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Major Rollermower To Debut At SALTEX

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Major Rollermower To Debut At SALTEX: Phil Cole at Cotswold Turf Care knows a good mower when he sees one.

“The MAJOR Swift is a great performer and always leaves an excellent finish,” Phil nods approvingly. He’s been maintaining the grounds at Cirencester Park Polo Club for nearly 30 years so is particular that the turf provides a safe yet fast playing surface.

Major Rollermower To Debut At SALTEX

The exceptional double-wing design of the new MJ71-730T increases productivity and efficiency without compromising on the quality of cut. “The front and rear rollers ensure we leave a level and striped finish at precisely the right height of cut, every time. It levels the ground back down to its original condition after we’ve had eight or ten horses running over it.”

“Because it’s made of high-strength Strenx® steel, it’s lightweight and avoids compaction, which is beneficial to maintain the best ground condition,” Phil continues. “For a big machine, it is far more manoeuvrable than I expected – it can turn on a sixpence! It is also a very low consumer of power, therefore more economical with fuel.”

“We have a small team, so a reliable wide area mower is essential to alleviate time pressures and reduce costs,” continues Phil. He and his team at Cotswold Turf Care manage equestrian grounds, football and rugby pitches and golf courses, as well as parks across Gloucestershire. The team cuts a minimum of 6000 acres throughout the year. “The 7.3m Swift wings fold to 2.60m, making it great for safe road transportation between multiple sites. It’s about the largest make available that can be safely transported on the road.”

The trailed versions display the MAJOR qualities of durability and low maintenance. “There are no belts – just a strong and simple, heavy-duty driveline with a shear-bolt in the PTO drive,” Phil continues. “The MAJOR Swift is galvanised so it’s going to last us a long time!”

The larger units also have rubber encasing the hinges of each arm. This protects the joints while adding mobility for each wing over uneven ground for a more consistent cut.

Looking the part is just as important as playing the part. “Players and spectators have commented on how good the grounds look,” concludes Phil. “At a recent board meeting, the committee members commented very favourably about our grass cutting and the playing surface.”

See the new 7.3m Swift roller mower at the MAJOR stand (J112) at Saltex 2019 from Oct 30-31 at the NEC Birmingham.

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Sherriff A Hit At Hampton Court Palace

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Sherriff A Hit At Hampton Court Palace: A range of Sherriff Amenity products have improved the overall health of the turf on the fairways at Hampton Court Palace Golf Club, according to course manager Richard Hill.

Set within the royal grounds of Home Park where King Henry VIII once hunted deer and with the beautiful Hampton Court Palace looming in the background, there could hardly be a more regal setting to enjoy a round of golf.

Sherriff A Hit At Hampton Court Palace

The acclaimed 18-hole course is a 6,513 yard, par 71 parkland and inland links course which dates back to 1895. It was later re-modelled by Willie Park, who was also the designer of Royal Birkdale and Sunningdale, leaving the course beautiful yet demanding.

Richard Hill has been at the Club since May 2008 and was promoted to the position of course manager in 2013. Throughout his time Richard has maintained the course to an excellent standard despite some obstacles such as the huge 16th century lime-trees which surround the course and a bizarre lack of rainfall – as he explains.

“This site is an absolute anomaly when it comes to rainfall,” he says. “It can rain at the nearby Heathrow airport, it can rain on the M4 motorway but just not rain here at Hampton Court. I have my theories on why but that is another matter!”

As a result, the lack of rainfall tends to apply more pressure on the fairways at Hampton Court and Richard admits to embarking on a lengthy search for a winning formula which could help to relieve some of the stress.

“I was always looking at options that could make an improvement to the fairways and I tried so many different combinations of wetting agents and seaweeds – believe me, I must have tried all of them. The best results by far has been from Goemar seaweed and Excel wetting agent from Sherriff Amenity. When I first applied them, the fairways went from brown to green in just a week.”

Goemar is a high quality liquid seaweed extracted using a unique cold process that removes unwanted alginates and cellulose to leave a 100% seaweed juice. It is harvested in Brittany where they have some of the strongest tides in the world and these extreme tides lead this seaweed to experience high exposure to sun and heat at low tide. To counter these stresses the seaweed produces high amounts of the active ingredients required for plants to survive long stress periods. The cold extraction process then concentrates these ingredients in the finished product and Richard explained just how unique it is.

“Quite simply, it mixes perfectly,” he said. “You get all of the benefits without the organic matter and therefore the plant responds a lot quicker. It is full of beneficial sugars that combined with the Excel wetting agent, helps the grass to hold on to the nutrients. It is perfect for fairways.”

Its tank-mix partner Excel is a multi-purpose, low dose wetting agent which is ideal for use on larger areas, such as golf fairways and sports pitches.  For the tank-mix he applies Excel at 1 L/ha and Goemar at 3 L/ha but due to the weather conditions Richard believes that timing is key.

“I don’t have a set time to apply the products, instead I spray when I feel it is needed and when we have the correct weather window. Historically I used to have everything all in one tank – the fertiliser, the wetting agent and the seaweed but now I do it separately. So, I will apply my feed one day and then the seaweed and wetting agent another day.”

For his fairway feed, Richard relies on Sherriff Amenity’s Evolution Xtra Soluble 46.0.0 and feels that he now has the ideal products in place.

“I will always get an application of the Evolution Xtra out so that it is sitting there waiting to take all the nutrients in. It washes it down to the roots and then away it goes. It might be six weeks from when we spray the feed to when the Goemar and Excel go out and you can really see the benefits. The colour is great and you can see the Poa still hanging on which you normally wouldn’t see.

“I remember when we first applied this combination and they looked like different fairways.

“I will continue with this method because I want to encourage more water to go down to the roots and these products are doing the fairways a world of good.”

For further information, please contact Sherriff Amenity on 01638 721 888 or visit www.sherriffamenity.com

For more news and insightful views, you can follow Sherriff Amenity on Twitter @SherriffAmenity.

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New Agria Launches At SALTEX

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New Agria Launches At SALTEX: Agria UK is a new sister company to Wiedenmann UK and introduces two unique hybrid remote-controlled rotary mulching mowers at Saltex.

Agria was established near Stuttgart over 70 years ago. Originally for agriculture, it changed paths to cover soil cultivation, green space maintenance and pavement cleaning. Still prominent in these sectors, their German engineering has gained them a worldwide reputation for handheld multipurpose machines. Now their hybrid bank mowers are an exciting development and will be the specific focus for Agria UK.

New Agria Launches At SALTEX

Both Agria machines offer Hybrid-Drive-Concept, making them more efficient and environmentally friendly than hydraulic concepts.

The agria 9600, with its low centre of gravity and rubber tracks, powers safely through heavy duty work on steep slopes to 50°. In two widths, 112 cm and 80 cm, it cuts and mulches in two directions and is effortless on a variety of applications, including fine turf.

The agria 9500 is a remote controlled compact mower which performs to a very capable 45°.  With brushless motors and electromechanical braking it takes manoeuvrability to a new level. Zero turn, it has a working width of 70 cm and takes problem areas in its stride.

David Rae, managing director of both Agria UK and Wiedenmann UK said:

“Remote controlled units lead the way for safe technology.  These new units are perfect for purpose. Build quality and ease of use are exceptional. They help future proof the industry.

“We’ll be at Turf Maintenance Live! on Oct 22 & 23, at St Albans, then the following week will launch at the NEC for Saltex, Stand D097.”

Agria UK will operate through a network of stocking dealers across the UK and Ireland supported by Jason Bristow, Chas Ayres, Michael James and Andy Kerr.

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Smoothly Does It At Ganton GC

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Smoothly Does It At Ganton GC: Ganton Golf Club in North Yorkshire has upgraded its irrigation system with Toro Lynx central control and Infinity sprinklers on the greens and aprons.

And it was an installation which went “almost too smoothly” according to deputy head greenkeeper Mathew Wormald thanks to the combined efforts of Reesink Turfcare and Green Irrigation.

Smoothly Does It At Ganton GC

“It’s so rare in life to have something deliver exactly what it says it will and this irrigation system does just that. From the start everything has worked well, performed and delivered exactly what we want, where we want it. Working with Peter Newton from Reesink and Rob Green from Green Irrigation has been a pleasure, in fact, installation went almost too smoothly, I kept thinking it can’t be this easy!”

The sandy course in the rural Vale of Pickering, which is one of the top 80 golf courses in the world, was once a North Sea inlet. Over the years the original characteristics of the heathland and links course have changed, and undulations have been lost due to woodland and heathland growth. As a result, the greenkeeping team of nine have been restoring the more traditional aspects of the course. Some of the aprons have been made larger to widen the areas of play.

And it’s this that instigated the decision to replace the irrigation system, says Mathew: “The previous system was over 20 years old so we were coming up to the time to replace it, simply to take advantage of the technological improvements a new central control system, such as Toro Lynx, would offer. But really the upgrade was made all the more urgent after the work implemented to update the course.

“Basically, the old sprinklers didn’t have the capabilities to throw the arc of water as far as we needed with the changes we’ve made to cover the bigger area of play on the greens. Full uniform coverage is so important, and we simply weren’t getting the reach.”

Mathew had a diverse CV before joining Ganton with stints in Belgium and Hong Kong, all of which bought valuable experience to one of the very few clubs to have staged the Curtis Cup, Walker Cup and the Ryder Cup.

Having previously used Toro irrigation, Mathew says: “I’ve used Toro irrigation before, so I was aware how easy it was to use and how precise. We don’t rely heavily on our irrigation system here, mainly because the grass is deep rooting so we can push it a bit more and that’s another thing that appealed so much about the Toro system – we can be as accurate as we need to be, tackling only the areas that need it. This will be far more efficient for us long-term.”

And it’s not only Lynx and Infinity that are working so well together, as previously mentioned the relationship with Reesink and Green Irrigation delivered too. Mathew concludes by saying: “It was a project that didn’t just bring us a solution to a problem, it introduced us to some really knowledgeable people in the industry and from start to finish was problem-free.”

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Up For The Cup At Gleneagles

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Up For The Cup At Gleneagles: Gleneagles will hold a unique position in golfing history when the biggest event in women’s golf concludes this weekend, by becoming the first venue in Europe to have hosted both The Solheim Cup and The Ryder Cup (in 2014).

As the Gleneagles and volunteer greenkeeping teams led by golf courses manager Craig Haldane, together with director of agronomy and estates Scott Fenwick, put the finishing touches to the Jack Nicklaus-designed PGA Centenary Course, John Deere and local dealer Double A are equally busy behind the scenes.

Up for The Cup at Gleneagles

The greenkeeping team at Gleneagles has risen to 100 people, with tournament standard conditioning also extending to The King’s Course, which is hosting The Junior Solheim Cup, and The Queen’s Course, which remains open for member and VIP visitor play during the week.

John Deere is the official golf course and turf maintenance machinery event partner to Gleneagles for this 16th biennial edition of The Solheim Cup. The company has a long association with professional golf, having been a title sponsor on the PGA Tour, official supplier to the PGA Tour for over 25 years, official supplier to the Ladies European Tour and a partner at numerous Solheim Cup events.

In addition, John Deere is partnering Gleneagles by exclusively providing golf course maintenance machinery and ancillary equipment for use across all three championship golf courses.

“We are very grateful for the support from our local dealer Double A as we’ve been gearing up the John Deere fleet ahead of the tournament,” says Craig Haldane. “Typically we aim to maintain all three courses at a very high level all year round, but we’ve upped the ante for The Solheim Cup.

“Closing the course three weeks prior to the event has allowed it to recover from any stress and provided additional time to prepare and introduce a higher frequency of cut. By fine tuning our existing practices we’ve been able go up another level in terms of a quality cut and finish for the tournament.

“We’re also very fortunate to benefit from the extra resources and experience provided by the volunteer greenkeepers supporting our team this week. Eight of the 52 volunteers are women, who have joined our own Laura Campbell and BIGGA’s head of membership services Tracey Maddison to help with the course preparations, so it’s fitting that we can showcase the equal role women play in our industry, especially during The Solheim Cup.”

Up for The Cup at Gleneagles

Carlos Aragones, John Deere European turf sales & marketing manager, adds: “The Solheim Cup is one of the biggest events on the 2019 sporting calendar and we are delighted to be a part of it. We are also proud of our collaboration with Gleneagles in helping to prepare the course for such a prestigious tournament.”

In 2019 John Deere and its dealers are supporting more than 10 major tournaments in the UK and Ireland, every month from the Betfred British Masters at Hillside Golf Club in May to The Solheim Cup at Gleneagles and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in September. This involves providing specialist support staff and more than 150 machines including walk-behind and ride-on greens mowers, tees & surrounds, fairway and rough mowers, compact tractors and Gator utility vehicles.

“Traditionally we work closely with the individual club’s course managers and greenkeeping teams to help keep all the machines in the fleet serviced and ready for work each day, and ensure all cutting units can achieve the highest possible quality of cut,” says John Deere Limited turf division manager Chris Meacock. “This partnership approach helps everyone to achieve the best possible results where they matter, out on the course, and keep things running as smoothly as possible throughout the event.”

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