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Rain Bird Award For MJ Abbott

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Rain Bird Award For MJ Abbott: MJ Abbott Limited, a golf and sports turf contractor based is Wiltshire, was recognised at Rain Bird’s distributor and contractor awards ceremony held at the Golf Industry Show in San Antonio.

Contracts Director Steve Briggs and Contracts Managers Nathan George and Jim Price were there to accept the ‘Top Flight’ award for exceptional growth on the company’s behalf.

Rain Bird Award For MJ Abbott

The presentation of awards is a celebratory conclusion to Rain Bird’s training and education event for golf contractors and distributors, which takes place at the show each year.

“2017 was a busy year for us,” Nathan George explained. “Many of our golf customers upgraded their central controllers, weather stations and rotors to provide the greatest efficiencies and levels of control. Our construction teams are currently building the brand new course at Royal Norwich where a fully-integrated Rain Bird IC system is being installed. It was great to hear all about global developments at the training event and to receive this award in recognition of our achievements as an Approved Rain Bird Contractor.”

Rain Bird’s Regional Golf Sales Manager for the UK, Ireland, Iceland and Scandinavia, Jimmy Sandison, said: “It was fantastic to see a UK contractor recognised at our annual awards ceremony. MJ Abbott had a superb year working with us to grow their golf business. As a company, we are grateful for their installation expertise, and for the first-class support they continue to provide to Rain Bird system and Global Service Plan users across the country.”

For more information, visit: www.rainbird.eu/golf

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Two Honours For The Belfry

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Two Honours For The Belfry: The Belfry Hotel & Resort has further underlined its status as one of the leading golf resorts in the world after it was recognised with ‘Gold Flag’ status at the 59club awards ceremony, whilst its Director of Courses & Estates Angus Macleod was also named Greenkeeper of the Year.

The ceremony rewarded those destinations and personnel within golf who have shown exemplary customer service ratings following the 59club’s extensive mystery shopping assessments throughout 2017. The Belfry became one of only nine resorts across the world to achieve Gold Flag status, with its overall venue score up by some 11% from 2016. The spiritual home of The Ryder Cup scored particularly strongly within the ‘Tee Time Reservations’, ‘Arrival in Shop’, ‘Locker Rooms’ and ‘Food & Beverage’ categories.

“Our entire team have worked tirelessly over the last year to ensure the customer experience at The Belfry is as good as anywhere in the world,” said The Belfry’s Director of Golf Chris Reeve. “The Gold Flag award is testament to our expert team who continue to provide that VIP experience from the moment our guests book their visit right through to when they leave the resort.

“Moving forward, we will continue to invest significantly in staff training to further improve the service across our golf, hotel, spa, F&B and conference facilities,” added Reeve.

Meanwhile, The Belfry’s Director of Courses & Estates, Angus Macleod was named ‘Greenkeeper of the Year’ at the 59club awards ceremony. Overseeing a supreme 96.1% score for The Brabazon within the ‘On Course Presentation’ category, Macleod was recognised for his meticulous management of The Belfry’s famous, 4-time Ryder Cup course.

“I’m delighted to win this award and would like to pay special thanks to my incredible greenkeeping team at The Belfry, who allow me to take a strategic role in the conditioning of our golf courses,” said Macleod. “Whatever day of the year, golfers coming to The Belfry demand a Ryder Cup-standard experience, so the level of detail required in our maintenance is up there with the very best in the world.”

The Belfry Hotel & Resort made several headlines in 2017 as it was named ‘England’s Leading Resort’ and ‘England’s Leading Conference Hotel’ at The World Travel Awards, whilst also being recognised as ‘England’s Best Golf Course’, ‘England’s Best Golf Hotel’ and ‘Europe’s Best Golf Hotel’ at the World Golf Awards ceremony. As well as the success in the 59club awards ceremony, 2018 has seen The Belfry nominated for ‘The Best UK Hotel’ accolade at the M&IT awards in March.

For more on The Belfry, visit

The ceremony rewarded those destinations and personnel within golf who have shown exemplary customer service ratings following the 59club’s extensive mystery shopping assessments throughout 2017. The Belfry became one of only nine resorts across the world to achieve Gold Flag status, with its overall venue score up by some 11% from 2016. The spiritual home of The Ryder Cup scored particularly strongly within the ‘Tee Time Reservations’, ‘Arrival in Shop’, ‘Locker Rooms’ and ‘Food & Beverage’ categories.

“Our entire team have worked tirelessly over the last year to ensure the customer experience at The Belfry is as good as anywhere in the world,” said The Belfry’s Director of Golf Chris Reeve. “The Gold Flag award is testament to our expert team who continue to provide that VIP experience from the moment our guests book their visit right through to when they leave the resort.

“Moving forward, we will continue to invest significantly in staff training to further improve the service across our golf, hotel, spa, F&B and conference facilities,” added Reeve.

Meanwhile, The Belfry’s Director of Courses & Estates, Angus Macleod was named ‘Greenkeeper of the Year’ at the 59club awards ceremony. Overseeing a supreme 96.1% score for The Brabazon within the ‘On Course Presentation’ category, Macleod was recognised for his meticulous management of The Belfry’s famous, 4-time Ryder Cup course.

“I’m delighted to win this award and would like to pay special thanks to my incredible greenkeeping team at The Belfry, who allow me to take a strategic role in the conditioning of our golf courses,” said Macleod. “Whatever day of the year, golfers coming to The Belfry demand a Ryder Cup-standard experience, so the level of detail required in our maintenance is up there with the very best in the world.”

The Belfry Hotel & Resort made several headlines in 2017 as it was named ‘England’s Leading Resort’ and ‘England’s Leading Conference Hotel’ at The World Travel Awards, whilst also being recognised as ‘England’s Best Golf Course’, ‘England’s Best Golf Hotel’ and ‘Europe’s Best Golf Hotel’ at the World Golf Awards ceremony. As well as the success in the 59club awards ceremony, 2018 has seen The Belfry nominated for ‘The Best UK Hotel’ accolade at the M&IT awards in March.

For more on The Belfry, visit www.thebelfry.co.uk, email enquiries@thebelfry.com or call 01675 238 600.

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200 Sign Ups For SALTEX 2018

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200 Sign Ups For SALTEX 2018: The early signs for the 73rd edition of SALTEX (Sports, Amenities and Landscaping Trade Exhibition) are extremely positive after show organisers reported another record-breaking loyalty period, stand upgrades and an influx of debut exhibitors.

For the third successive year, SALTEX has seen an overwhelming amount of exhibitors re-book their stands. With nearly 200 companies confirming stand space early, the 2018 floor plan already boasts a strong showing of renowned exhibitors, many of which have purchased extra stand space.

200 Sign Ups For SALTEX 2018

GKB Machines is one of those exhibitors that has significantly upgraded its stand. The company, which specialises in innovative maintenance machines for sports pitches, took the decision to increase its presence at the show based on a successful SALTEX 2017.

Operations director Tom Shinkins said: “We’ve been at SALTEX for three years now and each year we have found it a great show to highlight new products and introduce our machines to the market. Off the back of SALTEX 2017 I’ve already been out to do a lot of demonstrations and have sold kit as a direct result of the show.

“It seemed a good idea to grow with the show. You can always guarantee that the one machine you don’t have on the stand is the one that people want to see, so with that in mind we have decided to increase our stand size to further highlight our range of equipment. We cater for both the natural and synthetic markets so SALTEX is a really good show for us because there are groundsmen who look after both surfaces.”

Such was the success of SALTEX 2017, the exhibition is also attracting new companies who have never before exhibited at the show.

Sports Metals, manufacturers of the Extracut-brush™ and suppliers of tines and bed knives, will be a new name on the exhibitor list. This family business consisting of husband and wife, Richard and Jane Jades, has seen rapid growth over the past couple of years and according to Richard, SALTEX is an opportunity not to be missed.

“We visited SALTEX last year, just to get a feel for the place, and loved the show. When you are a small company like us the fact that you can see hundreds of potential customers in the space of two days makes complete sense. With SALTEX being held at the end of October / early November, visitors will be thinking about what equipment and products they need going into the New Year. If I started going round to see all of those customers, it would probably take me until spring and by that time the majority of them would have already placed orders.

“It’s also about industry awareness,” Richard continues. “It is about letting groundsmen know that we have a product that could really make a difference. For the people that have already bought from us – I think it is good for a customer to see us at a show like SALTEX because it backs up their purchasing decision.”

Talurit UK, manufacturers of the GERRO™ COMBI System, which can be used for applications such as playgrounds and sports and leisure equipment, also decided to book a stand at SALTEX 2018 for the first time, based on attending previous shows as visitors.

“We have visited SALTEX to make sure that it would be the right show for us and we came to the conclusion that we will have a good target audience at the NEC for the products we manufacture. We are looking forward to putting faces to customers’ names and also to look at any competition that might be there to see what is new on the market.”

SALTEX 2018 will take place at the NEC, Birmingham on 31 October and 1 November.

To view show highlights and key interviews from SALTEX 2017 please visit www.youtube.com/MyIOG

For more information visit www.iogsaltex.com

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Golf For National Heroes

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Golf For National Heroes: Huxley Golf has completed its third project for Help for Heroes: a large putting green at the charity’s Northern Recovery Centre at Phoenix House in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire. The project comes after two similar successful projects which were conducted for the charity’s Recovery Centres at Tedworth House, Wiltshire and at Chavasse VC House, Essex.

The new facility will be used by short stay, day visitors and guests to Phoenix House who take part in activities and courses to help them get back out doing what they enjoy most. Beneficiaries are encouraged to develop their own recovery programme under the guidance of specialist staff and may involve participation in sporting activities and guidance on health and wellbeing.

Golf For National Heroes

The putting green was officially opened at a ceremony on 18 January 2018 by Bernie Broad (left), Invictus Team GB Captain, and Peter Scrivener (right), Wasps Legends Trustee of Wasps Legends Charitable Foundation which kindly funded the project.

In extremely wintry conditions, the all-weather course was certainly put to the test on the day and proved that nothing can stand in the way of a good game of golf!

Speaking at the event, Bernie Broad said that sport and activities outdoors were vital to a healthy life style. He said: “I was introduced to golf whilst going through my recovery and it was such an enabler for me. It gave me such a challenge and reason to get out of bed some mornings. The putting green in Catterick, kindly funded by the Wasps Legends Charitable Foundation, will enable individuals to get outside and do something out of the ordinary, clear their minds and just breathe in the fresh air. Good putting is also key to good golf and a low handicap!”

The new putting green has pride of place at the entrance to the Recovery Centre, providing an aesthetically pleasing and welcoming – yet low maintenance – focal point on arrival at Phoenix House. The kidney-shaped six-hole green, created using the market-leading Huxley Golf Premier Nylon Putting Turf, measures approximately 76 sq. yards in total. To complete the project, a 35mm fringe surround was laid using Huxley Golf Leisure Turf.

Paul Chester, General Manager at Huxley Golf said: “This was an interesting project in terms of its design. The original idea was to position the new putting green on a hilly grassed area but, working in partnership with the management team, we concluded that the site was too steep. Our solution was to convert a disused bowls court. The result not only looks fantastic but importantly, it is easy for all visitors to access, regardless of injury. We’re extremely proud to have created a golf facility at three out of four Help for Heroes Recovery Centres.”

Help for Heroes Head of Recovery North, David McNeill, said the new creation would improve golfing skills and help the beneficiaries in other areas. He said: “The putting green is brilliant and a fantastic resource. It will encourage people to challenge themselves through golf, whether as an individual or in a group. I look forward to seeing those we support staying out late into the summer nights, enjoying themselves and improving their golfing skills.”

Peter Scrivener, Trustee of Wasps Legends Charitable Foundation, added that he hoped the new addition to the Recovery Centre would allow past and present servicemen and women to take their minds off their injuries. He added: “The putting green is a space where they can have some time alone and develop a new skill. When they come here they might be completely new to the experience, but it just gives them somewhere to go, give themselves peace and just enjoy themselves. We are delighted to support this, it is very humbling.”

For more information, visit: www.huxleygolf.com

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MM50 Chosen For Cricket Squares

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MM50 Chosen For Cricket Squares: After a successful trial, Jamie Foyster – owner of Sportsturf Management, has taken the decision to exclusively use Limagrain’s MM50 grass seed across each cricket square he tends to.

It is safe to say that Jamie Foyster knows a thing or two about cricket squares – he was introduced to the sport at the age of 10 as a player and was then helping to prepare and maintaining pitches by 15 at his local club. This continued over two decades and even though he was working in another job he still continued to work voluntarily on cricket pitches until he had an opportunity to join Sportsturf Management in 2008.

MM50 Chosen For Cricket Squares

Jamie took over the sole ownership of the business in 2012 and it was also at this stage that he first became acquainted with Limagrain UK.

“I wasn’t happy with my existing supplier – the seed just wasn’t performing as I wanted it to. We had an incredibly wet season that year and in the autumn I trialled MM50 on two cricket squares. Very soon it was apparent that the germination rate, the development and the root density was fantastic.

“However, the real test came in the summer of the following year, and for me the wear tolerance and the recovery rate was just superb. That sealed the deal for me and since then I have converted all my squares to MM50.”

MM50 possesses exceptional shoot density along with tolerance to close mowing making it particularly suitable for cricket squares. This superior mix contains the perennial ryegrass cultivars, Venice, Alison and Malibu, which are renowned for providing a great sward for cricket use. As Jamie reports, other key features of MM50 include fast recovery from wear and damage and high disease resistance.

It is products such as MM50 which is a direct result of Limagrain’s continual investment into research and development. The company is a major supporter of research partnerships with universities and institutes which will continue to help provide new varieties through plant breeding giving groundsmen and greenkeepers solutions in future turf management.

“Products and technology have come such a long way in the past decade,” says Jamie. “Machinery, seeds, fertilisers, you name it – they have all advanced massively. For example you just have to look at germination rates now compared to a few years ago. In this respect I would have to single out HEADSTART® GOLD seed coating.”

MM50 Chosen For Cricket Squares

MM50 is treated with HEADSTART® GOLD – Limagrain’s unique seaweed based seed treatment which helps to ensure rapid and even germination. This tried and tested grass seed treatment helps the seed get off to the best possible start – making it ideal to use in the less than favourable conditions that can sometimes be found on cricket pitches during renovations.

HEADSTART® GOLD is perhaps at its most beneficial when it comes to the fourteen squares that Jamie and his team carry out renovations on each year. In addition, they maintain a further eight squares all year round  – Jamie’s work has quickly caught the eye.

“Others have seen how well MM50 has performed on our squares and they have since started using it. To be honest, I recommend MM50 all the time now and quite a lot of clubs and schools I know of have switched to it.

“It’s just a tremendous package all round from Limagrain. Richard Sheppard (Amenity Seed Sales Specialist) will often come and see me, to see how everything is going and offer advice and support. I don’t even have to ask for that but it is a great service to have.”

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

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