Tag Archive for: CombiTool

GKB Combitool delivers year round excellence

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GKB Combitool delivers year round excellence: A GKB Combitool has proven the solution to improving surface quality, and reducing reliance on hired equipment, at Norfolk’s Langley School.

Senior Groundsman Phil Cook leads a team of four in maintaining 19 hectares of school grounds – made that much easier with the versatility of the 4-in-1 implement which has taken presentation of the sports pitches to new heights.

GKB Combitool delivers year round excellence

GKB Combitool delivers year round excellence

When Phil joined the co-educational day and boarding school 18 months ago, most of the maintenance machinery was hired in. Notification followed shortly after that prices were due to increase so a change of tact was needed. “It made sense to look at what we were using most often, and as a versatile all-rounder, we knew something like the GKB Combitool would make a big difference across multiple areas of the site” Phil explains.

Working closely with Stuart Paterson at Ernest Doe & Sons, the school built a package of machines – including the GKB Combitool – for delivery in October 2024.

“I hadn’t had any previous experience of GKB, but when I saw the brochure and the build quality of the unit, it was an easy decision. In practice, it has more than lived up to expectations. It’s incredibly solid, reliable and easy to use enabling us to brush, rake, roll and spike our 10 winter sports pitches year-round and, in springtime, our cricket outfields on a weekly basis.” He adds, “Because of the size of the site, we sometimes used to struggle with moving clippings. Now, we can follow the mower with a single pass of the GKB Combitool, rake the clippings up and leave an immaculately presented surface in its wake.”

The delivery also couldn’t have been better planned for Phil and the team, with the Combitool landing just in time for Langley’s annual rugby festival which attracts teams from across the UK. “With so many spectators and matches in a condensed period, presentation really matters. Running the Combitool between games was a real eye-opener. It lifted the grass, left a brilliant finish and helped us retain superb surfaces for the duration of the event.”

The quality and value delivered by the GKB Combitool has certainly left a strong impression, leading Phil to look at other areas of their maintenance programme. “The Combitool has become our go-to implement, and is raising standards so much, we’d like to see about adding more GKB Machines to our armoury to bring other areas up to a similar level – ensuring the facilities continue to meet the high expectations of our students, visiting clubs and national tournaments alike.”

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CombiTool delivers maintenance without compromise

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CombiTool delivers maintenance without compromise: Proving that multi-purpose certainly doesn’t have to mean compromise, a CombiTool from GKB Machines has been delivering on every front since its delivery at Rookery Park Golf Club in May 2023.

Head Greenkeeper Neil Davey explains how the ability to conduct multiple operations in a single pass is not only saving them labour hours, but the flexibility to adjust the working depth of each attachment independently is delivering even better results than they’d hoped for across greens, tees and approaches.

CombiTool delivers maintenance without compromise

CombiTool delivers maintenance without compromise

The heavy clay profile of the club in Lowestoft, Suffolk, is the number one challenge for the greens team – with anything allowing them to get some well-needed extra drainage a welcome addition to Neil, his fleet and the team of five. “You see this kind of equipment in use a lot at football and sporting venues and, after seeing it for the first time at SALTEX, I thought why are we not using this sort of machine to slit & roll tees and approaches on a golf course!” explains Neil.

“The build quality of the GKB kit always impresses me so having seen it on the stand, and thinking about the uses for the various attachments we purchased the CombiTool without even having a demonstration. It hasn’t disappointed… in fact, since it was delivered by Stuart Paterson at Ernest Doe it’s been out on the course more than it’s been in the shed and has exceeded all of our expectations!”

Launched in November 2022, the CombiTool features four attachment slots which can be tailored to the venue or task at hand, offering versatility and value-for-money while allowing multiple maintenance operations to be completed in a single pass. “We opted for the 1.6m working width with mini-slit on the front, followed by harrows, then a roller and the brush at the rear for presentation and to stand everything up ready to cut behind. We’ve so far passed over the tees and approaches a couple of times, along with two operations on the greens, where we simply raised the brush and harrows to make the operation less invasive.”

“That’s the real beauty of this machine – the versatility and ability to control the depth of each attachment means you can be as soft or aggressive as the surface demands. You could also swap different attachments in or out to suit, making it super simple for us to get some slits in the ground for additional drainage or ahead of applications of wetting agents or topdressings.”

Neil continues, “The possibilities of this unit are endless around the course. We’re going to try it out on the fairways once the current spell of dry weather is over. We’re also going to remove the roller and use the harrows and brush to see how that combination gets on with wormcasts.”

“Not only does this machine give us so much flexibility, the convenience of it is another major plus. If I wanted to slit and brush ordinarily, this would be two people running two separate machines. With the CombiTool, it’s all done in one pass, with a second team member following on behind with a mower, leaving an incredible quality of finish” he adds.

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