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Achieving Smooth and Healthy Greens at Shrigley Hall

August 22, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Achieving Smooth and Healthy Greens at Shrigley Hall: At Shrigley Hall Hotel & Spa, a prestigious Georgian country house nestled in 262 acres of picturesque Cheshire countryside, Head Greenkeeper Ben Evans ensures that the greens are always at their best by using Mansfield Sand’s MM35 Golf and sand compost mix. These products are key to […]

Data Access is Just a Click Away with Turfkeeper

August 22, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Data Access is Just a Click Away with Turfkeeper: For the last 18 years Course Manager Geoff Smith has been spending hours meticulously setting up and inputting into an array of spreadsheets to help him manage the greenkeeping staff and grounds at the beautiful Abridge Golf Club in Romford, Essex. ‘All my spreadsheets were stored […]

Achieving Smooth and Healthy Greens at Shrigley Hall

August 22, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Data Access is Just a Click Away with Turfkeeper

August 22, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

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Achieving Smooth and Healthy Greens at Shrigley Hall

August 22, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Achieving Smooth and Healthy Greens at Shrigley Hall: At Shrigley Hall Hotel & Spa, a prestigious Georgian country house nestled in 262 acres of picturesque Cheshire countryside, Head Greenkeeper Ben Evans ensures that the greens are always at their best by using Mansfield Sand’s MM35 Golf and sand compost mix. These products are key to providing golfers with an exceptional playing experience, keeping the greens true and divots expertly filled.

Shrigley Hall boasts a championship course that presents a true test of skill and stamina for golfers of all abilities and is regarded as one of the finest in the North West of England.

Achieving Smooth and Healthy Greens at Shrigley Hall

Ben, who has been at Shrigley Hall for six years and in the greenkeeping industry for 15 years, emphasises the importance of using high-quality materials to maintain the course’s standards. “It is a hotel and resort course, covering 260 acres with lots of woods surrounding it,” Ben explains. “It’s a very busy course, and our membership is thriving.”

Ben has been working with Mansfield Sand for six years, primarily using their MM35 Golf for top dressing the greens. “We started using MM35 Golf because we had issues sourcing our previous sand product,” Ben notes. “We use it for top dressing on greens and probably go through about 60 tonnes of it a year. Our approach is little and often to keep it topped up and at a good level.”

Mansfield Sand’s MM35 Golf, a pure silica sand sourced from the company’s Two Oaks Quarry, is renowned for its benefits, including improved recovery, firmness, smoothness, and an enhanced rootzone. “The MM35 Golf helps us ‘true’ the greens up, smooth the surface, and fill in any indentations,” Ben explains. “If we just put a little bit on at a time, matching it with the growth, it helps build up a nice healthy rootzone. We have a budget to work with, and MM35 Golf from Mansfield fits nicely into that budget. Without it, our drainage would probably be worse.”

The reliability of Mansfield Sand’s service is another key factor for Ben. “I call up the Mansfield Sand office, and they arrange my order. It will be delivered on time, every time – I can’t fault it at all.”

In addition to MM35 Golf, Shrigley Hall also uses Mansfield Sand’s sand compost mix for divots. “We purchase this once a year, and it is a really good product. It is a 60.40 mix, perfect for divots, filling in holes around the tees, and any sort of construction work we do,” Ben adds.

Mansfield Sand’s products, with their consistent quality and exceptional performance, have become indispensable to Shrigley Hall’s course maintenance. The MM35 Golf not only ensures the greens remain smooth and true but also significantly enhances the rootzone and drainage, contributing to the overall health and playability of the course.

For more information visit www.mansfield-sand.co.uk

You can also follow the company on Twitter – @MansfieldSand and Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MansfieldSandSportSurfaces/

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

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Data Access is Just a Click Away with Turfkeeper

August 22, 2024/in News, Press Release/by Admin

Data Access is Just a Click Away with Turfkeeper: For the last 18 years Course Manager Geoff Smith has been spending hours meticulously setting up and inputting into an array of spreadsheets to help him manage the greenkeeping staff and grounds at the beautiful Abridge Golf Club in Romford, Essex.

‘All my spreadsheets were stored on a USB stick which I guarded with my life. It recorded everything I needed to manage all areas of the golf course including budgets and provided the necessary evidence and reports to justify everything we did. It didn’t bear thinking about if it was to ever get lost!”

Data Access is Just a Click Away with Turfkeeper

Geoff joined the Abridge 18-hole, par 72 Championship golf course in 1996 and knows the greens better than anyone. He was a customer of Rigby Taylor, Headland Amenity and Symbio for around 12 years before they merged in 2021 to form Origin Amenity Solutions (OAS). “I love working with Origin, it’s been around 15 years now, and can’t praise them highly enough. They have great reps and some fantastic products. I put nearly all of my business through them.”

The course was first designed, in 1962 by renowned maestro of English Golf, Henry Cotton, whose outstanding feature was that both loops of nine holes started and finished at the clubhouse. It is considered one of the finest in the county and is an Open Regional Qualifying Course. It has held various Essex tournaments and was host to the PDC EuroPro Tour event in 2022. Geoff uses a combination of non-biological and biological products as part of an Integrated Turf Management programme. “The OAS reps work with me to choose products that complement each other well and ensure the very best outcome. We have around 750 members and our course and greens are expected to be in the best possible condition free of disease”, adds Geoff.

In 2023 Geoff was persuaded to trial the OAS TurfKeeper web-based digital platform which is designed to replace all manual spreadsheets and ledgers. He had a demonstration from Kevin Scarce, Turf Keepers Product Manager and whilst impressed was reluctant to move away from his trusted spreadsheets.

With greenkeepers and turf professionals facing mounting pressure to justify every decision they make, from equipment purchases to project proposals, and with costs soaring and resources dwindling, the need for data-driven insights is critical. TurfKeeper is being used in many golf and sports clubs across the UK and is equipping turf managers and greenkeepers with the tools they need to maximise resources, streamline decision-making, and manage turf maintenance.

Geoff implemented Turfkeeper in July 2023 and after a couple of hours of training set about entering his information into the system. Geoff considers himself “Old school” and wanted to try it alongside his existing spreadsheets. “I shouldn’t have worried, it’s such a user-friendly system and works brilliantly. I love it and dropped my spreadsheets at the end of 2023. I now use Turfkeeper exclusively for all my data.”

At the heart of TurfKeeper lies a robust suite, from staff management to inventory control, task planning to budgeting. TurfKeeper provides greenkeepers with a central hub to oversee every aspect of their operations. “I use it for everything”, adds Geoff, “It’s only as good as the information you put into it though, so I spent a few days inputting – staff wages, hours, stock information, budgets, maintenance programme, etc and now it’s so easy to pull off the information I want. That’s the beauty of Turfkeeper. It gives you graphics and pie charts to show to management or the Greens Committee – everyone loves a picture – it’s so easy to understand and takes no time to produce.”

Abridge Golf Club is set in 240 acres of beautiful parkland with some of the finest views over the Essex countryside. It’s a close-knit club and its members and a Greens Committee are encouraged to interact, question, and offer their suggestions. Geoff has a wealth of knowledge and is held in high esteem, but he does enjoy knowing he has data at his fingertips that he can show to back up his decisions or support his capital requests. His members requested the tees be cut by hand for a better finish. In seconds Geoff had a report that showed the extra labour required to achieve this and the associated cost that management needed to sign off on additional staff recruitment.

Geoff is supported by a team of nine, there are currently 2 other people in his team with access permissions to the system, his deputy Ben Scrivener and first assistant Jamie Blagdon. They both assist Geoff with stock control, applications and help assist with planning tasks in Geoff’s absence. Geoff now spends 30-45 minutes to plan for the week and month ahead, rather than the couple of hours previously. “I use TurfKeeper for everything but primarily organising tasks for the greenkeeping team, stock control, and budget control.”

One of the most significant benefits of TurfKeeper is its ability to save time and resources. By automating repetitive tasks and eliminating manual paperwork, Geoff can focus his efforts on strategic decision-making and turf maintenance. “I am delighted with TurfKeeper, it has saved me hours of labour and I only have one platform to enter information into and extract data from. The team likes it because they can view the full picture, they know what is planned for everyone for the weeks and months ahead. I can’t recommend it highly enough.”

If you would like a free no-obligation 30-minute demonstration, call 07850 638 508 or visit www.turfkeeper.com

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.

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Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Achieving Smooth and Healthy Greens at Shrigley Hall

Data Access is Just a Click Away with Turfkeeper

Achieving Smooth and Healthy Greens at Shrigley Hall

Data Access is Just a Click Away with Turfkeeper

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Achieving Smooth and Healthy Greens at Shrigley Hall

Data Access is Just a Click Away with Turfkeeper

Data Access is Just a Click Away with Turfkeeper: For the last 18 years Course Manager Geoff Smith has been spending hours meticulously setting up and inputting into an array of spreadsheets to help him manage the greenkeeping staff and grounds at the beautiful Abridge Golf Club in Romford, Essex.

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