No better finish than a Dennis

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No better finish than a Dennis: Jay Berkhauer, Head Groundsman for Dartford FC, says that the Dennis G860 cylinder mower is hugely versatile and offers an unrivalled finish.

Jay, who is employed by Jordans Sports Ground Solutions, has been working at Dartford FC’s Princes Park Stadium for three seasons. As an experienced grounds manager, Jay has worked on many sports surfaces including football, rugby and cricket.

No better finish than a Dennis

No better finish than a Dennis

It’s safe to say that he knows his mowers and there’s one that he has used regularly throughout his career.

“I first started using Dennis G860’s when I worked at Crystal Palace FC – and I absolutely love them,” he said. “From all the mowers I have used in my career I am of the opinion that you just can’t get a better finish than a Dennis.”

Therefore, when Jay started working for Jordans Sports Grounds Solutions, he was pleased to be given a Dennis G860 to use at Dartford FC: “Everyone who works on the maintenance side for the company has a G860,” he added.

Relied upon at world class stadia and major tournaments, the Dennis G860 is one of the most renowned cylinder mowers in the grounds management industry. Lightweight at just 166kg it is incredibly easy to manoeuvre and comfortable to operate. The handlebar console houses the controls for the throttle, parking brake, roller drive and cutting cylinder drive.

The mower features a large diameter front roller with an adjustable scraper which has been designed for a precise height of cut control, giving an excellent finish on every occasion. The Dennis G860 also features an interchangeable cassette system to assist with a wide range of tasks such as including scarifying, verticutting, brushing, spiking, and slitting.

Jay claims that this versatility is one of the G860’s best features.

“We have the verticutting cassette, the brush and the cutting cylinder,” he said. “In the summer months when the grass needs thinning out, I’ll use the verticutting cassette. I’ll also use it during renovations, just to give it a thorough clean and to remove any thatch.

“In winter, I’ll use the brush cassette after a game to give the pitch a tidy-up and to remove any debris. If I used a small rotary mower to do this after a game, I would be doing it all night, so the brush has certainly helped me to save time.

“Then of course, we have the cutting cylinder which provides an excellent finish every time.

“For clubs at all levels, including grass roots level, there is no better machine,” continued Jay. “The G860 has everything you need in one mower. It is a 3-in-1 for me and therefore works out to be very cost-effective.

“It’s also very light and easy to operate. It never breaks down and reliability is so important for me.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

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

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Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

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Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure: As far as jobs go, Eton College provides a unique challenge. As one of the most recognisable names in education with great historical significance, the school’s reputation from students to sports pitches is paramount.

Since May 2020, Eton’s 38 winter sports pitches and 1,500 acres of land spanning the M4 all the way to 2012 Olympic venue Dorney Lake have been under the control of Grounds Manager Lee Marshallsay.

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

His tenure has coincided with the Covid pandemic, which brought to light the number of man-hours his team spent line marking and the fact something needed to be done about it.

For context, Lee has a team of thirty. Eleven are groundsmen, with two on the college’s golf course full time and another pair dedicated to line marking. Over the summer, the line marking duo spent six to seven weeks marking out football and rugby pitches for the commencement of the school year, and in November, Lee checked his Turf Keeper records to discover his team spent over 850 hours marking.

The man-hours and pressure involved in completing this task between terms had Lee looking for alternative options. Despite being initially sceptical of a robotic line maker, he eventually turned to Turf Tank. https://turftank.com/en/

“It was also about helping the team, so they didn’t feel under pressure all the time. With the robot, where it’s taken us six or seven weeks to mark everything, we can effectively do that in a week now. Suddenly, the pressure has gone, and if we have staff on holiday or off sick, it keeps us out of trouble.

“We’ve got some projects lined up this summer that we are going to do in-house, and suddenly, that marker frees up two people, and we can put extra staff on the projects. That’s how we’ll use it as an aid and addition to the team to help plan workload and projects.”

With the Turf Tank One in place, Lee is looking to cut his marking hours by more than half. For him, this will increase pitch quality with additional aeration, cutting and finessing taking place. But choosing a robot and company that could provide everything he needed was critical.

The support from Alex and the Turf Tank team has been exemplary, with all questions answered quickly and I know that there is a full-time service engineer if I ever need hands-on assistance.”

“I think to be fair; the Turf Tank instantly ticked a lot of boxes for us. And it wasn’t just me, my team were there, and we tried other machines a week apart on the same pitch. We looked at line quality, how much paint it was putting out, how quick it was to set up, and there were similarities.

“But then we started to think about the differences. Do we want to be tied into a paint deal? Do we want an annual subscription fee? Turf Tank gave us that bit more flexibility.

“The other factor was the base station. You read a lot about the pros and cons, but to be honest as soon as I saw how it interacted with the machine, and how much more accurate the marking was, compared to those without using a base station, the whole team were like ‘it’s a no brainer, isn’t it?’ It blew us away, to be fair, and we bought the Turf Tank, and we now have base station points installed across the site, and it has worked really, really well.

“The Turf Tank records templates for initial marking and subsequent over-marking. Being able to get those templates was a significant point for us and nothing has been out of the remit of the robot. We’ve got most of the pitches loaded up now, including where the goals are actually smaller than a football goal, but we’ve managed to get the robot between the two posts and mark. Everything we’ve asked for has happened, and it has been great

“We want to teach our staff new skills and using and understanding the latest technology is very much part of Eton College’s ethos. I’m very much won-over and very impressed with the Turf Tank One line-marking robot. And if I were to move anywhere else, it is one of the first things I’d want to have in my fleet.”

For more information on the Turf Tank One or to have a demonstration contact alex@turftank.co.uk (southern UK) or matt@turftank.co.uk (northern UK) Michael@turftank.co.uk (Scotland and Ireland)

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10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

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10 STAR EV machines for Spurs: Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has chosen 10 electric STAR EV Capella Work Machines for use at its Training Centre in North London.

The Training Centre plays host to all of its teams, from the U8s through to the U23s plus both Men’s and Women’s First Teams. In addition, the Club regularly hosts international teams including England on numerous occasions. Head of Playing Surfaces and Estates, Darren Baldwin knew he needed a capable and versatile range of utility vehicles to rely on. All while being electric.

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

He says: “We were looking for a brand that could rival the highly productive ‘mules’ in the utility vehicles category that are petrol and diesel. It would have been a hard hit to sacrifice productivity for being electric, but with STAR EV we haven’t had to.

“These machines have brought everything we need and more to the role of what a utility vehicle support fleet should do. We have an 80-acre site and a wide range of jobs that need doing, so these machines need to perform. We haven’t had a case when they haven’t.”

The combination of a 48V 5kW AC motor, a 210Ah Lithium-Ion battery and a carry capacity of 670kg have particularly impressed Darren: “They are market-leading when it comes to towing capacity, and the amount of payload they can handle competes with all the others we’ve ever used.

“Whether it’s lugging mannequins, balls and airbed walls for training around the campus, fulfilling housekeeping duties for the 46-bedroom lodge or supporting the grounds and gardens maintenance team, these workhorses have proved they can do all we need them to. They’re easy and comfortable to use, and quick too.”

But what about the practicalities of using an electric fleet? Darren confirms there’s no need for concern about using battery-powered machinery across such a large site with the app they all have access to: “It’s really easy to tell via the app what the battery life is so there’s no chance of ever getting caught out, but to be honest the charge time is so good I highly doubt that could ever happen despite the size of the venue.

“The buggies give an easy 50 miles per charge and it’s a real selling point for us that they only need one charge per week on average. The fact that charge can be done by a three-prong 13-amp plug, with 10 buggies across three charging stations, really puts them apart from the competition.”

In fact, Darren is so impressed with the performance he and the team has experienced so far, he’s planning on placing another order to make the club’s entire buggy fleet STAR EV. He says: “We started with 10 machines, but we’re already talking about adding to that and making the whole fleet STAR.”

To talk to Reesink e-Vehicles about the STAR EV range, call 01480 226800 or go online at reesink-evehicles.co.uk

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Newquay Natives Prevail

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Newquay Natives Prevail: A bespoke wildflower mixture consisting of native Cornish flowers has helped Newquay Golf Club scoop Syngenta’s annual Operation Pollinator Award.

The aim of the Golf Environment Awards (GEAs) is to recognise, reward and promote outstanding individuals and golf courses, no matter how big or small, for the time and effort they have put into protecting and preserving their unique surroundings.

Newquay Natives Prevail

Newquay Natives Prevail

The Awards consist of four categories – Environmental Golf Course of the Year, Conservation Greenkeeper Award, Outstanding Environmental Project of the Year, and the Operation Pollinator Award.

“I was hesitant at first because I saw what some of the other amazing courses had achieved and I wasn’t sure if we stood a chance,” said Dan Kendle, Course Manager at Newquay Golf Club. “However, a few people encouraged me to enter, and we were selected in the Operation Pollinator category.

“Just being included in the list of finalists was an achievement, but to go on and win it was mind blowing. It is something I am passionate about and my background before greenkeeping was conservation so I’m always trying to combine the two.”

The Operation Pollinator Award celebrates golf clubs that consistently deliver outstanding ecological habitat creation and management to benefit pollinating insects. Amongst other ecological activities on the course, Dan also impressed the judges by introducing native wildflower areas.

“I first spoke to David Bevan at Agrovista Amenity to explain what I wanted to achieve, and it was at this point he brought in Matt Gresty (MM and Designer Sales and Brand Manager for DLF UK). I explained that I didn’t want just a standard mix of wildflowers and that I wanted flowers that are native to my site. Matt went away and put together a wonderful mix and that was one of the main reasons we won the award.”

Appropriately named the Newquay Wildflowers, the mixture contained 24 flower species including Vipers Bugloss, Yellow Rattle, Common Toadflax, Dark Mullein plus five various grass species. Dan and his team created the first area in autumn 2020, and then started rolling it out to other areas on the course.

Not only have they provided a rich, colourful, and diverse ecological habitat but they have also wowed the public and members by offering great aesthetic value.

“We’ve seen a huge increase in the numbers of different butterflies and bumblebees, and we have also been getting rare species of birds including the Cornish Chuff. I record everything on the course, and we’ve had 8 species that are on the red list. It really is wonderful to see the course so alive with wildlife.

“The feedback has been fantastic too,” continued Dan. “We have a public footpath that runs right through the course, and one of the wildflower areas is in full view. So many members of the public have been stopping to take photos, and have been asking questions, so we gladly tell them about Operation Pollinator. The members are also on-board with the project and can really see the benefits.”

The ever-modest Dan was also quick to acknowledge the support of those around him and revealed that he plans on further extending the wildflower areas.

“Winning the award still hasn’t sunk in,” he said. “It is as much for my team as it is for me – and they should be proud of themselves. David and Matt have been helpful and I’m looking forward to working more closely with them as we create more wildflower areas.

“Awards such as these are incredibly important because there is still this stigma that golf courses are sterile environments pumped full of chemicals, but that could not be further from the truth. Look around the country and you can see what golf courses are doing now – it’s amazing. I’m delighted to be a part of it.”

For further information, please contact MM Sports Seed on 01386 791102 or visit the company’s new website www.mm-seeds.co.uk. You can also follow the company on Twitter: @MM_Seed

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Hunter innovation impresses The Swans

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Hunter innovation impresses The Swans: The advanced technology of Hunter Irrigation has hugely impressed Swansea City FC with Head Groundsman Evan Davies claiming it has improved the turf and simplified the irrigation process. 

As soon as Evan started his first job at a local cricket club, he knew that sports turf management was going to be his career. Over a decade later and he finds himself in the top position at the Swansea.com Stadium – home to Swansea City FC and Ospreys Rugby, in which he oversees the main stadium, the first-team training complex, and the youth academy.

Hunter innovation impresses The Swans

Hunter innovation impresses The Swans

Somewhat of a perfectionist, Evan likes to keep well informed of industry trends and technological advancements, and future planning is something he likes to see in companies that he chooses to work with:

“In my opinion, companies in this industry always need to have something next in line – the next product or innovative technology. KAR UK and Hunter Irrigation are great examples of forward-thinking companies. The development is always there. Roger Lupton (KAR UK Regional Sales Manager) is always keen to tell me what exciting new products and concepts are coming next. It’s great to see.”

The Hunter Irrigation system at the stadium, supplied by KAR UK, includes eight of the most technologically advanced commercial rotors on the market – the I-80’s.

Engineered for sports turf, the I-80 is built with a robust, dirt-tolerant gear drive that offers the highest torque output of any rotor in the commercial sphere, and extends a radius range from 11.3 to 29.6 meters. The I-80 features a wide range of highly efficient, dual-trajectory, wind-fighting nozzles for highly efficient performance in a range of applications. It also provides total top serviceability (TTS) via its integrated, surface-mounted snap-ring for no-dig easy maintenance.

“The I-80’s are incredible,” said Evan. “We are now able to get water to every area of the pitch including the wings – whereas previously we couldn’t reach them. It has made the pitch quicker and the playability better, so the manager and the coaches are happy.

Hunter innovation impresses The Swans

Hunter innovation impresses The Swans

“The TTS aspect of the rotors makes life a lot easier too. For example, before one game an away player came onto the pitch earlier than expected. He kicked a ball, and it broke one of the sprinklers. Fortunately, myself and a member of staff fixed it and put a new one in within 15 minutes. With the old sprinklers, that would have been impossible – we may have had to have the game postponed as we would have had to dig around it to replace the sprinkler.

“The ease of being able to change and service the I-80’s is a massive benefit. In fact, I can rely on any of the staff at any of the sites to be able to change the I-80 rotors if needed.”

As Evan alludes to, a Hunter Irrigation system is installed at all three of the club’s sites and Evan and his team can control the system to any of the pitches through the mobile-friendly Centralus irrigation management platform. This provides highly secure, comprehensive cloud-based control and monitoring features to the ACC2 controller. The connectivity allows users to view a controller’s status, change settings, view forecasts, save water, and receive instant notification of important system alarms — all without costly and time-consuming travel and site visits.

“It is so convenient,” said Evan. “If you are pitch side you don’t have to keep walking back and forth to control the water – you can just do it from your phone; you could be at home after just putting some fertiliser down and the rain suddenly stops – well you don’t have to drive back into work to put the water on anymore; whether it is a phone, a laptop or a tablet you can control everything.

“In the palm of your hand you can ensure that any part of any pitch gets the exact amount of water it needs. That is technology that certainly makes life easier for any groundsman.”

For more information, please visit www.karuk.com

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

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