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Pitch Perfect At Swindon Town

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Pitch Perfect At Swindon Town: Long summer hours, ensuring a pre-planned fertiliser programme is on target and achieving the right aeration balance – you could consider all of the above to be traits required by one of Wiltshire’s many farmers.

But it also applies to Swindon Town’s chief groundsman Marcus Cassidy, who is midway through his 18th season at the club.

It’s a job that started for the Stonehouse-born groundsman by chance after he landed the role through a friend before completing various courses to expand his qualifications.

He now works alongside apprentice Conor Collins – who spends his Saturday’s working on Southampton’s pitch – while using an army of 10 volunteers to ensure the pitch is prepared to perfection ahead of matchday.

A fortnight ago on Saturday proved a rare occurrence for Cassidy as Town’s home game against Forest Green Rovers was postponed due to heavy snowfall.

But it was only dangerous conditions around the perimeter of the Energy Check County Ground that forced the game off – with the club deeming the pitch as fit to play on.

“Snow is a great insulator,” explained Cassidy. “So if the ground isn’t frozen, the snow will keep the frost out – and vice-versa.

“Our pitch is a very old pitch, it’s essentially a sand and soil pitch. Premier League, Championship and even some pitches in League Two are hybrid – they are three to five per cent plastic.”

assidy has every right to claim the County Ground as one of the truest pitches in League Two, and he pinned that down to the investment provided by chairman Lee Power and chief executive Steve Anderson.

While he accepts he is a way off having the tools Premier League staff have to their disposal, Cassidy revealed the club is more than half way there to being home to world-class equipment used by top teams including Manchester City, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

He added: “The club has invested in the machinery that I can use in the last three years.

“That makes things a lot easier. When you’re waiting on contractors, they might not be able to get there or might be on another job.

“With the tools I’ve got, I can go out and do what I want, when I want.

“That’s why the pitch is holding up well, because the club has invested.

“I’m always asking for more equipment. In the Premiership, they get what tools they want.

“We try and improve a little bit each year. I’m under no illusions, when you get relegated into League Two budgets will be cut.

“But Steve Anderson and Lee Power do try and keep the pitch to the standard it is. They expect a good pitch, and they want a good pitch.

“It’s a slow process – I’ll always ask for more than I can get. They can only say no.”

Watching the game often comes second on Cassidy’s list, who has his eyes on the ball more than anything else come 3pm on Saturday.

And you can rest assured he and his hard-working team of staff will be putting the hours in ahead of Town’s next home game against Grimsby Town on February 23.

“You try and watch the game, but I’m watching the ball more than anything,” said Cassidy.

“I want to see the ball rolling well. When I watch the highlights, I’ll watch them twice – I study the pitch first and then the goals.

“It’s pretty sad, but that’s my job.

“We do less hours in the winter – sometimes you just leave it alone. You can do more damage by overworking a pitch.

“Less is more in the winter.”

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Otterbine Fountain At Ladbrook Park

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Otterbine Fountain At Ladbrook Park: For the past 15 years, Otterbine’s Sunburst aerating fountain has created a stunning centrepiece to the heart of Ladbrook Park Golf Club in the midlands.

Three impressive interconnecting lakes make up the centre of Ladbrook Park and with 12,000m² of water in total, it’s paramount a high-quality aerating system is in place to keep the water clear and healthy. And for 15 years, Otterbine’s Sunburst aerating fountain has been more than up to the task, says course manager, Kevin Fellows:

Otterbine Fountain At Ladbrook Park

“The lakes are central to the course and provide the backdrop to many of our 18-holes, so having a reliable aerating fountain that keeps the water clean and clear, while also creating a striking centrepiece is of the utmost importance.

“For 15 years, the Sunburst has given us everything we needed. When we first excavated the lakes in conjunction with a local contractor, there was a transition period when we had a lot of weed and algae build up which was causing problems and fixing that as soon as possible was a real priority.”

To combat this, the club worked with a water management company who recommended the Otterbine Sunburst fountain. Everyone was confident the Sunburst was up to the task of keeping such a large body of water in good condition, and that confidence was well founded!

“Once we had the fountain installed it solved all of our problems within a couple of weeks,” says Kevin. “You could see the improvement pretty much immediately, which definitely gave us peace of mind we’d made the right choice.”

The club excavated the lakes itself, not just to create beautiful surroundings for golfers, but to give themselves a source of water for irrigation purposes. With the Otterbine aerating fountain, the water is a good enough quality to use for irrigation across the course and without having to rely on the mains water supply, the club has saved money and gained peace of mind from its ability to be self-reliant, which “has been a real bonus” says Kevin.

During its time at the club, the fountain has performed brilliantly, and Kevin doesn’t expect that to change. “The fountain hasn’t let us down yet, and it’s over a decade old! We have routine inspections anyway and knowing we have the back-up from Otterbine and its distributor Reesink Turfcare should we need it is enough to guarantee peace of mind.”

He concludes: “The Otterbine fountain has not only been one of the best investments we’ve made, it’s part of the scenery here at Ladbrook Park. It’s cost effective to run and has proven itself to be a really reliable product which is quite literally at the heart of the course.”

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Limagrain Key At York Racecourse

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Limagrain Key At York Racecourse: Having been a long-term user of Limagrain grass seed, Adrian Kay, head groundsman at York Racecourse, believes that an improvised MM25 mixture gives him the confidence to keep the course to an exceptionally high standard all year long.

Adrian, the man in charge of keeping York Racecourse ahead of the pack, has been the head groundsman for twelve years. He joined York from Aintree Racecourse in 2006 and two years later was instrumental in a huge £2.6 million track development project.

Limagrain Key At York Racecourse

As part of the project, significant drainage works were carried out in order to remove and keep water at bay from the surface, which is situated on an old river bed and flood plain. Although that project was undertaken over nine years ago, Adrian and his team still continue to focus their attention on maintaining and improving the surface and primary drainage.

It could be argued that Adrian is somewhat of an industry pioneer as he continues to adopt new methods, particularly in his decision to embrace the Koro process in order to strip the top of the surface and remove all vegetation and rootzone – something which is practically unheard of in horse racing turf maintenance. As a result, Adrian admits that whichever grass seed he uses, he must have full confidence that it is going to provide him with exceptional results and guarantee a fast return to usability.

“I’ve been using Limagrain seed for about 16 years now and I’ve got every confidence in the seed. I used MM25 when I was at Aintree and then we played around with the mixture here at York to suit our renovations.

“The mixture we use consists of 50% Tetraploid Perennial Rye, 30% Diploid and 20% Slender Creeping Red Fescue – and it’s treated with HEADSTART® GOLD. It’s a perfect mixture here for what we are trying to achieve and occasionally we use 100% Tetraploid when we are carrying out our renovations.”

With the race season at York finishing in mid-October, Adrian typically uses this period to start his renovations. Although renovating this late in the year can present certain challenges, Adrian believes that his Limagrain mixture ensures a smooth process.

Limagrain Key At York Racecourse

“We normally begin our renovations in October after the race season, which is sometimes not ideal, but we have full confidence in the Limagrain mixture that it will begin to germinate.

“This year renovations were very late with the seed being sown in early November. Unfortunately for us, we then had an extreme winter with Beast from the East followed by a very wet start to the spring.  However, the track couldn’t have looked better with a very good coverage of new grass ready for the first meeting of the on the 16th May – this really is testament to the quality of the seed.”

Racecourses have to withstand a high degree of damage from horses over a whole season which means that selecting the right mixture for renovation and divot repair is vitally important. Adrian’s tailored mixture provides him with a dense hard wearing surface which offers quick germination and provides cushioning in the bottom of the sward.

Adrian says, the mixture which is treated with HEADSTART® GOLD – Limagrain’s unique seaweed based seed treatment helps to ensure rapid and even germination. This tried and tested grass seed treatment helps the seed get off to the best possible start – something which Adrian has been quick to notice.

“I use Limagrain because of the attributes of germination, establishment and the quality of leaf. If I put the seed down two weeks before we are racing, I absolutely know that in ideal conditions we are going to get the germination and establishment that is required.

“For me, it’s a year round product that I use. We use the same mix for repairs on the track as well which we apply after every race meeting. It really is the full package.”

For further information, please contact Limagrain UK on 01472 371471 or visit the company’s website www.lgseeds.co.uk/mm.

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Toro Irrigation At Leicester City

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Toro Irrigation At Leicester City: Leicester City Football Club has selected a Toro Lynx central control system, 10 Infinity sprinklers on the pitch’s perimeter, eight T7 sprinklers in the centre and the Turf Guard wireless soil monitoring system on each corner to ensure problem-free irrigation at the King Power Stadium.

Simon Gibson, head groundsman, says he switched to Toro because he wanted more precise control: “We conducted a side-by-side trial with Toro at the stadium and straight away the even distribution the Infinitys produced was evident. You could see the consistent moisture curtain from the beginning to the very end.”

Toro Irrigation At Leicester City

Simon decided on 10 Infinity sprinklers but instead of placing them into the pitch, he put them into the 4G tracking run-off areas in stacked up irrigation boxes covered with blue astroturf. He says: “The sprinklers can’t be seen when they’re not in use and it means the pitch is 100 percent grass. The boxes aren’t filled, we simply lift the lid to access the whole unit.”

Another major advantage Simon and the team are finding is the control for spot watering. He says: “We like to keep the goal area drier than the rest of the pitch. With the Toro sprinklers and the slip clutch feature you can manually position the sprinkler where you want it without damaging the pop-up. Now on match day when we set the irrigation on, we send a member of the team round to spin the sprinkler out of the direction of the goal area. It’s great to be able to do that and have that level of control.”

Simon has had Turf Guard placed onto all four corners of the pitch and linked it to the Lynx control system. He says: “By having Turf Guard in all corners means we have a more accurate picture of what the moisture content is through the profile. It allows us to detect the dry areas before they impact on the turf’s health and prevent overwatering. It’s taken away so much of the guesswork.”

Simon has been more than impressed with the Lynx system, like so many, for its ease of use and accuracy. There is only thing he’s now waiting on and that’s a radio licence to enable direct access with the system on match days: “When there are 35,000 people on the Wifi and 4G, the service gets overloaded. We have applied for a radio licence and that will let us bypass the issue.”

With the irrigation of the pitch safely in Toro’s hands we wondered what’s next on the cards at the King Power Stadium for Simon, who has been with the club now for 20 seasons. “I always relate my time at the club by seasons,” he laughs. “Plans for the next couple of years are to reconstruct the irrigation system pipework to enable us to put TS90 sprinklers in the middle of the pitch. The configuration of the existing pipes meant we couldn’t go for this option this time and while the T7 sprinklers are brilliant once the pipe configuration has been updated it will allow us to install Toro’s ultimate infield sprinkler, the TS90. We’ll have turf cups of course and will grow the grass in a pot at the beginning of the season and then drop it into the cup so it will be a seamless playing surface.”

There seems to be a great deal of pressure on all grounds team come the start of each season, and Simon says that’s a situation that never changes: “Expectations for sports surfaces are always high and the pressure for the best surface possible only ever increases. Toro irrigation delivers on everything you ask for. You’ve got to get the best results and you do with Toro.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Triple Toro Launch At BTME

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Triple Toro Launch At BTME: Reesink Turfcare brought visitors to BTME a Toro triple this year: three new launches – two on the machinery side and one for irrigation. And all three reflected what Toro does best – innovation.

David Cole, managing director, says: “It was a first for us to have three launches at one show, but this demonstrates our dedication for bringing our customers the very latest advancements in turfcare technology.”

Triple Toro Launch At BTME

The eTriFlex is a classic example of Toro responding to customer demand by creating a machine which significantly reduces noise. The new hydraulics-free Greensmaster eTriFlex 3360 with lithium-ion battery cuts noise to deliver quiet, leak-free, clean cutting. This allows work to start earlier and may circumvent noise regulations. It will help avoid complaints from area residents and prevent having to delay mowing certain greens early in the morning or during the day. Plus, with greens ready earlier, it could enhance revenue by allowing earlier tee times.

The new Greensmaster 1021 brings a new level of consistency to pedestrian mowing and takes all that was revolutionary, popular and legacy-making about the 1000 pedestrian mower and adds design improvements to make operation smoother, green-to-green cut more consistent and adjustment easier. The 21-inch mower features a new telescoping loop handle which can be easily adjusted to comfortably accommodate operators of all heights and skill levels and handle isolation mounts to give the cutting unit constant contact with the ground throughout the mowing process.

David says: “These machines launch in America at the GIS Show 2019, so they really are the latest in terms of cutting-edge design and technology.”

Visitors to BTME were also given the first glimpse of Toro’s Lynx Smart Module and Smart Hub irrigation setup which provides the flexibility of a satellite controller with the cost savings of a two-wire system.

Based on decades of engineering experience from Toro to deliver high speed diagnostics using rapid two-way communications, the Lynx Smart Module two-wire system is an adaptation on the already successful GDC control system. It’s a forwards and backwards compatible add-on tool which provides backup and operation should connection to the central control be interrupted so irrigation continues.

It comes with attachments to expand the capabilities of the Lynx central control system to another level. The module makes irrigation smart – add it to a GDC system, for example, for extra precision and speed. Meanwhile, the pedestal or wall-mounted Smart Hub enables the system to be segmented into manageable areas by strategically placing up to nine Smart Hubs over the site for simplified maintenance.

David concludes: “To have three such interesting launches at BTME meant we had a consistently busy stand! It was great to see so much interest in the new technology from Toro and for our other brands Otterbine, TYM Tractors and 1st Products.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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