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MM grass seed is a winner for Worcester

May 17, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

MM grass seed is a winner for Worcester: Worcester College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, is benefiting from using a range of MM grass seed. Founded in 1714, Worcester College is steeped in history and continues to educate and house around 600 students. The College’s 26 acres of […]

Morpeth Golf Club looks to the future

May 17, 2023/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Louise Parratt

Morpeth Golf Club looks to the future: Morpeth Golf Club has a new approach to running its 117-year-old business; utilising every asset to broaden its appeal and be much more than just a great course. With new leadership and investment across the site, Morpeth is focused on drawing in customers to the clubhouse, restaurant, pro […]

MM grass seed is a winner for Worcester

May 17, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Morpeth Golf Club looks to the future

May 17, 2023/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Louise Parratt

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

MM grass seed is a winner for Worcester

May 17, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

MM grass seed is a winner for Worcester: Worcester College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, is benefiting from using a range of MM grass seed.

Founded in 1714, Worcester College is steeped in history and continues to educate and house around 600 students. The College’s 26 acres of stunning grounds feature plenty of lawns alongside a lake, an orchard, and sports fields. Students at Worcester are the only ones in the University to benefit from on-site sports pitches and excel at football, cricket, and hockey.

MM grass seed is a winner for Worcester

Simon Bagnall, Head of Gardens and Grounds, has been working at the College for 19 years, and has been using the MM brand of grass seed throughout his whole tenure.

“I have been using it for as long as I can remember because of the quality of the seed – it is reliable, it performs and it has never let us down,” he said.

MM is one of the most respected brands in the UK amenity industry, with over 40 years of experience and knowledge. The extensive product portfolio is second to none with performance proven mixtures that are used at many leading venues in the UK and Europe.

There are two mixtures within the MM portfolio that Simon and his team rely on, as he explains.

“We use MM50 and MM21 across all our sports fields and utility lawns. We normally oversow with the mixtures during our renovation period and then will apply them through the year if we need to do any repairs.

“Another benefit of using these MM seed mixtures is the speed with which they germinate. We have quite a short window between renovations and when the students come back so to be able to get some grass growing quickly is a huge bonus for us.”

MM50 is one of the UK’s biggest selling grass mixtures. The hard-wearing ryegrass mix is very fine leaved, has high shoot density, is tolerant to close mowing down to 4-5mm and produces a great colour all year round. It also has quick recovery from damage and play.

MM21 produces a dense, fine and attractive sward and is a great mix for lawns and landscaping with low ryegrass.

Josh Hall, Deputy Head of Gardens and Grounds, further explained how the team uses the MM mixtures.

“We use MM21 on the main lawn because it is shaded by mature trees and there is a lack of light. The rye and fescue in the mixture work well together to give us good coverage in what could otherwise be a problematic area. The MM21 is normally applied in March or April so that it is growing nicely over the spring and summer.

“The MM50 is basically used everywhere else, especially on our sports pitches, and it is our go-to product. Our pitches take a real hammering with the number of games we have and to have some grass at the end of a season is important to us. We get that with MM50 – it is very hard-wearing. In fact, you don’t expect something to be so fine to do such a hardwearing job, but it does. It also produces a fantastic colour.”

With Worcester being an Oxford University college, it has a certain reputation to uphold. The demand is high and that in turn can put pressure on Simon and his team. With this in mind, Simon sees the value in working with key suppliers like MM.

“We get a brilliant service and Matt Gresty (MM Sales and Marketing Manager) is always available to speak to if I need advice. He sees us regularly, helps us out a lot and I can’t speak highly enough of him.

“I will always recommend the MM range of grass seed and I would encourage people to come and have a look at our lawns and pitches so they can see the results for themselves.”

For further information, please contact MM Sports Seed on 01386 791102 or visit the company’s website www.mm-seeds.co.uk.

You can also follow the company on Twitter: @MM_Seed.

To find out more about Worcester College visit their website: www.worc.ox.ac.uk

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

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Morpeth Golf Club looks to the future

May 17, 2023/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Louise Parratt

Morpeth Golf Club looks to the future: Morpeth Golf Club has a new approach to running its 117-year-old business; utilising every asset to broaden its appeal and be much more than just a great course.

With new leadership and investment across the site, Morpeth is focused on drawing in customers to the clubhouse, restaurant, pro shop, simulator, events space and personal training facilities, as well as its flourishing 18-hole golf course.

Morpeth Golf Club looks to the future

A more positive and profitable future is being spearheaded by general manager Chris Liddell and course manager John Scurfield whose new strategy has included a significant investment in new course machinery from John Deere.

“If everything around the course is doing well, we have the budget to ensure our greenkeeping team gets all the tools it needs to keep the place looking great,” Chris said.

He joined the club in January to support its development through the bar and catering aspect of the business. As a former regional director for branded hospitality groups such as Pizza Express and TGI Friday’s, Chris has also been a member at Morpeth for 20 years.

“Where I feel I’ve been able to add a bit of value to the club is bringing in the big company principles such as implementing budgetary processes and more structure in how the club is run,” says Chris. “What will be pivotal in growing the club in the future is not only appealing to our current membership, but also broadening our appeal to the wider community. A part of what we have to do here is appeal to every demographic.”

Morpeth has 650 playing members, with over 20 more joining since the New Year. Chris projects the club could have about 750 members by the end of the year.

One aspect he wants to rejuvenate is the junior golf initiatives by developing an academy membership for young golfers to progress.

“In recent years I’ve seen that golf clubs have taken a hit in the number of junior memberships and that is something that I want to change,” says Chris. “I want to start getting more juniors into golf because I remember having such great days here when I was a junior member myself.”

To maintain the club’s growth, the stunning parkland course must be maintained to the highest standard, which is helped by Morpeth’s long-standing relationship with John Deere dealer Thomas Sheriff & Co.

Course manager John has been working at the club since he left school and has always used John Deere machinery. It’s a course he knows better than most ¬– holding the record with a six-under-par 65.

“We’ve had this partnership with John Deere for about 30 years, and the investment in the machinery has been necessary,” says John. “As the number of golf clubs in the area increases it dilutes the market, so we have to provide the best possible standard of our course to keep our current members and attract future ones.”

Morpeth’s latest investment includes an 8000A E-Cut Hybrid Fairway Mower, a HPX 815E Work Utility Gator, a 2550 E-Cut Riding Greens Mower, a HD 200 Precision Sprayer, and a 2030A Gator. All the machines are on a five-year finance lease with John Deere.

With only a five-person greenkeeping team, a busy playing membership and the course driven to staying open all year round, there are challenges. But John has taken to visiting other clubs to see how other teams manage.

“On volunteering at various clubs including Royal Cinque Ports and Royal Liverpool Golf Club, I went to see what I could bring back to Morpeth, even though we’re worlds apart from those bigger clubs,” says John. “One thing I brought back was that staff morale is so important. Despite these guys starting at 4am and working all day, they never stop laughing and joking around with each other and they keep a real team spirit.

“When handpicking new people to work with us, I’ve learned to base them more on their character than their skillset because team morale is so important.”

John’s team are all now experienced in using the John Deere machinery, and are proud to do so, being particularly impressed by the reliability and efficiency of the mowers that they use.

“Before they came here to Morpeth these guys hadn’t really had much experience with John Deere machines at the previous clubs they worked at,” John says. “So when they came here and started using the John Deere mowers, they straight away said that it’s top notch. It’s always a good sign when your team are proud of what they’re working with.”

In developing and maintaining the course for the future, John is interested in looking into John Deere’s GPS technology for future investments, looking at how implementing it could further increase efficiency in maintaining the grounds and also help in keeping costs down.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

MM grass seed is a winner for Worcester

Morpeth Golf Club looks to the future

MM grass seed is a winner for Worcester

Morpeth Golf Club looks to the future

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

MM grass seed is a winner for Worcester

MM grass seed is a winner for Worcester: Worcester College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, is benefiting from using a range of MM grass seed.

Morpeth Golf Club looks to the future

Morpeth Golf Club looks to the future: Morpeth Golf Club has a new approach to running its 117-year-old business; utilising every asset to broaden its appeal and be much more than just a great course.

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