New mowers make a big difference

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New mowers make a big difference: “It’s fair to say that if it wasn’t for the dealer back-up and the relationship I’ve built up over the years with James Moore of Farol and John Deere, I wouldn’t still be using their machinery, it’s that simple.”

So says course manager Alec MacIndoe of West Surrey Golf Club near Godalming, who earlier this year completed his second John Deere course maintenance equipment package deal with Farol at the club, and his fifth overall at three different courses over the past 20 years or so.

New mowers make a big difference

New mowers make a big difference

The latest fleet of 22 machines – mostly bought on a John Deere Financial operating lease with some on hire purchase – includes four of the company’s brand new 2750 E-Cut hybrid electric triplex mowers, as well as fairway, tees & surrounds and walk-behind greens mowers, a ProGator utility vehicle equipped with an HD200 sprayer, TX Turf Gators and a zero-turn rotary mower.

“We recently completed an £800,000 refurbishment of the clubhouse, renewed or redesigned all of the course’s 64 bunkers, and we’re a long way down the line with upgrading the irrigation system, so the club has proved it’s progressive and committed to investing in the facilities,” says Alec. “I did a lot of work with James Moore to identify and settle on the best options for this latest replacement package, while trying as far as possible to maintain the same financial commitment as before, so as not to overstretch the budget.

“My main question to Farol and John Deere was, as we’re already at a high level, how can we get even better and extend the quality of the playing surfaces even further? I was lucky enough to be shown the answer at the John Deere Classic in the US last year, where I saw the new 2750E for the first time, alongside the company’s GPS PrecisionSprayer and autonomous mower.

“Having this opportunity to see where John Deere was making positive changes to its equipment, particularly with the 2750E mowers, was a real eye-opener. These new mowers have changed our cutting regime massively and I’ve been enormously impressed with the improvement in quality, we’re now getting a much better finish.

“The original idea was to hand mow the greens for most of the summer, but we found that the 2750E gives us the same pace on our USGA spec greens as the walk-behinds. We’d never cut the greens for the club championship with a triplex before, and the positive feedback we got was amazing. We will still hand mow through the winter though, and just use the triples at the weekends.

“We had 7700 fairway mowers in the first package, equipped with QA7 cutting units, but this time round we went for the 7500AE with QA5s, also for the better quality of cut they offer – we’re always looking for improvements in whatever we do. We’re now cutting the fairways at 12mm, and the difference in sward quality is huge.

“Using John Deere’s TechControl system on the mowers, you can set them up to maintain a consistent clip frequency at whatever forward speed you’re running. We run two of the 2750Es with 11-blade cylinders on the greens and two with seven-blade cylinders on the tees, approaches and surrounds, and keep a spare set of the 11-blade units.

“We also have a set of GreenTek vibratory rollers for the 2750E, in addition to our Tru-Turf greens roller, to help keep the putting surfaces smooth with no compaction, particularly after aeration and coring. These rollers will be used three times a week in the winter, when we only cut once a week.

“All four of the 2750Es are equipped with three-wheel drive and are completely interchangeable, all around the course. Now I’ve seen and used this new mower, for me there’s no comparison with the previous 2500 model – that was a great mower in its time, but the new machines are quicker, more flexible and more versatile.

“As for fuel economy, we haven’t physically measured it but I know we can get three times around the course before needing to fill up, so we have noticed considerable fuel savings.”

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Hybrid mowers prove their worth

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Hybrid mowers prove their worth: Founded in 1889, Royal County Down is one of the oldest golf clubs in Ireland and features two 18-hole links, the Championship Course and the Annesley Links.

Located in the beautiful surroundings of the Murlough Nature Reserve in Northern Ireland and set against the magnificent backdrop of the Mountains of Mourne, the links stretch along the shores of Newcastle’s Dundrum Bay and provide a different view from virtually every hole.

Hybrid mowers prove their worth

Hybrid mowers prove their worth

Eamonn Crawford has been links manager at Royal County Down for 10 years but has worked here for 45, maintaining not just his beloved links to the highest standards but also a consistent approach to the purchase of new course equipment.

“Every golf course is different, but I like to have a mixture of machinery and if it’s good enough I’ll use it,” he says. “My approach is very much horses for courses, and I aim to buy the right make for the jobs that need doing, to get them done properly.”

As a result, one of the club’s most recent investments has been in a fleet of four new John Deere 7500A E-Cut hybrid electric fairway mowers, delivered by local dealer Ricky Neill of Johnston Gilpin & Co at Lisburn. These have joined seven of the company’s TH 6×4 Gator utility vehicles as well as two vintage 1200A bunker rakes, which are approaching 15 years old and still doing a good job.

“I’ve dealt with the dealership for nearly 20 years,” says Eamonn. “Service and back-up are very important to us, and Johnston Gilpin have always proved their worth on that score, particularly with loan equipment. Generally, we need demo machines for more than just one or two days, preferably three or four weeks so we can test them properly in all conditions, and that’s what happened last year with the 7500AE mower.

“We get a lot of rain here and cutting in the wet is just the worst job. Fairway mowers in particular can leave a lot of mess, but the collection on these new machines is very good, the grass gets thrown right to the back of the boxes. We box off all the cuttings on the Annesley Links, which we’ve never done before, and people have been commenting how good the fairways are playing there now.”

Hybrid mowers prove their worth

Hybrid mowers prove their worth

Six of Royal County Down’s 17 full-time greenkeeping staff are dedicated 7500AE operators. All four mowers are set to cut the fairways at 9mm on both 18-hole courses every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, plus all the pathways. Nets have been added to the mowers’ roll-bars for protection, as there are a lot of blind tee shots around the courses.

“One of our greenkeepers, Mark Kennedy, is very mechanically minded and has done a lot of product training with Johnston Gilpin learning about the machines and how to set them up, so he looks after them all,” says Eamonn. “All the operators know their machines well too and are very good at their job.

“They’ve got to be comfortable using the mowers, given how much time they spend in the seat all day, and they always report back, good or bad! The 7500AEs hold their cut very well, especially down to the bottom of the contours and hollows. Golfers like a tight lie, and the new mowers give us the consistent quality of cut that our members and visitors appreciate.

“The E-Cut hybrid electric system also saves fuel and produces very low emissions, so it all adds up so far. We’re very pleased with these new John Deere fairway mowers, and I’m very confident that they will be with us for a long time, particularly with Mark looking after them so well.”

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Unique marathon completed

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Unique marathon completed: Guinness world record was set at Boulby mine in east Cleveland on Saturday (Oct 10th) to mark World Mental Health Day.

Two Army Cadet National Ambassadors, Sally Orange and Jordan Wylie, alongside a small team of runners from ICL UK, ran a marathon at the bottom of the deepest mine in the country.

Unique marathon completed

Unique marathon completed

Running 26 miles in any circumstances is a challenge but doing it a thousand metres under the surface of the earth in temperatures which can reach 40 Celsius – while dressed in safety equipment – is not for the faint hearted.

On top of that, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, those taking part had to observe social distancing, wear face coverings and sanitise regularly. The masks only being removed briefly for photo opportunities.

Unique marathon completed

Unique marathon completed

“It was hot, sweaty, dark and very tricky,” said Sally. “We weren’t trying to set a record for speed so we took it steadily just to make sure we could complete the challenge and raise awareness of how mental illness can have hidden affects on people of all ages.”

Sally explained why the attempt was called ‘Beneath the Surface’:

“We thought it perfectly encapsulates the way we never really know what is going on underneath the surface of an individuals’ mind,” she said. “Not all injuries are visible. And problems with mental health often carry a stigma which we are striving to overcome,” she added.

A second Guinness world record was also set on the day as the Army Cadets Force delivered the largest ever online mental health awareness training course, breaking the previous record of 2,000 students set in India three years ago.

Unique marathon completed

Unique marathon completed

Scott Garnett, agronomist at ICL UK, organised the Boulby side of the event:

“We are very proud to be part of setting this world record at our mine,” he said. “Obviously it was a unique occasion which couldn’t have happened without so many of our staff getting involved. Proof positive that ‘team work makes the dream work’.”

The entire event was to raise awareness and funds for three charities; SSAFA, Young Minds and Frontline Children. You can still support the attempt at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=beneaththesurfacemarathon&pageUrl=11

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Report uncovers environmental impact of petrol tools

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Report uncovers environmental impact of petrol tools: The UK’s most widely used petrol-powered outdoor power tools have been put to the test, as part of a new report published by EGO. Bringing together evidence, insight and expert opinion, ‘The Report’ uncovers the true environmental impact of petrol-powered tools – and outlines consumer attitudes when it comes to tackling climate change.

The research shows that more than 89% of tools used by councils in the UK are powered by petrol engines which collectively use more than 600,000 litres of fuel every year, and are used to maintain public spaces, parks and even school playing fields. When subject to emissions tests, however, these tools are proven to use significant levels of petrol compared to the average car and in some cases even exceed permitted levels of particulates.

Report uncovers environmental impact of petrol tools

Report uncovers environmental impact of petrol tools

The test results also show that, in just one second, the most widely used leaf blower recorded more particulates than the legal limit for road vehicles in a kilometre.

The Report has been launched to mark Clean Air Day (8 October) as part of EGO’s Challenge 2025 vision, through which a cleaner, quieter and safer environment is envisaged by encouraging the use of battery power over high-emission petrol-powered gardening equipment.

Emma Gayler of EGO, said: “The Report is our biggest research project to date and the startling statistics we’ve been able to uncover outline just how damaging petrol-powered equipment is for our environment. Despite using petrol engines, these tools are not subject to the same standards and testing as roadgoing vehicles, so we put them through emissions tests and found some alarming results.

“Knowing how damaging these tools can be in terms of pollution, it’s worrying that they remain in the hands of unassuming users and are still used to maintain outside space. This Clean Air Day, we want to make people aware of the dangers of petrol-powered tools, not just on our environment, but also on the health of ourselves and our communities.”

To gather the comprehensive results for The Report, EGO commissioned emissions and fuel economy tests, carried out a survey of domestic and professional power tool users and submitted Freedom of Information requests to analyse data from councils across the UK.

To download The Report and see the full environmental impact of petrol-powered tools, visit: www.challenge2025.eu/thereport

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Headland reduces costly fungicide applications

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Headland reduces costly fungicide applications: The transition from the main growing season into the cooler, wetter autumn and winter months brings many changes to a turf maintenance programme.

For Stratford Oaks Course Manager James Cleaver, it’s no different – with October marking the switch of liquid fertiliser programmes over to monthly applications of the 20-20-30 Enhanced Plant Health (EPH) tank-mix from Headland Amenity.

Headland reduces costly fungicide applications

Headland reduces costly fungicide applications

Since James joined the club, located on the outskirts of Stratford-Upon-Avon, 18 months ago, the drive towards non-pesticidal turf management is something he’s been keen to continue. “Trying to achieve a sward that is healthy and strong enough to resist disease not only gives you better quality turf surfaces but reduces the need for costly fungicide applications” explains James. “The Headland 20-20-30 tank-mix of Liquid Turf Hardener, Turfite® Elite and Seamac® ProTurf Fe, and more recently with the addition of Mantle, has been a staple in the winter-feeding programme at Stratford Oaks for a number of years.”

“This tank-mix is easy to apply and gives us healthy growth and a stronger, denser, more resilient sward. The inclusion of the Seamac® ProTurf Fe (citrate chelated iron with Seaweed) delivers fantastic colour on our greens which is always pleasing for the members throughout the winter months.” The monthly applications over the winter of 2019/20 contributed towards a significant reduction in disease activity, meaning James and the team only required a single fungicide application – representing significant financial savings when compared to previous seasons.

To further increase the efficacy and effectiveness against disease occurrence, specifically Microdochium nivale, James will supplement the 20-20-30 tank mix with two applications of PPT114 – Headland’s water-soluble micronutrient formulation featuring Manganese, Zinc and Copper, alongside Harpin Protein Elicitor – between October and February. “Our Regional Technical Manager Andy Lane recommended we incorporate PPT114 to enhance our EPH programme and that really seems to have made a difference. He’s my go-to for all product and technical advice, all backed up with the facts from the numerous trials that Headland conduct.”

The tried and tested proactive plant health approach will be in place for James until the new growing season arrives in March, when he will switch to another Headland soluble tank-mix of Elevate Fe®, XTEND® 46-0-0 and TriCure AD™ across the fairways, tees and approaches.

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