Tag Archive for: Dennis

Dennis Razor Improves Greens At Mapperley

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Dennis Razor Improves Greens At Mapperley: Michael Dickson, deputy head greenkeeper and mechanic at Mapperley Golf Club, has reported a notable improvement in the quality of the greens at the Nottingham-based club since purchasing two Dennis Razor mowers.

Mapperley is a beautiful parkland course with rolling fairways which have, for more than a century, presented golfers with an interesting challenge from the tee. The 600 plus members also find the tight greens testing while they soak up the stunning views of the nearby Gedling Country Park.

Dennis Razor Improves Greens At Mapperley

Michael is part of a four-man greenkeeping team that works tirelessly to keep the course in immaculate condition all year round. He admits that it can, at times, be a challenge with just four in the team and that it is therefore imperative they have the correct maintenance equipment in place.

In particular, cutting by hand in summer at Mapperley is just too tall a task for the four-man team but in winter there is no other option.

“You don’t get much hillier than Mapperley, says Michael. “It can get incredibly wet in winter and no vehicle can get to some of our greens without either marking the ground or sliding all over the place – and that can be very dangerous.

“Our previous greens mowers were getting old, they were always breaking down and the quality of cut was never brilliant so we knew that we wanted to upgrade. Ultimately, what we wanted was a good quality mower to cut the greens in winter.”

Michael visited BIGGA’s BTME exhibition to see what was on the market and after visiting a number of stands he drew up a shortlist of potential greens mowers – one of which was the Dennis Razor fine turf mower. Upon returning to Mapperley, various mowers were demonstrated but for Michael and the team there was one which particularly stood out.

“We had the Razor on demo and were instantly impressed. The members loved it and they could instantly tell which green it had been demonstrated on. Even when the treasurer came out, he saw the quality of cut and said ‘”right, we’re having them now.”’

Dennis Razor Improves Greens At Mapperley

“The other mowers we tried just felt very heavy and more difficult to manoeuvre in comparison to the Razor. It was the best option by far.”

Superbly balanced and ideal for golf greens and other fine turf surfaces, the Razor features a 560mm (22in), 11 blade cutting cylinder for a perfect finish. An ultra-short wheelbase ensures easy manoeuvrability and excellent performance, even on undulating surfaces. The Dennis Razor encompasses the simple ‘no tools required’ click height adjusters for quick and easy operation, a feature which particularly struck a chord with Michael and his team.

“I don’t like machines with too many gizmos – I like one that is simple, straight forward to use and does the job which it is supposed to do. We’ve been using the Razors for a year now and they have been fantastic.

“In my opinion the best features on the Razor are that they are reliable, incredibly well built and easy to use. They keep the weight off the greens in winter and the cut that it offers in terms of presentation is fantastic. Since we’ve been using the Razor the greens have been a different quality.

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

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Dennis Technology At SALTEX 2018

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Dennis Technology At SALTEX 2018: Visitors to the Dennis stand (E070) at IOG SALTEX on October 31 and November 1 will have an opportunity to see how the company’s range of world class turf maintenance equipment enables turf professionals to benefit from cutting edge technology.

Taking centre stage on the Dennis Mowers stand will be the new PRO 34R rotary mower. Following the launch of the prototype model at last year’s show; the professional rotary mower has been refined and developed with feedback from groundsmen over the past 18 months.

Dennis Technology At SALTEX 2018

The PRO 34R is a 34” (860mm) rotary mower designed to help groundsmen achieve an aesthetically pleasing appearance and desired playing surface.

The mower is ideal for sports pitches and lawns producing the enviable ‘Dennis Stripes’ while a powerful vacuum flow collects debris quickly and efficiently.

The angle of the cutting deck and twin blades can be easily adjusted using a single ‘click adjuster’ ensuring the mower is suitable for changing conditions and meeting groundsmen’s requirements.

Unique features of the Dennis PRO 34R Rotary Mower include:

  • 5 forward and 1 reverse selection for speed of operation
  • 90 litre capacity grass box
  • Fully adjustable angle of deck for changing conditions
  • 2 section cast aluminium rear roller
  • Easy to use height of cut gauge
  • Single point height of cut adjustment for ease of operation
  • Optional front wheel or smooth/weile roller options
  • Front brush for standing grasses upright
  • Adjustable handlebars for operator comfort

Also on view will be the G860, G34D and the Premier professional cylinder mowers along with the the FT510, Razor Ultra, and S500 Plus seeder, which creates ideal seed germination pockets whilst reducing seed wastage.

The FT510 professional mower is unrivalled as a mower and turf maintenance machine on all areas of fine turf. A cutting width of 510mm (20”) and a range of 11 interchangeable cassettes mean that one machine can be used for several different jobs from scarifying, verticutting, brushing and cutting.

The Razor Ultra 560 has been developed to specifically meet the demands of cricket pitches as well as golf greens & tees and bowling greens. The machine has a 560mm (22”) cutting width and incorporates many key features including an 11 bladed cutting cylinder, ultra short wheelbase for undulating surfaces, tungsten tipped groomer, compact handle design for extra manoeuvrability, click height adjusters and stub free transport wheels for easy transport from site to site.

The G860 has eleven quick changeover cassette options giving ultimate flexibility and a single power unit for many day-to-day maintenance tasks. This versatility coupled with low ground pressure, at just 166kgs, and manoeuvrability makes the G860 the choice for many top sporting venues around the world including the recent FIFA World Cup Finals in Russia.

Designed and built following the same concept as the Dennis G860, the G34D is a dedicated cylinder mower that incorporates a large-diameter eight bladed cutting cylinder to cater for a wide range of uses to leave a precise cut.

Fitted with either a powerful Honda Petrol or Kubota diesel engine, the Premier is available in 30” and 36” cutting widths. A 3 section rear roller and steering brakes make it easy to manoeuvre giving an excellent stripe pattern and rolling characteristics. Complete with a large diameter front roller with adjustable scraper, for precise height of cut control, the machine is easy to adjust on both sides with the use of a single spanner.

In addition to the range of Dennis products on show, the combined display with SISIS will also show a range of natural and synthetic turf maintenance machinery.

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

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Dennis & SISIS Acquire Foley Grinder

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Dennis & SISIS Acquire Foley Grinder: Dennis & SISIS have bolstered their production line with the addition of a Foley Accu-Pro 673 to ensure perfect OEM specification grinding.

The renowned mower manufacturer had very specific requirements when it came to choosing the machine that would grind all of the bedknives for their mowers, citing reliability, flexibility and accuracy as the top three priorities.

Dennis & SISIS Acquire Foley Grinder

As part of the production line, the Accu-Pro 673 fully automatic Bedknife grinder is in constant use and will grind thousands of bedknives a year, with the machine having already delivered between 500 to 600 blades in its first three months.

These blades are manufactured in-house through Dennis Sisis’ sister company, Crocodile Precision Ltd, and Ian Howard, managing director of Dennis Sisis, explains the importance of having a high-quality reliable grinder as the company moves through their busiest year to date.

“Our specification for a grinder differs slightly from a golf course or football club because of the amount of time our grinders are working,” Ian began. “We’re having our busiest year to date, our order books are full, sales are booming, and demand is increasing all the time, so this increases our need for reliability and quality in the production line.

“Every bedknife we produce has to be individually ground to the correct OEM specification on the bedknife carrier, prior to mower assembly. We need a grinder that makes efficient use of workshop time by being quick and easy to set-up particularly as we are constantly swapping between different length blades.

“Our customers expect accurately ground relief angles on the blade, and the Accu-Pro 673 consistently delivers top-quality performance.”

The robust construction and features of the Foley machine made it a more attractive grinder for Ian and the Dennis Sisis team. The innovative mounting system uses powerful electromagnets to hold the bed bar in place and Positive Gauge Stops to make set-up simple and fast.

Fast angle set-up provides repeatability without recalibration. Set the Angle Stops once and the 673 will grind the same angle over and over. Changing from grinding the front face to the top face is as simple as pushing a button and watching as the powered Tool Bar rotates into the position.

Automation is at the core of the 673’s success, with the pre-set programmes automatically starting the grinder, traversing the grinding head, in-feeding the grinding head and stopping the grinding process.

One man who experiences the full benefit of these features is Dennis & SISIS senior grinding technician, Tony Snaith. “I’ve been delighted with the performance and speed the blades can be set-up and ground,” he said.

“The Accu-Pro 673 has performed consistently, efficiently and accurately and has coped with the constant demands of the production line. It has really proven itself to be the perfect machine for what we need.”

Foley grinders claim to deliver the best grinding solution available on the market. Be it for high output in a production line, contractor, local authority or the more measured approach of affordable in-house grinding for golf courses and football clubs.

For more information, visit: www.foleyunited.com

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Top Marks For Dennis Combo

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Top Marks For Dennis Combo: Ian Smith, turf consultant for St Albans School, Woollam Trust Playing Fields, uses a combination of the Dennis G860 cassette system and Razor fine turf mower to maintain the cricket pitches, and has seen excellent results from the machines.

The Woollham Trust Playing Fields are the largest development of their kind ever undertaken in a single phase in Europe. The school’s outstanding facilities include a huge pavilion, 22 winter pitches for rugby and football, an all-weather hockey pitch and 8 cricket squares. Not only is the magnificent 73 acre site shared with the Old Albanians Club but it is also the training base for Saracens Rugby Club.

Top Marks For Dennis Combo

“Standards are exceptionally high here at the school and we take our pitch preparations incredibly seriously,” said Ian. “You can imagine the situation if someone like Owen Farrell (England and Saracens rugby union player) was to turn an ankle on an uneven pitch. Of course it is great to have fabulous presentation but player safety is paramount here.”

The school boasts its own exceptional sporting teams and the cricket department, headed by former Essex CCC cricketer Mark Ilot, has always carried an excellent reputation, which is undoubtedly enhanced by the quality of the pitches.

In preparing the cricket pitches, Ian first of all uses the Dennis G860 which is the ideal machine for someone looking to complete a number of tasks with just one power unit. Featuring an interchangeable cassette system, users have the option of fitting different types of cassettes including scarifiers, verticutters, brushes, spikers, and slitters.

“The reason we purchased the G860 was because of its versatility and the fact that you can have all of the different cassettes for different maintenance needs,” said Ian. “We can use it for cutting the squares, cutting the outfields, but then we can also use it to scarify. For pre-season we have a cassette which has 1mm scarifying blades so we will use that at the start of the season to thin the square a little bit. We’ve also got the new spring tine rake cassette which we also use for cricket pitch preparation.

Excellent Results From Dennis Combo

“As the pitches are drying out we use the brush cassette to flick out a lot of the older dead grass, and generally to clean them up and make the grass stand up for when it is time to cut with the Razor.”

Superbly balanced and ideal for cricket pitches and other fine turf surfaces, the Razor features a 560mm (22in), 11 blade cutting cylinder for a perfect finish. An ultra-short wheelbase ensures easy manoeuvrability and excellent performance, even on undulating surfaces. The Dennis Razor encompasses the simple ‘no tools required’ click height adjusters for quick and easy operation, a feature which Ian is particularly fond of.

“The Razor is great because we are starting on turf that has been cut down to 12mm by the G860. With the click system of the Razor, it is very simple to change the height. Instead of having to go out with two separate mowers set at two different heights, like we were previously doing, you just use the one mower.

“In a matter of seconds we can go down from 12mm to 10mm and then you give it a couple of clicks and then you are down to 8mm and then a couple more clicks and you are down to 6mm, it’s as easy as that. No tools are required and any of the staff can use it without any problems whatsoever.

“The cutting cylinders on both mowers are as good, if not better, than anything I have used before.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

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

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Dennis & SISIS Event A Success

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Dennis & SISIS Event A Success: The second ever Dennis and SISIS’ Cricket Pitch Renovation Day recently took place at Cheltenham College, and the verdict was that the day was a resounding success, as over 130 cricket groundsmen were in attendance for a mix of thought provoking indoor presentations and outdoor practical demonstrations.

The event, which was supported by Boughton Loam, CricketWorld.com, Stuart Canvas, Limagrain UK, Lister Wilder, Poweroll and Headland Amenity began with an introduction from Robert Jack (Dennis and SISIS) and Eric Woodmason from Gloucestershire Cricket Board who gave a fascinating insight into his role as clubs and programmes officer for the north of the county.

Dennis & SISIS Event A Success

Alex Vickers, turf consultant, was first up to discuss Principles of decision making for autumn renovations & profile reading, which no doubt would have left the assembled groundsmen with plenty of food for thought. Alex proceeded to offer some great renovation tips which was supported by visual slides and in particular he urged all attendees to plan ahead and avoid guess work. He advocates that gathering evidence prior to forming renovation decisions was key and advised groundsmen to understand the importance of what is happening beneath the square rather than focussing just on the top.

As a leading contractor, Keith Exton of Perfect Pitches UK, was perfectly placed to deliver his seminar entitled End of season renovations – a contractor’s overview. Keith was keen to emphasise just how integral timing is to cricket pitch preparation and warned the audience not to overlook the significance of measuring moisture content.

Both Keith and Alex went on further to discuss various renovation techniques such as aeration, top-dressing, seeding and applying loam, and both were also unanimous in the importance of taking core soil samples.

After his seminar, Alex was pleased to welcome a number of questions from delegates and also revealed why events such as these are integral to raising the standards of cricket groundsmanship.

“I think the reason people should come along to these events is two-fold. First of all, you are never too old and never too experienced to learn something new; there are always new techniques to discover. That could be through the practical demonstrations, through the talks or even by chatting to your fellow groundsmen because you find that you really do learn from one another. An event like this is a fantastic way to develop those networks and get to know other people who are having the same issues as you.

“It also helps keep people up to date. I know some groundsmen who have been doing the same things for 30 years with the same bit of kit but the industry has moved on and there are easier and better ways of doing things. Events like today can help you understand that actually there are better ways to achieve the good results.”

Following the presentations, it was the perfect opportunity to introduce delegates to the Soil Core Clinic. In this innovative feature Keith was joined by Ian Smith (St Albans School Turf Consultant) as they proceeded to examine a number of soil profiles which were brought to the event by delegates. The samples were projected onto the big screen and Keith and Ian discussed how each could potentially be improved.

Over recent years, Ian has been a prominent figure at the Dennis and SISIS cricket groundsmen seminars, and he was delighted to see yet another great turn-out. “Today we’ve had a real mixture of cricket groundsmen – 130 from the likes of part-time clubs, schools and county clubs. In my opinion, there are not many of these events going on in the industry so I think they are extremely valuable,” he said.

Dennis & SISIS Event A Success

A complimentary lunch signalled the halfway point before delegates made their way outside into the glorious sunshine. Cheltenham College offered picturesque views and a wonderful backdrop as the outdoor practical demonstrations took place on two squares and the cricket outfield.

The three workshops focused on a variety of techniques that would be beneficial for cricket groundsmen and saw an impressive fleet of machinery carrying out tasks such as aeration, seeding, brushing, top dressing and scarifying.

Christian Brain, head of grounds at Cheltenham College and host for the day, was extremely generous in letting the demonstrations take place on his county standard squares and felt that the day was a huge success for all involved. “It’s been fantastic to see so many passionate groundsmen here mixing with one another and sharing ideas. We’ve had some great feedback from the delegates and overall it’s been a hugely successful day,” he said.

Adam King, head of grounds at Radley College, brought other members of staff along with him and found the day extremely worthwhile.

“I’ve brought along five lads with me today and we’ve been treated to some great indoor talks and outdoor demonstrations. Generally, I find these days useful in respect of networking but it’s also a nice release for my members of staff who have been incredibly busy for the last six months on the cricket squares. It has given them the day off; they have been able to watch the machines in action, learn something new and they will absolutely take something away.”

Echoing Adam’s thoughts was Gordon Gill, contractor and head groundsman at Bath Cricket Club, who felt it was refreshing for his members of staff to gain a greater insight into the industry.

“I’ve come along to introduce my two staff members to the networking that goes on, plus they can see the machinery first hand, they can speak to other people in the trade first hand, and suddenly they find they are not alone anymore. It’s been a great exercise for them.”

Eric Woodmason rounded off the day by suggesting that events like these are not just beneficial to the groundsmen but also claimed that they have a positive impact on the sport of cricket. “My main desire out of this is that club groundsmen gain experience and knowledge of what they need to do on their grounds and hopefully that their grounds will improve as a result. This in turn, will get more people wanting to play cricket because if there is a good ground to play on, cricket becomes even more enjoyable.”

A video of the event can be found by visiting https://youtu.be/3pxT4yyQmU8

Further information about the range of cricket maintenance products available can be found by visiting www.dennisuk.com / www.sisis.com.

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