was best known for his invention of the Aerifier in 1946 and the Verti-Cut in 1955 along with over 100 other turf related inventions.

AGS Secure TurfTec Agreement

John Mascaro, Tom’s son, now heads Turf-Tec, and is carrying on the family tradition of introducing innovative tools to aid the Professional Sports Turf Manager. With his insight, Turf-Tec have developed a line of diagnostic instruments for turf that until now were only available to researchers at universities. These instruments are simple to use yet give meaningful results. With over 200 products catalogued for analysis in soil, water, turf nutrition and grass in addition to general turf management products Turf-Tec can provide answers to aid your turf maintenance programmes.

“Turf-Tec International is committed to developing new products and new techniques to keep turf and soil healthy, based upon time-proven methods of finding causes of problems rather than treating symptoms. In the 21st century scientific analysis and the data it can provide offers Sports Turf Managers greater knowledge to produce increasingly successful results” said Sam Honeyborne, Managing Director at AGS.  “Their products are the highest quality, most are made in the USA and all are fully warrantied. “

For more information on the Turf-Tec range please call 0118-3914540 or visit the AGS website.

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Barenbrug’s New Winter Sports Blend

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Barenbrug’s New Winter Sports Blend: Elite Sport from Barenbrug is the new number one rated Winter Sports blend. The top-performing product blends perennial ryegrasses for the renovation and construction of winter sports pitches.

Cultivar trials at the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) under the British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB) protocol analyse the performance of sports perennial ryegrasses under intensive wear pressure in line with a winter sports season.  The trial plots are sown in spring, and a “wear simulation machine” is applied from autumn through to the following spring.  Individual cultivars are replicated three times and scored for traits such as Visual Merit; Live Ground Cover; Shoot Density and Recovery; each scored on a scale of 1-9 (9 is highest).

Barenbrug's New Winter Sports Blend

A ryegrass cultivar must be subjected to three successive wear trials (sports seasons) to be listed in Table S1 of the annual publication “Turfgrass Seed” (aka “the STRI/BSPB booklet”).  Table S1 represents a ranking of Mean scores (the combined average of Visual Merit and Live Ground Cover) of approximately 100 perennial ryegrass varieties.

Elite Sport features four of the top-six cultivars in the S1 table and contains 40% by composition of the new #1-ranked Europitch (Mean = 8.1).  Overall, the product blend has an outstanding Mean score of 7.92.  This score translates into Elite Sport being the industry-leading performing product for winter sports use in the UK.

In addition to performance underwear, the blend has other traits of interest to grounds managers of elite winter sports surfaces.  Barcristalla (25% of the mix) is ranked #1 in the top-60 listed varieties for dark green colour and has exceptional Drechslera leaf spot and Fusarium (Microdochium) tolerance (source: turfgrass-list.org).  These two factors are particularly important to stadium environments under intensive disease pressure and the scrutiny of high-definition TV cameras.

Three of the four varieties have also been put their paces at Barenbrug’s dedicated UK research station, Cropvale, in Worcestershire.  Here, wear simulation is monitored using Digital Image Analysis (DIA) to objectively analyse performance.

Elite Sport is being successfully tested in pilot form at Heart of Midlothian FC, following a full pitch reconstruction in the summer of 2018.

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Toro’s World Cup Prep

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Toro’s World Cup Prep: As one of just ten venues in the country selected for the 12th ICC Cricket World Cup next year, Somerset County Cricket Club is relying on Toro to ensure its outfield is ready for the eyes of the cricketing world upon it.

The club, based in Taunton, is in good company as a World Cup host with Lord’s and The Oval, but as one of the smallest and newest in the line-up, the benchmark is high, says head groundsman Simon Lee.

“Our trajectory of growth over the last five years has been huge. As part of our categorisation in to group B we received some funding so for the first time in 100 years we could improve our drainage system. This completely changed the way the outfield grew. What had previously been more like a recreational surface was suddenly more like a sports surface, with thicker, denser grass.

“This has meant a lot more work in terms of cutting and maintaining the area. We’d been using a 20-year old Toro Reelmaster 2300-D, and while that machine has been a fantastic workhorse and we’d never had a problem with it, the time had come to upgrade to a newer model to help cope with the change in the turf’s characteristics.”

A demo, organised by Devon Garden Machinery, saw Simon and the team trial a seven-year old Toro Reelmaster 3100-D, which, says Simon, “set the bar high for everything else that followed.”

He continues: “Whatever machine followed the RM2300-D had its work cut out. We think so highly of it that if its successor is even half as good as it’s been, that will be enough”. And it’s so far so good with the new Toro RM3100-D the club ultimately opted for. Only time will tell if its longevity matches up to the formidable RM2300-D, but in terms of performance, Simon is impressed.

“Mechanically its all the same – an engine and bottom blade – but my goodness the way it chews effortlessly through the grass is really impressive. It takes two and a half hours to cut five acres. Plus, by opting for Toro again, we have the added benefit of the reassurance of having a quality product, one that will last for years, giving us excellent value for money.

With three international matches between New Zealand and Afghanistan, Australia and Pakistan and West Indies and Bangladesh to look forward to it in June 2019, it really has been an eventful five years for the club, with the future everything to play for. Simon concludes: “Being chosen as a World Cup venue puts us on a level playing field with some of the best sporting venues in the country, and it’s incredibly important we present at our best. We feel confident we can do that, especially with Toro looking after the grounds.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Jacobsen And E-Z-GO At Forefront Of Battery Power

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Jacobsen And E-Z-GO At Forefront Of Battery Power: Jacobsen and E-Z-GO have been at the forefront of battery powered equipment in the turf maintenance and golf sector for many years, from the E-Z-GO RXV golf cars to the Jacobsen Eclipse 322. Now, E-Z-GO has introduced a range of ELiTE vehicles, activated by Samsung SDI lithium technology, offering zero-maintenance batteries with a five-year unlimited amp-hour warranty and increased energy efficiency.

The E-Z-GO ELiTE vehicles are a case in point to illustrate how battery power has evolved and the benefits it can bring. Launched into the UK market at the beginning of 2017 it has represented a major step forward in golf car technology delivering exceptional value to golf course operators.

New ELiTE Series vehicles are powered by hundreds of Samsung SDI lithium cells that are loaded into a single battery pack. The battery pack is controlled by an advanced Battery Management System that monitors efficiency, temperature, state of charge and the health of the batteries. These batteries are used to safely and reliably power electric cars, e-scooters, power tools and many other electrically powered vehicles, equipment and appliances.

The vehicles are powered by zero-maintenance lithium batteries that don’t require watering, terminal post checkups and cleaning like traditional lead acid batteries do. This is good news for businesses and individuals operating golf cars, as there is less downtime and maintenance to be carried out on the vehicles.

Charging time is significantly reduced, and ELiTE vehicles allow courses to “opportunity charge,” plugging vehicles in for quick charging sessions between rounds that can rapidly restore significant levels of energy to the battery system, as opposed to the lengthy recharge cycles required by lead-acid batteries.

The batteries in ELiTE vehicles have also been developed to be lighter than traditional lead acid batteries. ELiTE Series vehicles batteries are half the size and a fraction of the weight of lead-acid batteries, with the aim of reducing turf damage and soil compaction due to vehicle weight.

Jacobsen and E-Z-GO are brands under the umbrella of Textron Specialized Vehicles, so when Jacobsen began development of its latest diesel-electric hybrid and all-electric greens mower, the Eclipse 322, it was a sensible move to consult the design engineers at E-Z-GO. Much of the technology in the battery-powered Eclipse 322 is taken from the E-Z-GO RXV, another stalwart machine in the evolution of battery powered equipment. The automatic braking system and the main drive axle of the Jacobsen Eclipse 322 are shared with the RXV in particular.

All the systems and functions on the Eclipse are powered by electricity, the only difference is whether the electricity is produced ‘on the go’ as with the diesel-electric hybrid machine or stored in a battery pack as on the all-electric version.

Once you use electricity to power the machine, you can then use reasonably sophisticated electronics to control the functions on the machine. On the Eclipse the transport speed between greens can be set, as can the cutting speed when on the green; this can be locked in by the course manager using a PIN passcode, which cannot be overridden by the operator. 

Again, using electronic control, the steering in transport mode reacts much the same as a car, but when cutting mode is engaged, the ratio changes and becomes more responsive allowing the operator precise control.

However, the major benefit is the machine’s ability to control the number of cuts per metre when mowing. This ability to precisely control the frequency of cut (FOC) is unique to this mower and, like the transport and mowing speed control, it can be locked in by the course manager ensuring that every green is cut to exactly the same specification.

This is achieved because it is now possible, for the first time on a ride-on mower to control the relationship between reel speed and the forward movement of the mower. On a standard hydraulic-powered greens mower, the reels rotate at approximately 2000 rpm. The faster you move across the green, the cuts per metre reduce; conversely the slower you move, the number of cuts per metre increase, because the reels are spinning at a constant rate.

Now, with the reel motors and traction motors electrically driven, it is possible using electronic control, to slow the reels as the machine’s speed decreases and then increase reel speed as the speed across the green increases, therefore maintaining the number of cuts per metre.

Why is this important? It means that for the first time the course manager can guarantee his members that each and every green will be cut to exactly the same specification, ensuring consistency across all 18 putting surfaces.

The Eclipse also features individual reel lift and lower; the electric lift arms can be actuated individually, particularly useful when alternating the width of the clean up pass. As battery technology develops in the car industry, it will eventually cascade down into the turfcare sector and perhaps we’ll see some significant new developments in the way we maintain our outdoor environment.

To find out your local Ransomes Jacobsen dealer, visit: www.ransomesjacobsen.com

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