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New Amenity Specialist for Sherriff

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New Amenity Specialist for Sherriff: Sherriff Amenity has announced the appointment of Andrew Norman, who joins the company as an amenity specialist based in the areas of Kent and East Sussex.

Eighteen years’ experience of golf greenkeeping make Andrew ideally suited for his new role with Sherriff Amenity. He joins the company from East Sussex National Golf Club where he started as a seasonal greenkeeper before working his way up to deputy course manager. It is this experience which makes Andrew fully appreciate the demanding workload of modern turf professionals and the need for high quality products.

New Amenity Specialist for Sherriff

Commenting on his decision to join Sherriff Amenity, Andrew said: “It seems to me that everyone in the industry has heard of them and that the products are of exceptional quality. They have a huge respect in the industry, a wide range of products and great distribution.”

Andrew, who also holds an NVQ Level 3 in Amenity Horticulture Greenkeeping and Sports Turf Management, said that he is relishing the opportunity to learn and assist turf managers.

“I was keen to start learning about all the other things that are going on in the world of turf. In my first few weeks I will try to get around to see a lot of people to find out more about their turf and their sites. I feel like I have learnt so much already across a wide range of sports turf including tennis, cricket and football – it has been enlightening.”

Sherriff Amenity’s extensive range of quality products are perfectly complimented by the first-class customer service provided by the company’s amenity specialists. Renowned for their technical knowledge, which is consistently enriched through industry leading training programmes, Sherriff’s amenity specialists can ensure that you are always getting the best results from your turf.

Away from work, Andrew spends his time on call for East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and likes to play football and golf.

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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Pellenc power for Inverallan Landscapes

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Pellenc power for Inverallan Landscapes: Inverallan Landscapes, a gardening and grounds maintenance contracting business in Stirling, claims that Pellenc battery powered equipment is playing a big part in the company’s decision to be more environmentally friendly.

In 21 years of business, the family run company has acquired a glowing reputation for its highest level of service and attention to detail by its fully qualified staff. The company also boasts ISO 14001-2015 Environmental Management and ISO 9001-2015 Quality Management Systems certifications.

Pellenc power for Inverallan Landscapes

Inverallan Landscapes success can also be attributed to managing director John Maxwell’s forward thinking, who is of the opinion that battery powered equipment is the future of ground care.

“In my opinion, battery equipment is the way forward and we have made a big conscious decision to be greener,” he said.

“We run quite a variety of battery equipment and Pellenc is a big part of that – it’s easy to use, you don’t have any maintenance and there is a huge saving on fuel.”

Light, odourless, relatively noise-free, with no starting problems and no refilling the fuel tank – it’s no wonder more and more people like John are turning to the innovative technology of Pellenc. In recent years, Pellenc has gained market recognition by offering a unique range of ‘zero emission’ battery-powered handheld tools, thanks to the development of Lithium-ion ultra-high performance batteries. This technology, which is exclusive to Pellenc, guarantees non-polluting with quick start-up and long lasting battery life – something which John is particularly impressed with.

“They are great for the run time and you can use it with the confidence knowing that you are not going to run out in an hour’s time which is thanks to the Pellenc ULiB battery we use.”

The team at Inverallan Landscapes have reported fantastic results from using the Helion 2 Compact hedge trimmer – which is the lightest battery-powered hedge trimmer on the market. Designed to meet the needs of professionals in terms of power and trimming quality, the Helion hedge trimmer allows the user to work comfortably when trimming hedges, ornamental trees and can also be used for pruning. By using the 4-speed selector switch, you can adapt your tool to the type of cut required.

Furthermore, to reach areas that may be a stretch, John and his team rely on the Pellenc Helion extendable pole model.

“These two models give us the flexibility for effective hedge cutting and the extendable pole saw allows for long reach. They are so much lighter than their two-stroke equivalents and are a joy to use.”

John also revealed that his most recent Pellenc addition, the Cleanion battery-powered brush, proved to be the town’s saviour when the Beast from the East struck last year.

“Here in Stirling we have the National Wallace Monument and there is a steep road leading up to it in which a mini bus transports tourists so they can walk round and view the monument. When the Beast from the East came, the tourists couldn’t get up there because the road was covered in snow. I therefore needed a machine to clear it and decided that the Cleanion looked ideal.”

The Pellenc Cleanion battery-powered brush is ideal for removing debris from natural and artificial grass and other hard surfaces. With the attachment of a snow blade, the Cleanion also proves to be effective in clearing snow from streets and paths. However, in John’s case, he didn’t have the snow attachment at the time so he proceeded in clearing the snow leading up to the monument with the standard brush.

“It actually worked out very well and cleared the way which enabled the mini-bus to get up the hill. We have since purchased the snow blade attachment but haven’t had a chance to use it yet, so I’m hoping that it snows soon purely so I’ve got an excuse to use it!

“It was the battery factor which attracted me to the Cleanion and the fact that I can use the same battery on this machine as well as other tools in the Pellenc range.”

Pellenc products are exclusively distributed in the UK by Etesia UK

For further information, please contact Etesia UK on 01295 680120 or visit www.pellencuk.com

You can also follow Pellenc on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @PellencUK for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

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SISIS the choice for Warwick School

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SISIS the choice for Warwick School: Duncan Toon, Grounds Manager at Warwick Independent Schools Foundation, believes that both his new SISIS Flexibrush and SISIS TM1000 have helped produce significant improvements to the schools’ sports surfaces.

Duncan is nine months into his new position after joining the Foundation from Birmingham City FC and is responsible for the grounds at Warwick School, Warwick Junior School, King’s High School and Warwick Preparatory School – which all fall under the Warwick Independent Schools Foundation umbrella.

SISIS the choice for Warwick School

The schools are justly proud of their sporting success, including national awards, and ability to provide all its pupils the opportunity to play their chosen sport.  Essential to their achievements are high quality and well-maintained sports pitches.  The appointment of Duncan was part of the Foundation’s commitment to improve the grounds at its schools, alongside making additional investment in its grounds equipment.

“We have a great team in place now and we have started to build a fantastic line-up of maintenance equipment. Personally, I was looking for reliable and trusted machinery and that is why I chose the SISIS Flexibrush and the SISIS TM1000,” Duncan said.

The SISIS Flexibrush is a tractor-mounted brush which is equally effective at dispersing top dressing, removing excess material on natural turf and synthetic surfaces, dew dispersal and improving presentation. It has a 5.35 metre working width, its brush sections float to follow ground contours and the outer sections fold for transport and storage.

“For us it has eliminated the previously time-consuming task of dew removal,” said Duncan. “Everything gets a bit hectic here on a school day but the Flexibrush gives us a big head start because we can start nice and early at 7am and knock all the dew off the grass before the children start classes. It has helped us to reduce disease and I also use it for presentation.”

The SISIS Rotorake TM1000 is a tractor-mounted heavy-duty scarifier and linear aerator and is unrivalled when it comes to removing and controlling thatch. It includes a collector box and floating unit to follow ground contours and its contra-rotating reel throws debris forward ensuring a clean, consistent groove resulting in an excellent finish. The TM1000 also features interchangeable blades and a quick, simple depth setting without tools.

“We mainly bought the TM1000 for in-house cricket renovations but it is also used for regular maintenance work on the squares,” Duncan explained. “It is great for verticutting and we also have the 2mm scarifying removal reel and the brush reel which we use for cleaning up. It is such a simple, yet effective piece of equipment – in fact I would say it is a must-have tool for any groundsman to have in their armoury.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact SISIS on 01332 824 777 or visit www.sisis.com

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow SISIS on Twitter or Instagram @SISISMachinery and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/SISISMachinery. You can also view the latest SISIS videos by visiting www.youtube.com/SISISMachinery

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ICL The Remedy For Recovery

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ICL The Remedy For Recovery: Harry Cannon, Course Manager at Sand Martins Golf Club in Berkshire, believes that a range of ICL products have significantly helped the tees to combat signs of heavy wear.

Opened in 1993, the Sand Martins course has been cleverly designed with two distinct and contrasting nine holes. The front nine is set in parkland with lakes and water hazards whereas when you move to the back nine it is quite obvious to see that it transforms to a links style with deep revetted bunkers and hazards lurking on every hole.

ICL The Remedy For Recovery

Despite the variety in style between the two nines, one thing remains constant – the quality of the playing surfaces, and that is partly thanks to Harry, whose enthusiasm and commitment to the development of Sand Martins is clearly evident.

At just 28 years old Harry is a relatively young Course Manager but in his short career he already boasts a wealth of experience. It all started in 2007 when he embarked on a summer job at the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club and realised that he wanted to pursue a career in greenkeeeping. After completing his necessary qualifications and spending a further nine years at Mid-Surrey he landed the role as Deputy Course Manager at Sand Martins. It wasn’t long before the determined Harry made his mark and was promoted to the position of Course Manager.

“I have great support around me and the team are absolutely fantastic,” he said. “It is still quite a young golf course which brings its challenges but all 18 holes are managed the same and with the programmes that we have in place through ICL, we are able to keep the standards consistently high.”

While it is obvious that Harry takes most challenges in his stride, he admits to facing the most problematic period in his career last year when the Club, and most of the country, experienced extreme droughts.

Harry started by overseeding with ICL’s ProSelect 2 Tees/Fairway mixture which contains a blend of fine fescues and perennial ryegrass. Using a disc-seeder, he applied the seed at 15g/m2 to the tees and double passed.

“We had dried out so much we began to lose turf coverage in areas,” said Harry. “Therefore, we overseeded with ProSelect at the end of September and that got us out of jail massively – it was exactly what was needed. We were getting a great strike going into winter and fortunately because it was quite mild we had early germination.”

With the turf established, Harry’s attentions turned to maintaining the tees in order to control the amount of wear they were experiencing. After speaking to Matt Nutter, ICL Technical Area Sales Manager, he decided that the best way forward would be to apply a granular fertilizer in the form of ProTurf 15-5-15+2CaO+2MgO at the start of the season, followed by a monthly tank-mix consisting of Primo Maxx II growth regulator (1.6 L/ha), and a range of soluble fertilizers – Sportsmaster WSF High N (15Kg/ha), Sportsmaster WSF High K (15Kg/ha) and Sportsmaster WSF Iron (15Kg/ha).

“The purpose of using ProTurf at the start of season is to give the turf a jump-start coming out of winter and going into summer. At the start of June and throughout the whole month it is our Club Championships so we need to be looking sharp and this is what ProTurf gives you.

“The soluble feeds – the High N, the High K and the Iron just seem to keep them ticking over all the way through the year. It’s a perfect mixture and I think the good thing about these ICL products is that we can just amend the application rates depending on what is required. If we have had a lot of rain then we might not need as much N and if they are stressed then we may put in a little bit more K. These products really do allow you to micro-manage.

“For a club that has busy periods, with small tees, and at a time when we were experiencing a lot of stress from last year we have seen great recovery, an improved clipping yield and the density of the sward has considerably thickened. Therefore the biggest praise I can give these products is that they have enabled us to control the amount of wear.”

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

For more news and insightful views, you can follow ICL on Twitter @ICL_Turf

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Prestigious Club Goes All In For Toro

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Prestigious Club Goes All In For Toro: At the pinnacle of St George’s Hill Golf Club sits its iconic clubhouse, casting an eye over its three nine-hole courses widely regarded as Harry Colt’s crowning glory, and now in the hands of Toro to uphold.

Set within an exclusive private estate in Surrey, the club was in need of a fleet of turfcare machinery to maintain the high standards of the course, and it was a complete Toro package that proved to hit the mark with the club signing its first ever five-year agreement plan with Toro and its distributor Reesink Turfcare.

Prestigious Club Goes All In For Toro

The historic club provides one of the most exclusive golfing experiences, currently ranked No.63 in the World by Golf Digest Magazine. With so much history and expectation, course manager Chris Godsen says the pressure to provide the very best is always on.

“Every day here is a big day,” he explains. “Everyone who comes to play is looking for the best and wanting an experience like no other, so we have to work to provide that every day, no exceptions.”

With the club boasting 500 members and the estate home to 420 houses, having a comprehensive and efficient fleet is vitally important.

“The fleet here was already about 90 percent Toro,” Chris says. “But we wanted to invest in new machines, so we’d be up to date with the latest tech and innovation.”

Despite looking at a range of options with other brands before making a commitment, for Chris, Toro was the only choice.

“We did look at a couple of other brands, but there would always be one or two unreliable machines that would really let the package down. But with Toro, there isn’t one piece of kit I can see doing that. Toro always has far superior machines that are durable, reliable and state-of-the-art, which is just what a prestigious club like St George’s Hill needs.”

And club secretary Gary Peddie agrees: “The decision to choose Toro was a relatively easy one. They are recognised in the industry as a leading manufacturer of golf course machinery. That position sits very well alongside St George’s Hill Golf Club, as we look to deliver the best in golf course conditioning.”

With the package deal comprising near thirty pieces, including three Greensmaster 3250-Ds, three Reelmaster 3555-Ds, two Groundsmaster 4300-Ds, four Workman HDX-Ds and a ProPass 200 to name a few, Chris is excited to put the new comprehensive fleet to work.

“We’re particularly excited to trial our new lightweight mowers as we haven’t had them before. The Multi Pro 5800-D sprayer is also going to be a big help. It’s bigger and faster than what we have now, so we’ll be able to get more coverage in less time.

“I’m confident this agreement is just the start of an ongoing partnership,” says Chris. “The service from Reesink has always been great and now with a full fleet of Toro equipment, I have total peace of mind that the course is in good hands.”

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