Tag Archive for: Benefits

Ashridge GC Reaps Toro Benefits

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Ashridge GC Reaps Toro Benefits: With one of the hottest summers on record last year, Ashridge Golf Club in Hertfordshire has reaped the benefits of a new Toro irrigation system, installed in the nick of time.

Consisting of a Toro Lynx control system and a combination of Toro FLEX 34, 35 and T5 RapidSet series sprinklers, the dry summer was no match for Toro’s top of the line technology.

Ashridge GC Reaps Toro Benefits

Course manager, James Camfield, explains: “The system was installed in the winter of 2017 and in 2018 we had an incredibly dry summer. It was a real test considering we were still getting used to the system, but the training provided by Toro was excellent, so we got through it with relative ease. We’re really fortunate we had the installation when we did, without it, I’m sure the course would have really suffered.”

With the new irrigation system having done wonders on the greens, tees, surrounds and approaches despite the extreme weather, James and the team have been blown away by the results.

“It’s been transformational,” he says. “We’re applying water consistently and uniformly to the greens and irrigating the surrounds automatically for the first time ever. Members and visitors have all seen the difference and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Looking at the club’s previous system, it’s hard to imagine what the course would be like now without the new Toro system. “The old system was originally installed in the 1970s with bits and pieces added over the years, so it just wasn’t able to keep up with the modern demands of the course,” explains James. “With leaking pipework, varying water pressure and a temperamental control system, the course would have been in far worse condition if we hadn’t updated the system when we did.”

Prior to the instalment, James visited several clubs to see different irrigation systems at work. Despite originally considering another brand, after watching the Toro Lynx control system in action James decided there was no question it was the superior option. “It became evident very quickly that Toro was the way to go, with extra features like the weather station, Turf Guard wireless soil moisture sensors and the fact you can control it from anywhere gives you complete peace of mind.”

In recent years, the 350-acre course, which originally opened in 1932, has undergone much development including rebuilding bunkers, levelling tees and managing woodland areas to name a few. As such a progressive club determined to stay at the top of its game and listed within the top 100 golf courses in England, Toro irrigation was the next step in that process.

Now, with Toro irrigation in place, the club is a proud ‘Total Solutions’ customer, and James is already making plans for the future.

“We’re looking to invest more in Toro machinery over the next few years. The club is considering a second phase of the irrigation project. Twelve of the fairways weren’t covered by the first phase and you can tell that they’ve really suffered compared to the rest of the course. Updating the fairways, starting in the worst affected areas, will help protect more of the course in the future.”

He concludes: “With our Toro irrigation system able to battle through one of the toughest summers yet, we’re confident it’s ready for any challenge that comes its way!”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Turf Reward Benefits For West Malling GC

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Turf Reward Benefits For West Malling GC: Since claiming the Team Scout pedestrian sprayer through ICL and Syngenta’s Turf Rewards loyalty scheme, Course Manager Sam Young has seen an improvement in the efficacy of his spraying operations at West Malling Golf Club in Kent.

Turf Rewards provides the opportunity for customers to earn points from purchases that can then be exchanged against a fantastic selection of agronomic or turf related items and learning opportunities. Turf managers across the UK and Ireland have been benefiting from the scheme since its creation five years ago and it continues to grow significantly with more rewards and qualifying products being added year on year. The scheme can provide a great way to improve operations and enhance education.

Turf Reward Benefits For West Malling GC

“It’s a huge bonus when buying quality turf management products,” says Sam. “There is so much on offer as well; items such as health and safety clothing, iPads, Machine Mart vouchers and agronomy tools. We claimed the sprayer this year because it is something that we thought would improve the accessibility of spraying some of our smaller tees.”

The Team Scout is ideal for greenkeepers and groundsmen who require an efficient and reliable pedestrian sprayer. The unit has an adjustable pressure control system ensuring constant, accurate liquid application and three pneumatic wheels, the ‘rear jockey’ wheel increases manoeuvrability – which is something that Sam finds ideal.

“It is incredibly easy to manoeuvre. At my previous club we used to have a four-wheel pedestrian sprayer which was difficult to turn. The rear wheel on the ‘Scout’ allows for effective turning within the headland of the area being treated – this is particularly beneficial when considering some of the tees are only 25m2 with surrounding banks and thus not suited to using a tractor or utility vehicle sprayer. It is now possible to treat these tees as all the others”.

Turf Reward Benefits For West Malling GC

“This sprayer is well balanced, truly a great bit of kit; it now has larger pump, and with an average walking speed of 4km hour 500L/ha is achievable with a 04 nozzle, and with a choice of three different nozzles which come with the sprayer, you simply pick which one suits your application best.”

Other features include:

  • 60 litre capacity tank
  • 3 wheels with pneumatic tyres
  • Height adjustable 2 metre, 4 nozzle, folding boom
  • High output pump (14Lpm)
  • Adjustable pressure control system with gauge
  • 12V quick charge battery and charger

“I’ve used a few pedestrian sprayers in the past and this is easily the best one I have used. It’s also great for storage and transportation because the spray boom folds up”.

Please contact ICL on +44 (0)1473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie.

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Coventry Hearsall Benefits From Reesink Finance

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Coventry Hearsall Benefits From Reesink Finance: Coventry Hearsall Golf Club is one of the first clubs to benefit from Reesink Turfcare’s fixed term finance for irrigation.

Course manager Jonathan Oldknow says he is ‘delighted’ with the new Toro Lynx system including sprinklers for the tees, greens and approaches, which replaced a 40-year-old irrigation system struggling with constant leaks and breakages. In fact, Jonathan attributes the club’s ever-increasing reputation to the success of the ‘Total Solutions’ package it now boasts with its Toro irrigation system and fleet of machinery.

Coventry Hearsall Benefits From Reesink Finance

Jonathan says: “A new irrigation system is no light investment, but in this competitive industry we recognised the need for modern technology to stay at the top of our game. Miles ahead of anything we’ve ever had before, choosing the Toro Lynx system was a big statement from us saying ‘this is where we want to be heading.’”

Buying irrigation on finance takes away two of the biggest headaches Reesink Turfcare finds exist for those embarking on an irrigation installation: installation is sooner and there is less upfront capital outlay.

Brett Mander, Coventry Hearsall’s course chairman, explains further how the club arrived at the decision to go with Toro: “We launched a full tender evaluation, starting with a number of suppliers before whittling them down to three.

“UK distributor of Toro Reesink Turfcare won us over with its presentation, which gave us confidence that its package and aftercare support would best suit the needs of the club. Out of all the suppliers, Reesink offered the most flexible solution over a period of time that matches our investment and growth strategy at Coventry Hearsall.”

Gone are the days of fixing leaks, and with peace of mind that the club has water on demand: “The main beauty of the system is the accuracy it affords us,” says Jonathan. “We take moisture metre readings to identify where water is needed and adjust individual sprinkler heads accordingly, targeting areas with reassuring success.

“We are one step ahead with our new Toro system rather than on the back-foot with our previous one. As opposed to fighting fires just to keep the grass alive we are now able to focus on keeping the plant in optimum health, and will be able to do so for as long as I’m a greenkeeper, and then some.”

Flexible and transparent, Reesink’s strong relationship with a proven financial partner means it can offer some very competitive deals over one to ten years. Payment plans can be monthly, quarterly, or annually and clubs can finance through hire purchase (HP) or lease.

Alongside Toro irrigation, Coventry Hearsall plans to continue using Toro machinery long into the future, too. According to Jonathan: “Toro provides very useable machinery that is of the highest quality. With the best mowers on the market, we know we will always get the best results for our course.”

Brett concludes: “Our Toro ‘Total Solutions’ package has been instrumental in helping us to maintain and elevate our reputation as a premier golf club in the Midlands. Word is out about the quality of our greens and our membership is now full with a waiting list; put simply, the package has been successful in making us successful.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Benefits Of Germinal’s New Ryegrass

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Benefits Of Germinal’s New Ryegrass: On Thursday 6th September, Germinal will be attending the FutureScape Scotland show, incorporating ScotHort, at the Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh, with a focus on its upgraded range of landscaping mixtures, with a particular emphasis on the inclusion of new-for-2018 creeping perennial ryegrass cultivar, Zurich, which offers increased wear tolerance and fast sward recovery.

Zurich scores 6.5 for live ground cover and 6.3 for visual merit, making it one of the best-performing creeping perennial ryegrasses on Table S1 of the BSPB’s Turfgrass Seed 2018 booklet.  It is a fine-leaved variety that also exhibits high resistance to insects and nematode attack due to naturally high endophyte levels, as well as good persistence and a creeping growth habit which aids sward recovery.

Benefits Of Germinal's New Ryegrass

Zurich now features as standard in three of Germinal’s landscaping seed mixtures; A3 Embankments and Drought, A18 Road Verge & Embankments and A19 All Purpose Landscaping (see below for full specifications).

“A3 has traditionally been the industry’s go-to seed mixture for stabilising embankments due to its high percentage of creeping fescues and bentgrasses which bind the soil together,” explains Richard Brown, Amenity Sales Manager for Germinal.  “The addition of Zurich gives this popular seed mixture the added benefits associated with a perennial ryegrass: speed of establishment, the ability to germinate in colder temperatures, and the ability to rapidly recover from damage caused by excessive wear.  For A18 and A19, the addition of Zurich further enhances the ability of these mixtures to recover from wear with minimal intervention.

“Zurich exhibits an excellent creeping habit, which binds manufactured soils together quickly and effectively thereby preventing gully erosion and loss of soil.  It’s ability to self-regenerate gives added protection during the winter and slowly helps damaged swards to repair themselves with minimal additional physical intervention.  It also makes the improved seed mixtures more effective in cooler temperatures at the beginning and end of the growing season.”

Germinal’s landscaping seed mixtures can be ordered online from the company’s new website (www.germinalamenity.com) which also contains all the information landscape architects need to optimise the performance of their amenity facilities: the website includes complete specifications and usage guides for Germinal’s Grade ‘A’ range of landscaping grass seed and wildflower mixtures for everything from low maintenance reclaimed land to saline road verges, shaded habitats, fine lawns and an array of natural habitats.  All product details can be easily cut and pasted into external documents, making it simple for landscape architects to insert them directly into the appropriate project specification.

“As well as constantly investing in research and development to bring first class grass and wildflower seeds and turf care products to the landscaping sector, we are also conscious of the constant need to provide the industry with the latest news and advice,” Richard Brown adds.

Benefits Of Germinal's New Ryegrass

“The new website has therefore been developed to make it easier for new and existing customers to keep abreast of our developing range of products and to enable them to specify the most appropriate products to suit each site’s individual requirements.

“We’ve populated the new website with a collection of advice guides and video resources covering a range of useful topics from simple over-seeding and sowing ‘how-to’ guides, to more detailed explanations of the importance of key success factors such as soil pH, the use and application of macro and micro nutrients and how to physically manage recently renovated and established swards and amenity landscapes.”

The website also contains a selection of standardised fertiliser plans – written and designed by Germinal’s FACTS (Fertiliser Advisers Certification and Training Scheme) qualified experts – to enable everyone from novice gardeners to professional turf growers to get the best results from their amenity facilities.

The new www.germinalamenity.com website also features a ‘Product Selector’ tool which has been designed to make it as easy and simple as possible for landscape architects to find the most appropriate grass or wildflower products for each project’s specific needs.

A range of CPD resources and seminar details has also been added: landscape architects can contact their local Germinal technical specialist who will be happy to visit them to provide more detail on a range of topics such as how to establish and maintain wildflowers and understanding the latest plant nutrition protocols.

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Scarify In Autumn For Benefits Next Year

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Scarify In Autumn For Benefits Next Year: Scarification is a vital part of lawn maintenance that involves the removal of thatch or moss from the lawn, helping with air flow and keeping it health. If you do not scarify, debris will build up and lead to other problems. For example, thatchy and mossy lawns will not be very wear or drought tolerant. 

It is important to scarify at the right time of year, otherwise you will either risk having an unsightly lawn just when you want to be enjoying it, or you will open it up to more problems and damage. A light de-thatching or scarifying is recommended in spring, just as the weather is heating up, and there is an increase in the growth and recovery of the grass.

Scarify In Autumn For Benefits Next Year

In the autumn, however, is when a more intense, heavier scarification can take place. At this time of year there are a number of jobs to do around the garden to ensure that you leave in the best possible state over winter, and this is one of them. Whilst intense scarification sounds like very hard work, there are machines available to take the strain out of your lawn maintenance. The XC1 B40 from Cub Cadet, for example, steps up to the challenge with a powerful 35 H OHV Cub Cadet engine and a 1.7 litre fuel tank. The 34 verticutter blades, each with a width of 163mm, scratch out the dead grass and moss with ease, allowing in light and rain all the way down to the roots.

The machine also has the added benefit being able to aerate the lawn if necessary. To do this, simply use the higher position with a gentle touch of the blades and springs on the surface of the soil. When scarifying use a deeper blade and spring setting to allow for a more aggressive action on the lawn surface. A central height adjuster knob enables infinite working depth adjustment.

Featuring a wide 35cm working width, the machine has folding handles for easy storage or transport and an optional collection bag for collecting the debris can be purchased if desired, although due to the volume that is raked out of the lawn, most people will find it more effective to go over with their mower to collect the debris.

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