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New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost

June 10, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Steve Mitchell

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost: A switch in management policies at one of Northern Ireland’s leading golf clubs has resulted in a major £160,000 investment in new John Deere course maintenance equipment. The Blackwood Golf Centre is situated in the heart of the Clandeboye Estate’s beautiful parklands, just at the top of the […]

SpeedwayTotal the one for Weedfree

June 10, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

SpeedwayTotal the one for Weedfree: Richard Stow, Managing Director of Weedfree, has revealed why the market-leading company has relied on the spray adjuvant Speedway Total for so long. “We have been using Speedway Total to enhance the uptake and activity of our total herbicide applications for many years and we are very happy with it,” […]

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost

June 10, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Steve Mitchell

SpeedwayTotal the one for Weedfree

June 10, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost

June 10, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Steve Mitchell

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost: A switch in management policies at one of Northern Ireland’s leading golf clubs has resulted in a major £160,000 investment in new John Deere course maintenance equipment.

The Blackwood Golf Centre is situated in the heart of the Clandeboye Estate’s beautiful parklands, just at the top of the Ards Peninsula in County Down. Extending to 240ha, the club runs two 18-hole courses including the par 54 Temple and the par 71 championship Hamilton, plus a 26-bay floodlit driving range, putting green and short game area.

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost

Historically the club has predominantly used John Deere machines, but some of the fleet had been faithful workhorses for the past 18 years and so were becoming quite aged. Last August the club underwent some fundamental changes, which included enlisting the help of independent golf management consultant Paul Gray, who has taken on the contract to manage the club.

One of Paul’s first changes was to upgrade the John Deere equipment fleet, directly liaising with course manager Jonny Eager and Ricky Neill, sales manager at the local John Deere turf dealer Johnston Gilpin & Co Ltd.

With the help of a five-year John Deere Financial package, the club bought a John Deere 8900A PrecisionCut fairway mower, 2500E hybrid electric greens triplex mower, 2653B PrecisionCut tees & surrounds triplex mower and two TH 6×4 Gator utility vehicles. Also included in the purchase were a Trimax Snake articulating rotary mower and a Buffalo debris blower.

Course manager Jonny Eager is very pleased with the new fleet and says the machines have boosted production and efficiency. “We have been using John Deere machines at The Blackwood since 2003 and have always found them very reliable and easy to use.

“With this new deal we replaced two of our older Gators with the TH 6x4s, while the rest of the machines are additions to the fleet, which now consists of 12 John Deere machines in total. They do a great job and the backup we receive from the dealer is first class. All round we think they represent longevity and good value for money.”

Blackwood Golf Centre consultant manager Paul Gray adds: “Machinery replacement in the past had been fairly neglected here, so one of the first changes I made was to embark on a new replacement programme, starting with this financed machinery purchase deal.

“Since changing to the new machines this season, members have been full of praise for how the courses look and play. Given the really difficult spring we had in terms of weather, the members have really complimented the staff for the excellent conditions the courses are in.”

“Part of the deal included full training for The Blackwood’s own mechanic, who came up to the dealership and spent some time with one of our technicians to learn how all the machines are assembled, used and operated,” explains Ricky Neill.

“We are very keen for the greenkeeping team to carry out all their own regular servicing and maintenance, with support from our expert technicians should they require it. Our dealership at Lisburn has had a good relationship over the years with The Blackwood Golf Centre, and we are here to assist them with any future machinery requirements as the club develops.”

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SpeedwayTotal the one for Weedfree

June 10, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

SpeedwayTotal the one for Weedfree: Richard Stow, Managing Director of Weedfree, has revealed why the market-leading company has relied on the spray adjuvant Speedway Total for so long.

“We have been using Speedway Total to enhance the uptake and activity of our total herbicide applications for many years and we are very happy with it,” said Richard. “It always gets us good results and we wouldn’t dream of not using it.”

SpeedwayTotal the one for Weedfree

Weedfree has been a market leader for railway, industrial and amenity weed control for over 50 years, providing weed control and vegetation clearance services to the rail industry, local authorities, industry, utilities and power generators.

“You name it – we spray it,” said Richard, and indeed they do. The company employs up to 150 members of staff during its busiest periods with operatives spraying everything from footpaths to rail tracks and everything in between.

It is for this reason that the company needs to have confidence in a product and that is where Speedway Total comes in. However, Richard admits that this was not always the case.

“We didn’t always use Speedway,” he said. “Initially we used a competitor product, but we had lots of problems with it. The chemistry, the active ingredients – it was causing problems with our operators, who were complaining about irritation on their skin and around their eyes. We also found that, in accordance with the label, we were putting a lot of product in the tank.

“It was at this point that we discussed the issue with Ed Carter (Sales & Development Manager for ICL), and he suggested using Speedway Total. We tried it, we liked it and we have stuck with it ever since. It was less product going in the tank, there was not any reduction in efficacy, and it was very cost effective.”

ICL’s Speedway Total is a spray adjuvant that contains a blend of surfactants and spreaders. It is designed to enhance the effect of glyphosate and other total and/ or non-selective herbicide treatments. Speedway Total assists herbicide penetration into the leaf cuticle by dissolving the waxy leaf coating.

The surfactants and spreaders also aid the treatment spreading properties, reduce the risk of wash-off and increase the herbicidal uptake. It can be used speed up the response from total herbicide treatments and also enhance the uptake and control for difficult to control weeds such as rhododendron, bracken, Japanese knotweed, brush wood weeds, nettles and docks, sow thistles and others.

With more and more local authorities re-examining their use of glyphosate herbicides Richard claims that the reduced volume needed with Speedway Total was a huge selling point.

“To be honest, I was dubious to start with because it less than half the amount of volume we were using with the previous product. I was thinking – how could this possibly work! But it does work – incredibly well.

“There is a real appetite to reduce the amount of herbicide that is applied, and with Speedway Total we can reduce it down to about three and a half litres per hectare which is quite a significant reduction. We still get the results that keeps both the local authorities and us happy.

“When we tender, we find that Speedway Total may well give us the competitive edge over someone who might use a different product at a higher rate. We can certainly demonstrate that over the course of a three-year contract we can significantly reduce glyphosate while still eliminating problematic weeds.

“Ultimately, I would say that Speedway Total has helped us to be more efficient and I would highly recommend the product.”

Please contact ICL on +44 1473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

For more news and insightful views, you can follow ICL on Twitter @ICL_Turf

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)

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost

SpeedwayTotal the one for Weedfree

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost

SpeedwayTotal the one for Weedfree

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost: A switch in management policies at one of Northern Ireland’s leading golf clubs has resulted in a major £160,000 investment in new John Deere course maintenance equipment.

SpeedwayTotal the one for Weedfree

SpeedwayTotal the one for Weedfree: Richard Stow, Managing Director of Weedfree, has revealed why the market-leading company has relied on the spray adjuvant Speedway Total for so long.

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