Blog Elements - Turf Matters

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Allett announces lawn stripes champion

September 26, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

Allett announces lawn stripes champion: Now in its 10th year, the Allett Mowers annual Creative Lawn Stripes Competition once again attracted entries from all over the world. The prize is an Allett Liberty 43 mower with all cartridges and two cartridge stands. The past few years have been tough for everyone, say Allett, but what […]

Love at first sight

September 23, 2022/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Lucy Self

Love at first sight: Two ISEKI compact tractors are making a difference at Powfoot Golf Club and Head Greenkeeper Neil Hamilton claims they struck a chord from the very first demonstration. Set in breathtaking scenery in Dumfriesshire, South West Scotland, Powfoot Golf Course presents a mixture of both links and parkland golf. Opened in 1903 […]

Allett announces lawn stripes champion

September 26, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

Love at first sight

September 23, 2022/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Lucy Self

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Allett announces lawn stripes champion

September 26, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

Allett announces lawn stripes champion: Now in its 10^th year, the Allett Mowers annual Creative Lawn Stripes Competition once again attracted entries from all over the world. The prize is an Allett Liberty 43 mower with all cartridges and two cartridge stands.

The past few years have been tough for everyone, say Allett, but what they have noticed is a growth in lawn-care enthusiasts spending more time in their gardens. The aim of the competition is to encourage homeowners to use their lawns to design the most creative, eye-catching designs that truly show off the craftsmanship and dedication that goes into grass maintenance. The standard of this year’s entries has again been exceptional, and it gets better year on year. This year’s judge was 2021 Champion Dennis West of Provo, Utah, USA following an internal vote done by a specialist Allett panel with the top six entries forwarded to Dennis to choose the winner.

Allett announces lawn stripes champion

“It was an honour to be asked to judge this year’s competition,” he says, “the top six presented some very strong entries, all of which show a love for lawn creativity Picking one winner was a tough job, but after analysing the entries I found one that, for me, embodied not only lawn striping creativity, but also a representation of the beauty of the United Kingdom.”

The top six entries came from England, Wales, Australia and Canada and the 2022 Champion is Edward Aitken, Head Gardener at Cornbury House, Oxfordshire. Cornbury Park is a private estate in the town of Charlbury, fifteen miles from Oxford, England. The estate includes 1,700 acres of the most ancient forest in Britain and is host to events such as the award-winning Wilderness Festival and charity fundraisers. Ed has entered the Allett competition three times and been placed in the top six each time. The judges’ comments praised the standard achieved.

‘The combination of radiating, straight, and angled stripes in this expansive design brings to mind the sectional features of an aerial image of the English countryside with rolling hills divided by rock walls. The strong stripes that seamlessly blend from curved forms to straight demonstrate an expertise that ensured the final design met very particular standards of perfection’ Ed describes the process that led up to the winning design. “Our lawn is a very old lawn which we have been renovating to get it up to standard. It was cut with a ride-on originally, which didn’t pick up the grass clippings, so it was a bit of a mess. Now we cut with a Hayter 56 at various heights of cut. I changed the height depending on what part of the lawn I was cutting. The circle area has to be cut higher compared to the area closest to the house just because of the thickness of the lawn and how much thatch is left in the lawn. Each different pattern is cut at a different height, which helped to show off the pattern a bit more. The inspiration for the design comes from the centre circle part of the lawn where the chequerboard is, which is actually a helicopter landing area. The idea was that it looked amazing when the family and their guests were coming in in the helicopters, which I thought was quite effective. Once I’d cut the circles, it was a case of breaking the lawn up into a couple of different sections and making sure it looked nice as you’re looking out. The family I work for have an outdoor eating area just outside the house so it looks good when they’re looking over the garden. I’d say it’s taken about a year to get it looking good. I cut it once a week with certain areas cut twice a week, so the central checkerboard area is cut twice a week in a different direction. I’m delighted to win as I’ve entered three times now. I was third the first time, second the last time. I thought I’d stand a chance this year with the circles making it an interesting lawn, so I’m very pleased to have won. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the prize. I’ll probably use it in my own garden at home as I’ve got quite a large lawn. Maybe I will start doing some patterns!” Competition judge Dennis West’s final comment was to offer congratulations to all the finalists, saying, to make it this far is quite an accomplishment. “Most of the winners in recent years entered more than once before winning the prize, so keep entering and you may be next!”

2nd Place

Paul Wigman Nottingham

Head Gardener Clumber Lodge

3rd Place

Emile Hernandez gardener

Somerville College Oxford

4th Place

Simon Rice, South Australia

5th Place

Dan Milne Canada

6th place

Tom Frampton, Wales

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.

Love at first sight

September 23, 2022/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Lucy Self

Love at first sight: Two ISEKI compact tractors are making a difference at Powfoot Golf Club and Head Greenkeeper Neil Hamilton claims they struck a chord from the very first demonstration.

Set in breathtaking scenery in Dumfriesshire, South West Scotland, Powfoot Golf Course presents a mixture of both links and parkland golf. Opened in 1903 and redesigned by the legendary James Braid in 1923, the course offers a superb test of golf with its many challenging holes which are set among whins and rough and has earned Powfoot the tag of ‘one of golf’s best kept secrets’.

Love at first sight

Neil and his two trusty assistants maintain this wonderful course and for the last 5 years the team has had a little help from two ISEKI tractors in the TG range. It was love at first sight according to Neil.

“We originally had a demonstration with a few various tractors from different manufacturers, but we just loved the ISEKI models from the very first minute,” he said.

lSEKI’s TG Series sets the benchmark for compact tractor performance. Designed and manufactured in Japan, the TG Series is built to exceptional standards of quality — starting from the front lights through to the back three-point linkage. Every component, including the engine and transmission, features lSEKI’s stamp of approval for quality and excellence that is rarely seen in the compact tractor category. With a host of options and features to choose from, the lSEKI TG Series provides unrivalled reliability to get the job done fast, efficiently and in comfort.

Neil opted for the TG6495 – a 47 hp tractor with the innovative IQ dual-clutch 24-speed transmission and the TG6675 – a 65 hp tractor with a 6-speed hydrostatic transmission.

He provided a glimpse of how the two are commonly used on the course.

“We use the TG6675 with the front loader on it to do some flailing work – this is to thin out the roughs, to get rid of the coarse grasses and to promote the fine grasses.

“The TG6495 is used to pull the trailer and then we tip all the grass cuttings into it and then dispose of them. With the IQ transmission we can change gear without dipping the clutch, which is a massive advantage when you are working and doing flailing jobs.

“I also like the Headland management system, which is very important when you are vertidraining. It helps a lot because at the end of each line you don’t need to keep operating levers, you can just lift it to the desired height that you have set it to.”

Users of the TG range also frequently praise the spacious factory fitted cabins which are available on all models and come fitted with air conditioning as standard. All control elements are extremely clear and positioned in a readily accessible manner within the field of vision of the driver, reducing fatigue.

“The main benefits of these tractors are the ease of use and the comfort in the cab,” continued Neil. “If you are in it for long periods of time, it has everything you need from air conditioning to a radio which keeps us entertained.

“The way everything is situated around the operator is also great – from the PTO button, the throttle shifter, to the lifter which enables you to lift the arms at the back.

“We have had the tractors for approximately five years, and we will continue to use ISEKI in the future because of the reliability of them and the ease of operation.

“The dealer (Rickerby Horticulture) has been brilliant through the whole process, but I can’t really comment on the back-up because nothing has ever gone wrong with them – so in this respect, the less we see of the dealer the better!

“Ultimately, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the ISEKI tractors to any golf course.”

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)

Allett announces lawn stripes champion

Love at first sight

Allett announces lawn stripes champion

Love at first sight

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Allett announces lawn stripes champion

Allett announces lawn stripes champion: Now in its 10^th year, the Allett Mowers annual Creative Lawn Stripes Competition once again attracted entries from all over the world. The prize is an Allett Liberty 43 mower with all cartridges and two cartridge stands.

Love at first sight

Love at first sight: Two ISEKI compact tractors are making a difference at Powfoot Golf Club and Head Greenkeeper Neil Hamilton claims they struck a chord from the very first demonstration.

RESOURCES

CONTACT

CONNECT