Blog Elements - Turf Matters

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Wellbeing and wilderness

August 13, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Sofia Martins

Wellbeing and wilderness: It may have been the 15th British Open hosted at prestigious Royal St George’s in Sandwich, Kent, but for the greenkeeping team headed up by course manager Paul Larsen, the 149th Open was an extraordinary and unique event. Set in the dunes of the Kentish coastline and bisected with swathes of naturalistic […]

Potters Point keeps pace with new technology

August 13, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Steve Mitchell

Potters Point keeps pace with new technology: Having been loyal to John Deere for the past 25 years, it was perhaps no surprise which brand would be chosen to upgrade the existing golf and turf maintenance fleet at Potters Point holiday and golf resort in County Wicklow. Overlooking the idyllic Brittas Bay on Ireland’s east […]

Wellbeing and wilderness

August 13, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Sofia Martins

Potters Point keeps pace with new technology

August 13, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Steve Mitchell

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Wellbeing and wilderness

August 13, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Sofia Martins

Wellbeing and wilderness: It may have been the 15^th British Open hosted at prestigious Royal St George’s in Sandwich, Kent, but for the greenkeeping team headed up by course manager Paul Larsen, the 149^th Open was an extraordinary and unique event.

Set in the dunes of the Kentish coastline and bisected with swathes of naturalistic grasses and wildflowers, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in a nature reserve, not one of the most famous and prestigious golf courses in the world. Yet for Paul, showcasing the natural beauty of the area was a top priority.

Wellbeing and wilderness

Paul comments: “We have amazing views and a unique position as a golf course within a dune land. We made a conscious decision some years ago to move away from the typical golf course with its striped lines and focus on enhancing what makes us special. We brought it back to what it used to be – more wild and natural – and having The Open here has been an opportunity to show people what we’ve been doing.

“When you’re preparing for an event of this magnitude, for us it’s not about modifying the course, adding new holes or making changes to greens and bunkers. It’s about doing what we always do but more regularly and without room for mistakes. We take such pride in our work and were excited to showcase our product.”

Supporting Paul was his resident 16-strong greenkeeping team boosted by the help of two support teams totalling a further 34 greenkeeping specialists from other golf courses both locally and around the UK. Work started at 4am each day and the teams were responsible for hand-cutting the greens, cutting the fairways, tees and aprons and raking the bunkers, all on a daily basis.

In order to sustain such a large greenkeeping resource, Reesink Turfcare, the sole Toro distributor in the UK for golf and sports fields equipment and irrigation products, produced a loan fleet from Toro, global leaders in turfcare machinery to bolster the Toro Reelmaster fairway mowers, Groundsmaster rough mowers, Greensmaster TriFlex Hybrid riding greensmowers and Greensmaster Flex walk-behind greensmowers machines already on site.

As a Toro Total Solutions customer, the machines complement the Toro Lynx Central Control System and over a thousand sprinklers across the greens, tees and fairways.

For Paul, having the support from Reesink and Toro is something he is “so grateful for”. Paul elaborates: “There’s no blueprint for hosting The Open in a pandemic. It’s a unique experience so having the support of the extra fleet from Toro made our job easier, enabling us to double our capacity and help everyone to perform at the top of their ability.”

When asked about dealing with the pressures of hosting a major sporting event in the midst of a pandemic Paul is characteristically pragmatic about it: “There’s no doubt that the pandemic gave us some logistical challenges such as getting staff tested and managing teams to avoid social contact.

“The adrenaline does flow but there’s no secret to getting it right. We just focused on our work. We’d put all the right preparations in place so at the end of the day my view was ‘you’ve got what you’ve got’.

“The nature of our work is always reactive, and we adapted constantly whether it was to the weather or changes in regulations. We were resilient and worked incredibly hard. The players and spectators loved the course and we’ve had feedback from members of the sporting press saying it was one of the best Opens they’d seen.”

Having welcomed up to 32,000 visitors per day, the course is currently awaiting a full assessment from Paul and his team. Paul elaborates: “At the end of August when The Open is fully off site we will be able to assess the course and the extent of the damage from footfall. I expect there’ll be some areas that require reseeding or new turf. We may have to burn some areas of the rough to regenerate it but essentially it’ll be routine maintenance.”

In Paul’s ten years working at Royal St George’s, the 2021 British Open was one of the highlights of his career, particularly making such a major success of the event in a pandemic.

Paul concludes: “The biggest achievement? It was definitely keeping everyone safe. It was a pleasure to welcome spectators back to the sport safely and hear the excitement from the crowd. You could feel the energy and it was a fitting end to all our hard work.”

To talk to someone about how the Toro range would suit your course, call Reesink Turfcare on 01480 226800.

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

Potters Point keeps pace with new technology

August 13, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Steve Mitchell

Potters Point keeps pace with new technology: Having been loyal to John Deere for the past 25 years, it was perhaps no surprise which brand would be chosen to upgrade the existing golf and turf maintenance fleet at Potters Point holiday and golf resort in County Wicklow.

Overlooking the idyllic Brittas Bay on Ireland’s east coast, south of Dublin, Potters Point is an exclusive luxury mobile home park owned by the Stone family and was established in 1957. Guests that are lucky enough to stay there have free access to the nine-hole parkland golf course extending to 40 acres that was developed in 1987.

Potters Point keeps pace with new technology

When the existing John Deere equipment fleet was due to be updated, Potters Point manager Irene Lacey called on dealer Dublin Grass Machinery to supply the range of new machines. These include an 8700A PrecisionCut fairway mower, 2653B PrecisionCut utility triplex mower, 2550E hybrid electric triplex greens mower, 220SL walk-behind greens mower, two 3039R compact tractors and three HPX 815E Gator utility vehicles.

“We bought our first John Deere machines in 1997 and have used the brand ever since,” says Irene. “These new models have replaced older equipment, as we want to keep the fleet as fresh and new as possible and equipped with the latest technology, and we are very pleased with them.

“There is great security in having new equipment and therefore no worries about breakdowns. The machines are now all working very efficiently both on the course and in the holiday park.”

The local John Deere golf and turf dealer, Dublin Grass Machinery (DGM), was established in 1981 and is now led by managing director Robert Mitchell. Having enjoyed such a long-term relationship with the dealership, Potters Point relies on DGM for its essential backup service.

“Our equipment has always been fully serviced by Dublin Grass Machinery, and we have found the team there over the years to be very efficient and reliable,” says Irene. “Their backup service is second to none – getting anything repaired or replaced is always done in a very timely manner. DGM has proved to be a very good partner to have in this business.”

Potters Point has plans to invest in additional John Deere equipment, particularly to replace a larger tractor that has been working faithfully at the resort since the very first machines were ordered in 1997.

“Having enjoyed such a long relationship with Potters Point, we were naturally very pleased to be asked to supply them with this new machinery package,” adds Robert Mitchell. “We appreciate their business and will continue to provide Irene and head greenkeeper Eamonn Delaney and his team with first class after-sales support.”

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)

Wellbeing and wilderness

Potters Point keeps pace with new technology

Wellbeing and wilderness

Potters Point keeps pace with new technology

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Wellbeing and wilderness

Wellbeing and wilderness: It may have been the 15^th British Open hosted at prestigious Royal St George’s in Sandwich, Kent, but for the greenkeeping team headed up by course manager Paul Larsen, the 149^th Open was an extraordinary and unique event.

Potters Point keeps pace with new technology

Potters Point keeps pace with new technology: Having been loyal to John Deere for the past 25 years, it was perhaps no surprise which brand would be chosen to upgrade the existing golf and turf maintenance fleet at Potters Point holiday and golf resort in County Wicklow.

RESOURCES

CONTACT

CONNECT