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Always the right tine for a Verti-Drain

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Always the right tine for a Verti-Drain: Shortly after taking over as Head Greenkeeper at Charleton Golf Club, Brian Heggie quickly drafted in another new member of the team – a Redexim Verti-Drain® 7416 from local dealers Henderson Grass Machinery.

The versatile range of tine options available means that the Verti-Drain® has had a busy year since its delivery in March 2020, conducting monthly aeration across the course’s greens, tees and approaches.

Always the right tine for a Verti-Drain

Always the right tine for a Verti-Drain

A quick scan of the shed upon joining the club in September 2019 highlighted to Brian the absence of any aeration equipment – something he was keen to rectify. “I’ve used the Redexim Verti-Drain® in a number of my previous positions and you know that whichever model you choose, it’s going to be reliable and do exactly what it says on the tin” says Brian, who heads up a team of four. This time Brian opted for the 7416 model, offering a 1.6m working width and penetrating the ground to a maximum depth of 350mm (14”).

“What keeps me coming back to the Verti-Drain® is the flexibility of being able to use different tines throughout the year – ensuring that we are achieving optimal results, no matter the ground conditions. This year we’ve been aerating the greens, tees and approaches once a month with either 8mm pencil tines, 14mm solid tines or 14mm hollow tines. We will continue with the monthly programme over the winter, using pencil tines to keep the surface open while keeping disruption to a minimum.”

While, from experience, Brian knows what he likes when it comes to machinery, he has the additional reassurance of support from his local dealer Hendersons, especially Scott McNeil. “Having been a greenkeeper himself, he’s great to have at the end of the phone to answer any questions we may have.” Brian concludes, “The Verti-Drain® never disappoints and now that we have one in the shed here at Charleton we can up the amount and type of aeration we conduct which will only bring benefit to the health and condition of our playing surfaces.”

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P&K strives for excellence

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P&K strives for excellence: Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club in Bridgend, commonly known as P&K, is one of Wales’s few true championship links courses. Its lofty sand dunes and unique series of habitats hug the same stretch of South Wales coastline as its near neighbour Royal Porthcawl.

It is also one of the few golf clubs in Wales to have been awarded GEO certification, in May 2020. This environmental management award recognised the club’s efforts to achieve a credible standard for sustainable golf course operation, and its important contributions in protecting nature, conserving resources and strengthening local communities.

P&K strives for excellence

P&K strives for excellence

“Achieving this certification is just part of an on-going commitment to continue striving for excellence in sustainable golf,” says club secretary/manager Simon Hopkin. “This has also seen us invest this year in more modern and environmentally friendly course maintenance equipment, with the help of Sean Brown from John Deere dealer Powercut and the company’s territory manager Nick Ashman.

“The club celebrates its centenary in 2022, when we will be hosting the R&A Men’s Home Internationals tournament, so we’re keen to achieve the best course we possibly can, not just for that event but for the year-round benefit of our members and visitors.”

After initial discussions were held with P&K on how best to upgrade the club’s ageing mower fleet, Powercut and Nick Ashman arranged to have a brand new 2750 E-Cut hybrid electric triplex mower transported to Wales for its first ever public demonstration. This was also the first pre-production machine to arrive in the UK after its launch at BTME in January 2019, and was shipped direct from John Deere’s stand display at The Solheim Cup at Gleneagles, which required a special police escort off the site.

Following this P&K agreed a John Deere Financial five-year finance lease deal, with a three-month payment holiday due to Covid-19, and put in the first UK order for three 2750E mowers, two equipped with cutting units for the tees and collars and one for the greens. The order also included a 6500A lightweight fairway mower, with an HPX 815E Gator utility vehicle and a 5075E utility tractor on turf tyres plus H-Series front loader bought earlier in the year.

“Together with our head greenkeeper Paul Johnson, we conducted a machinery audit to help us identify the best machines to help us improve the greens, tees and surrounds in particular,” says Simon Hopkin. “As part of the overall course improvements, we had been filling in bunkers to create more roll-off areas, and we had already identified the need for mowers that could cope with the slopes, which hadn’t been possible up to that point.

“We also had a course audit from an independent STRI agronomist, who quizzed us about the machinery and cutting regimes and made some recommendations that contributed to the debate. Having to reduce our original wish list from six mowers to four, to make the package financially viable, then focused our attention on finding the most versatile equipment for our needs.”

Paul Johnson had heard early reports about the 2750E mower, and Nick Ashman confirmed its versatility for use on both fairways and greens, in particular how it could adhere to ground contours and still maintain a quality cut.

“I came away from our initial meetings with a really positive feeling, even before we had the demos,” says Paul. “I just thought if this machine can do the job that we need it to, this could be a very good solution and will give us exactly what we need.

“It was certainly exciting to be the first club to see the mower working. I already knew about the quality of the cutting units, so it was great to then see proof of the mower’s contour hugging ability and the accuracy of cutting around the swales, collars and surrounds. I liked the look of the mower too, with the yellow grass boxes. We all felt straight away that this was a game changer.”

Simon Hopkin concludes: “As soon as we started using the new mowers, everyone at the club commented on the improvement in the quality of presentation around the course, which continues to look superb. Since changing over to our new John Deere fleet, we are also very happy with the service and support given to us by Powercut. This combination of the right service and the right machines has now set the gold standard.”

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Toro at the fore for two clubs

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Toro at the fore for two clubs: Green Circle Leisure is bringing in more Toro to keep standards high as it embarks on the next stage of development across two of its clubs in the North West.  

For five years, Toro machinery has been at the forefront of Green Circle Leisures’ investment in Allerton Manor Golf Club in South Liverpool and Sherdley Park Golf Club in St Helens, Merseyside. Now with both clubs having made great progress, two new Toro Greensmaster 1000 walk behind cylinder mowers have been bought in to provide the best possible maintenance for the new turf across the new greens and tees of Sherdley Park.

Toro at the fore for two clubs

Toro at the fore for two clubs

In 2015, Green Circle Leisure, the official golf operating partner with Liverpool City Council, purchased a fleet of Toro machinery from Cheshire Turf Machinery in Stockport, as part of the reinvention of Allerton Manor Golf Club. The company’s excellent relationship with Cheshire Turf Machinery, and the reliability and quality of Toro machinery, led to Green Circle Leisure purchasing additional Toro machinery for Sherdley Park Golf Club in 2018, after becoming the operating partner of St Helens Council.

Steve Halley, managing director at Cheshire Turf Machinery said: “It has been a pleasure to work with Michael Hanlon, chief executive at Green Circle Leisure, and his team and witness the transformation of the golf courses and facilities in their care. Since 2015, as well as investing in new equipment, Green Circle Leisure has moved to protect that investment by confirming maintenance programmes with us on all their machines, helping to ensure the continued improvement of the golf courses.”

Director of golf, Bryan Joelson-Mulhall explains: “Over the past few years we’ve invested in both Allerton Manor and Sherdley Park, with our goal from the start to provide facilities as good as or better than private members clubs, while staying affordable and accessible to the whole community. In order to continue making improvements to the courses in line with our goals, we need the best machinery. And having the best machinery means Toro.”

A number of improvements have already been made to both clubs, with more on the way as the redevelopment continues, and this led to Green Circle Leisure to add to its Toro fleet with the purchase of two Greensmaster 1000 walk behind cylinder mowers for Sherdley Park.

The Greensmaster 1000 is ideal for greenkeepers needing an efficient and easy to operate walk-behind mower that delivers an excellent quality of cut. The front weight bias offsets the operator’s natural tendency to place weight on the handle, allowing the reel to better follow ground contours for a consistent cutting height, plus it is uniquely weighted, front to rear, providing greater turf penetration.

“We’re working to make Sherdley Park an all weather course, suitable to play year-round,” says Bryan. “So that means new greens, new tees and new bunker systems. We needed high-quality walk behind mowers for the maintenance of new turf as it grows in, and the Greensmaster 1000 is perfect for that.”

And with planning permission approved for the next phase of work at Allerton Manor, it certainly seems like its fleet of Toro machinery, which includes two Greensmaster 1600s, two Greensmaster 1000 pedestrian mowers, a Greensmaster TriFlex 3400, a Reelmaster 5510-D, and two Groundsmaster 4000-D machines among others, will be put to work over the next couple of years.

“We’re going to be turning the course at Allerton Manor from a par 67, to a par 72,” says Bryan. “That’s alongside a brand new golfers pavilion, adventure golf course for families, a driving range, hotel and spa and a new greenkeeper compound.”

Richard Shields, Allerton Manor head greenkeeper said: “We are always looking at how to improve the courses, and Toro does a fantastic job keeping standards high and improving the quality of the course. We don’t hesitate to bring in more Toro when needed as we know the importance of having reliable, quality kit.

“Since 2015, Toro machinery, the after-service care from Cheshire Turf Machinery and Reesink Turfcare and the feedback from the team have all been good, so we’ve no plans to change a winning formula.”

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New kit for new pitches at Towcestrians

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New kit for new pitches at Towcestrians: With two rugby pitches and a new, dedicated cricket pitch all constructed to add to the existing two rugby pitches, Towcestrians Head Groundsman, Tom Waldock, knew he would need some new machinery to keep everything in shape!

While waiting for a new compact tractor and roller mower, Tom was putting in about 40 hours a week on his new Ransomes TR320 to cut all the sports pitches as well as the outfields, edges and training areas!

New kit for new pitches at Towcestrians

New kit for new pitches at Towcestrians

 

Now his new Iseki tractor (with bucket) and topper have arrived he’s looking forward to sharing the load in 2021 and getting more remedial work done to improve both the old and the new playing surfaces.

“I was looking for a tractor that would be able to operate a slitter and vertidrain as well as perform other tasks, but not damage the surfaces. I was originally considering a smaller model but went for the bigger 46hp Iseki TLE4490 with the extra carrying capacity in order to get the performance. It will also pull the cutting deck on the backfields.”

“I also went for the loader and have already used it more than I thought I would! It’s been a godsend for filling holes in the car park and carrying stuff around. Now I’m just purchasing one more bit of kit for the Iseki to pull to help out with the many events we host in between all the sports training and fixtures.”

Before coming to Towcestrians, Tom spent several years each at Peterborough United, MK Dons and latterly at the Ricoh Stadium. He’s used a lot of different mowers and would have said they were all pretty similar, but says he feels differently about the Ransomes.

“I wanted a decent cylinder mower for the playing surfaces on the main pitches and surprisingly I’ve found the Ransomes TR320 to be the best machine I’ve used. It’s really smooth and makes the cut very easy. It’s the lightest machine on the market which was important because we have a full clay-based surface and I wanted minimum compaction. The Ransomes is certainly delivering both for me and for the pitches.”

“I’m really pleased with the advice and help I’ve had from RT Machinery in choosing the right equipment. Richard and Andy’s knowledge across a large range of brands and machinery, right off the top of their heads, is just unbelievable and has been incredibly helpful as part of the five-year plan I drew up for the development and improvement of the grounds.”

“Aside from the Ransomes and the Iseki, I also now have a new Wessex CRX180 fine turf roller mower from them for the edges and rougher areas where the juniors train. In addition they’ve supplied a used Sisis Multi Slit and a Husqvarna TC138 Lawn tractor and they’ve been able to offer great value on servicing, which will be critical in keeping everything working well across the seasons.”

“Back to work and preparing the grounds for a welcome return to grass roots sports!”

For more information, please call 01844 299037, or visit rtmachinery.co.uk

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Important survey for the amenity sector

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Important survey for the amenity sector: In early 2021, the Government is funding a major survey of the amenity sector to increase its understanding of the total amount of plant protection products used, their modes of application and the key reasons for use.

It is vitally important that the sector fully supports this work as it will form the basis for future policy and strategic decisions, and it will provide very valuable information for use across the sector.

Important survey for the amenity sector

Important survey for the amenity sector

A similar survey was conducted in 2016 but participation was low which reflected badly on the sector. This time the Forum has been consulted to help ensure the survey is as straightforward as possible and relatively easy to complete. This way it is hoped that participation will be much higher, and that good and sound data can result.

The survey will be sent out electronically and, if you are selected to receive one, the Amenity Forum is urging you to complete and return promptly. It is understood that there are many calls on time, but this survey could prove really important to all. The surveys will be sent out from the week commencing January 18th

Professor John Moverley, Independent Chairman of the Amenity Forum says ‘’2020 has been an unprecedented year bringing with it personal tragedy and impacting on all our lives not just now but for well into the future. It has shown how vitally important is the work undertaken in amenity management helping keep our transport networks operational, our parks and green spaces safe and sustainable and our sports areas fit for purpose to name just a few aspects of amenity. This survey will help provide really important information to guide future policy and I urge everyone to participate if approached’’

For further information on the content of this release or about the work of the Forum, contact Kate at admin@amenityforum.net

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