Blog Elements - Turf Matters

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

MM seed transforms Tewkesbury Park

July 7, 2020/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

MM seed transforms Tewkesbury Park: Paul Hathaway, Golf Course Manager at Tewkesbury Park in Gloucestershire, believes that a range of Limagrain UK’s MM grass seed mixtures has been integral to the courses’ recovery following the infamous drought of 2018. Tewkesbury Park is a family-owned hotel, golf and leisure resort set amongst 176 acres of parkland […]

Zero turn mowers from Murray

July 7, 2020/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Holly Daulby

Zero turn mowers from Murray: Ride on lawn mowers provide a quick and comfortable solution for cutting large areas of grass, allowing people to focus on enjoying their garden instead of working on it. This ethos has been at the heart of Murray for nearly 100 years with its “Get it done. Go have fun” […]

MM seed transforms Tewkesbury Park

July 7, 2020/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Zero turn mowers from Murray

July 7, 2020/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Holly Daulby

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

MM seed transforms Tewkesbury Park

July 7, 2020/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

MM seed transforms Tewkesbury Park: Paul Hathaway, Golf Course Manager at Tewkesbury Park in Gloucestershire, believes that a range of Limagrain UK’s MM grass seed mixtures has been integral to the courses’ recovery following the infamous drought of 2018.

Tewkesbury Park is a family-owned hotel, golf and leisure resort set amongst 176 acres of parkland with panoramic views of the Cotswolds, Severn Valley, the Welsh Mountains and the Malvern Hills. Over recent years, the hotel has undergone a stunning transformation thanks to the McIntosh family who bought the property in 2014 and turned its fortune around.

MM seed transforms Tewkesbury Park

After an eye-watering £10m investment in everything from luxury suites, a dazzling leisure club and state-of-the-art conference facilities the family’s attention quickly turned to the golf courses.

Tewkesbury Park boasts two – the Deerpark course which is an 18-hole, 6,554 yard, Par 72; and the 9-hole, 995 yard, Par 3 Acorn – a short academy course. Interestingly, the land on where the courses are constructed was once the battleground in which the houses of York and Lancaster fought one of the bloodiest feuds of the Wars of the Roses – known as the Battle of Tewkesbury.

As a keen golfing family, the McIntosh’s were keen to vastly improve the golf facilities and Paul Hathaway was employed as the Course Manager in September 2017. He joined prior to the drought of 2018 and used his experience and expertise immediately to help recover the course from the desert like conditions.

“When I first came in there were a lot of areas I thought could be improved,” said Paul. “The first thing I said to the owners was that grass seed is the single most important thing you need because you need good grasses to produce good courses.

“Upon my arrival, there were a lot of old ryegrasses and course grasses, there was a lot of lateral growth and the grass was really struggling – which wasn’t helped by the long summer drought.”

Paul, who oversees a team of four fully qualified greenkeepers, got straight to work on the areas which needed the most attention.

“We firstly focussed on the tees and approaches,” he said. “We scarified all of them down to 10mm to remove thatch and dead material, cored to one inch and then overseeded with Limagrain’s MM50 seed. It was a huge job, but it needed doing and it has made a remarkable improvement.”

Limagrain’s leading MM50 mixture is a 100% ryegrass formula which is perfect for achieving consistency throughout a course. It has a high disease resistance, fantastic aesthetic qualities and offers extremely fast germination

“We had germination after only 7 days,” continued Paul. “The turf was healthier and a lot more resilient – especially to drought which we have seen this spring . The results were fantastic – so much so that we only needed to overseed with half the amount of MM50 the following year.

“I personally think MM50 is the best seed out there. I will never explore any other seed because I don’t need to.”

After the success of the overseeding project on the tees and approaches, Paul decided to concentrate on the greens. Upon closer inspection he identified that the greens were suffering from Rapid Blight – a disease of cool-season turfgrasses that is generally problematic where irrigation water and/or soils have elevated salinity. Astonishingly, it was only the fourth known case in the UK and Paul discovered that the issue was coming from the bore hole water – which contained incredibly high levels of salt.

“The obvious solution was to switch to mains water, and this really helped,” said Paul. “However, there were still a lot of dry patches and some of the greens were quite weak. It was at this point that we started overseeding with Limagrain’s MM9 seed. The reason for choosing this mixture was because I wanted to introduce as much bent grass into the sward as possible.”

Limagrain’s MM9 grass seed is a 100% bent mixture, which provides an excellent formulation for summer overseeding and autumn renovation of top-quality golf and bowling greens. Paul now overseeds the greens with the MM9 mixture once a year and hasn’t looked back.

“Prior to using MM9, the greens would suffer from the slightest bit of stress,” he said. “The seed has totally invigorated the greens – I now have root growth to a depth of 5 inches and the sward is much healthier.

“The greens have improved dramatically since switching to mains water, utilising a new feeding programme and overseeding with MM9.

“Without the help from key suppliers like Limagrain UK we wouldn’t have the course we have,” continued Paul. “Matt Gresty (Limagrain UK Amenity Manager) advises on the best times to apply the seed and if he feels that I do not need to seed then he will tell me. He is not out to just sell you seed – he will genuinely offer the best advice for your course.

“Ultimately, I’m proud to work here and I’m delighted that I get the support and the finances needed from the owners to be able to do my job.”

By all accounts, one look at the stunning courses at Tewkesbury Park will tell you that the results certainly speak for themselves.

For further information, please contact Limagrain UK on 01472 371471 or visit the company’s website www.lgseeds.co.uk/mm – you can also follow the company on Twitter: @MM_Seed

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.

Zero turn mowers from Murray

July 7, 2020/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Holly Daulby

Zero turn mowers from Murray: Ride on lawn mowers provide a quick and comfortable solution for cutting large areas of grass, allowing people to focus on enjoying their garden instead of working on it.

This ethos has been at the heart of Murray for nearly 100 years with its “Get it done. Go have fun” strap line.

Zero turn mowers from Murray

The company specialises in stylish and powerful lawn tractors for those with larger gardens. However, ride on lawn mowers often encounter problems with trees, plants and other obstacles getting in the way and being difficult to manoeuvre around.

To overcome this, the Murray product range features three zero-turn ride on mowers that can easily get around anything that comes in their path as they can turn a full 360 degrees effortlessly within a tiny turning radius.

The entry level machine is the ZTX110 which has a hydrostatic drive and is powered by a Briggs & Stratton 7200 OHV V-Twin engine. It is the smallest in the range but still offers an impressive 107cm cutting width, and twelve different cutting heights.

The mid-range model is the ZTX150, which features a Briggs & Stratton Intek™ Series 7220 V-Twin OHV petrol engine. This machine, with three blades, offers a 117cm cutting width and 13 different cutting heights.

The premium model in the Murray range is best suited for professional users or those with larger areas of grass to cut. The ZTX250 utilises a Briggs & Stratton Professional Series™ 8270 V-Twin OHV engine and has a wide 122cm deck to reduce the total amount of cutting passes required, and subsequently saves the user time, freeing them up to enjoy their garden.

The zero turn mowers are operated by two handles, one on each side of the machine; each with a push/pull function for forwards and reverse movement. Each handle is linked with two individual rear wheels, each with its own independent motor, which allows the tractor to turn within its own footprint. This allows for excellent manoeuvrability when cutting around trees, flower beds and other obstacles, with the added bonus of removing the need for backing up at the end of each mowing pass – simply spin 180° and go back!

All Murray zero turn machines have a fuel capacity of 11 litres, as well as electric starting and mulching capabilities. They are designed with the user in mind, even down to the adjustable seat which gives the operator ultimate comfort even on the roughest terrains. They include commercially inspired features such as a fully welded steel frame, a thick-walled front axle, easy access maintenance points and durable steel mower deck to make sure they give a great cut, time after time.

There is also the additional option of an integrated rear cargo bed to provide on-the-go versatility and convenience, providing somewhere to store cleared debris or carry additional tools.

Murray lawn and garden products are available in the UK exclusively through Henton and Chattell dealers.

For more information please visit www.murray-tractors.co.uk.

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 seed transforms Tewkesbury Park

Zero turn mowers from Murray

MM seed transforms Tewkesbury Park

Zero turn mowers from Murray

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

MM seed transforms Tewkesbury Park

MM seed transforms Tewkesbury Park: Paul Hathaway, Golf Course Manager at Tewkesbury Park in Gloucestershire, believes that a range of Limagrain UK’s MM grass seed mixtures has been integral to the courses’ recovery following the infamous drought of 2018.

Zero turn mowers from Murray

Zero turn mowers from Murray: Ride on lawn mowers provide a quick and comfortable solution for cutting large areas of grass, allowing people to focus on enjoying their garden instead of working on it.

RESOURCES

CONTACT

CONNECT