Tag Archive for: GC

Hunter a ‘game-changer’ at Redditch GC

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Hunter a ‘game-changer’ at Redditch GC: Karl Williams, Course Manager at Redditch Golf Club, has reported significant improvements to the course since the installation of a new Hunter Irrigation system, which was installed by Prime Irrigation and supplied by KAR UK.

Founded in 1913, Redditch Golf Club is one of the finest parkland courses in the midlands and is well known for its woodlands, topography and quality playing surfaces.

Hunter a ‘game-changer’ at Redditch GC

Karl has been Course Manager at Redditch since October 2014 and within the first few months of his new role, he quickly identified an area which needed improvement.

“In 2015 we had an appraisal on the old irrigation system, which confirmed the inadequacies and poor reliability of the system. With continuous bursts and cable breaks, which resulted in an awful lot of hand watering,” said Karl.

Following the summer of 2018, the proposal to install a completely new irrigation system was passed by the committee and approved by 97% of the club’s members in favour.

A plan needed to be put into place quickly for the new system to cover all greens, tees, approaches and green surrounds. After speaking with Hunter Industries, there was no doubt in Karl’s mind due to their products, that it was the way to go.

G885D Series Rotors – With a built-in decoder offering single head control, superior uniformity coupled with the TTS technology allowing every serviceable element of the rotor to be accessed through the top so you can get to every component without disturbing the playing surface – no more digging, no more unsightly scars, and more importantly, one less item on a busy course manager’s schedule.

I-20 Series Rotors – A high performance rotor for tees and a popular choice for many turf managers, with the efficiency required for any site. Utilising the Match Precipitation Rate (MPR) nozzles ensures accurate, even distribution and water savings over a variety of mixed sprinkler arcs.

Pilot CCS PC-based central control system – a PC-based software package that makes central control of large-scale irrigation systems affordable, usable, and comprehensible.

“The new system has been an absolute game-changer,” said Karl. “It allows us to apply water in millimetres – simply replacing the daily deficit every night has made a huge difference. Even in the highest temperatures, the greens do not lose moisture and we no longer have to worry about them looking worn. They are consistently good which is great from a player’s point of view.”

Hunter a ‘game-changer’ at Redditch GC

“That has been a huge bonus, but the biggest area of improvement since the system was installed has been on the tees. For example, prior to the new system, the first tee had just four larger sprinklers along one side and they would overshoot, miss the tee and spill onto the path. Now we have five I-20 rotors on each side of the tee fitted with the Matched Precipitation Rate nozzles. This ensures that the water is applied to the tee playing surface at all times, receives excellent coverage and results in saving water, which makes it all very efficient!”

“It’s so good that we can now target individual areas because we have got some greens which face different directions – we’ve got slopes, banks and some areas that require more water than others. We can keep on top of everything at just the click of a button.”

“The system also allows a wide choice of options when planning a watering cycle, I can apply 2mm of water to all of the green’s at the start of a cycle and then it will go around the rest of the system before coming back to that same green and applying another 2mm if this is required. This is great because rather than the water running off the green surface it gives it time to soak in before the next part.”

From when Karl first started speaking to Hunter Industries, the whole project was completed within 14 months and any worries he had about the installation disturbing play were quickly alleviated.

“The members have been overwhelmed with how little obtrusion there was to play and throughout the whole installation period. There were no golf holes closed at any time – they couldn’t believe how tidy it was and how quickly it was installed, a testament to Prime Irrigation.”

“I’m just really pleased with the whole project and the service we have received has been fantastic. Back-up support from suppliers is vital in this industry and we absolutely get that.”

Hunter Golf Irrigation is distributed in the UK by KAR UK. For more information, please visit www.karuk.com and www.hunterindustries.com.

You can also follow KAR UK on Twitter @KARUK_LTD for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

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Wick GC Brings Toro On Board

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Wick GC Brings Toro On Board: After receiving two grants alongside fundraising efforts from its members, Wick Golf Club in Scotland has purchased a new Toro Greensmaster TriFlex Hybrid 3420 to help improve its course and the environment.

And not only did the GR3420 impress head greenkeeper Dougie Thorburn, but its sustainability credentials were key in securing grants to make the purchase of the machine possible. The club received grants from the Caithness and North Sunderland Fund and Beatrice Caithness Windfarm Fund, both of which support projects that develop or maintain community assets and achieve environmental improvements.

Wick GC Brings Toro On Board

Dougie explains: “Wick Golf Club is a traditional links course and the oldest in the highlands with our 150th anniversary next year. It’s a beautiful course, but the machines we’d been using weren’t keeping the course up to the standard we wanted.

“Our last greensmower was suffering from hydraulic leaks. Not only was this causing damage to the turf, but we have a lot of ditches on the course that lead to the ocean, so it’s possible for oil leaked on the course to run off into the sea. We needed something that would be more reliable and stop the damage to the course and runoff into the ocean.”

And it was the Toro Greensmaster TriFlex Hybrid 3420, with its advanced technology meaning hydraulic leaks are almost eliminated, that was able to provide high-quality turf maintenance and peace of mind for Dougie.

“It’s just a brilliant machine, simply put,” he says. “It’s reliable and provides us with an excellent quality of cut. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about it.”

And it’s not just Dougie who’s been singing Toro’s praises. In fact, Dougie didn’t opt for a demonstration of the GR3420 because its reputation preceded it so well.

“I asked around at other courses that had been using the machine and was told they’d had zero problems with it, and then I saw it in action at another course and that was it for me, I was sold,” says Dougie. “Although this is the first Toro machine at Wick, I’ve been around Toro since I started my career, and it’s always been number one for me. I knew that as soon as I got the chance to get some new machines, they were going to be Toro.”

And credit where credit is due, says club secretary Catherine McLeod to the grants and fundraising from the members for their support to the club: “Both of these funds should receive credit for the wonderful help they provide the area. And, of course, thanks must go to the tireless fundraising efforts of our members. As a small club with only 200 members, we wouldn’t have been able to make this kind of investment to improve the course without their help.”

With the GR3420 and the service from Toro UK distributor Reesink Turfcare impressing Dougie, another Toro machine is now on the cards. “We have some big plans for the next five years, particularly with our 150th anniversary coming up, and getting the right machinery in place is a big priority,” says Dougie.

As the most northerly course on the east coast of Scotland, Wick Golf Club is surrounded by natural beauty and captivating historical sights. With views over Sinclair Bay to Noss Head and its lighthouse and castles, maintaining the course to be in keeping with its stunning surroundings is a challenge, but Dougie sees this as a process made a lot easier with Toro on board.

He concludes: “The team love Toro and our members have all seen the difference it’s made to the course, so everyone is behind the move to get another. We’re looking at a Toro mower for the fairways and I’m confident that with more Toro, Wick Golf Club will only continue to improve in its environmental sustainability.”

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Toro Takes Northamptonshire GC Into The Future

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Toro Takes Northamptonshire GC Into The Future: Toro and Reesink Turfcare are delighted to welcome Northamptonshire County Golf Club as a Toro Total Solutions customer.

The Open Regional Qualifying club in the Midlands has committed to Toro as it brings back the feel of its past with Toro machinery and thinks to the future with a Toro irrigation renovation.

Toro Takes Northamptonshire GC Into The Future

Course manager, Rob Hay, who has been at the club for five years says the reason behind the commitment is twofold: “Over the years the course had been managed as a parkland course which it wasn’t designed to be. We’ve been working towards returning the course to its original heathland state as designed by Harry Colt, opening up each hole and giving it a flavour of the old days. Toro machinery is key to that.

“This is our first fleet lease deal, but we’ve been using Toro since before I started, and Toro is instrumental in this vision taking shape. Toro has made a big impact and brought about noticeable change in the direction of the course’s maintenance and members are seeing the difference. Many have commented on how the course now looks like they remember it from the early 1970s and plays with a true running heathland style from those days too, which we’re delighted to hear.”

When it comes to the irrigation, Rob says the club’s commitment to Toro is a nod to the future: “We’re not in a predicament with our current system, but we’re forward planning so we’re ready for a seamless transition when the time comes. What we noticed in the heatwave of last year was that there are areas that could be improved upon, more efficient and better managed. In the midlands we’re water scarce and as we irrigate from a local river the goal is to get ourselves into a position where we’re using our water better and utilising every drop. We believe Toro is the partner to make that happen.

“I’m conscious this is a big outlay – one of the biggest a course can make – and it’s important we get this right. We’re currently working with Reesink and Adrian Motram finalising the plans for what’s exactly needed and if the quality of the irrigation system is anything like that of the Toro machinery, I know we’ll be in for a great experience using Toro Irrigation.”

As one of only 13 Regional Qualifying courses in the UK, Northamptonshire County Golf Club has high standards to maintain, plus the challenge of an unusual 21-hole layout to contend with. “We appreciate we’re in the company of a select few being a Regional Qualifying course and take great pride in the fact that we resumed our status last year for the 147th Open,” says Rob.

Retaining that position comes with hard work and dedication, which Rob and his greenkeeping team of nine have in abundance. “Every year there are new projects to undertake and as a team we look forward to this as much as we do the usual high season maintenance work. It’s a good challenge for us all and having Toro on board has really made a difference.”

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Manor of Groves GC Exclusively Toro

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Manor of Groves GC Exclusively Toro: Following the arrival of its second Toro fleet, Hertfordshire’s Manor of Groves Golf Club is now exclusively Toro, achieving its all-red status ahead of its deadline of 2020.

Head greenkeeper Lee Brinkley says this sees his ambition realised from when he joined the club three years ago: “I had previously worked at a Toro club and my main goal when joining Manor of Groves was to improve the quality of the course, to make it comparable to the course that I’d become accustomed to. I resolved to be exclusively Toro by 2020 as I knew what a difference it would make, and now we’ve achieved that – ahead of schedule – it’s evident for everyone else too!”

Manor of Groves GC Exclusively Toro

The par 71, 18-hole, 6,237 yard course at Manor of Groves has been subject to a large investment to improve the already fine design and part of that investment comes in the form of Toro. It was in 2018 that the first Toro fleet arrived at Manor of Groves with Lee citing the brand’s quality, value for money, time-saving benefits, ease of maintenance, noticeable results and after-sales service as the reasons behind the purchase. Lee says nothing has changed since then.

“All of those things still apply, but I can add in more! There’s definitely a better atmosphere at the club. It makes a significant difference to club spirit when there’s high quality, innovative, equipment to use. You really notice the sense of pride there is to use a decent machine. This has been very apparent since the machinery arrived and we’ve seen just what it’s capable of. And it’s great to see how happy the members are with the improvements to their course and the investment from the club to ensure Manor of Groves strives to be a course everyone talks about.”

Completing Manor of Groves’ Toro red shed are the Groundsmaster 4000-D, Groundsmaster 3500-D with Sidewinder, ProPass 200 top dresser, GreensPro 1260, ProCore 648 aerator and Workman MDX-D utility vehicles.

Lee says about the order: “The GM3500-D with Sidewinder is incomparable. I don’t believe there is anything else available like it, it is that good.”

Lee also opted this time for a TYM Tractor T353 and loader. He says: “We’ve never had a TYM tractor before, but when you have such a good level of customer service from a distributor, like we do with Reesink Turfcare, you certainly don’t go looking anywhere else. We’re using the TYM to pull the new ProPass top dresser and together they’ve cut our labour for sanding by over half!”

And while it’s certainly taken hard-work and persistence to get the club to where it is today, Lee says it’s been more than worth it: “Everyone is invested in the vision. We’ve removed everything that wasn’t Toro and as a result there’s been a complete turnaround. To look at how far the club has come in just three years, how happy the team and members are and how now we’re able to maintain such high standards, is just great.”

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Smoothly Does It At Ganton GC

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Smoothly Does It At Ganton GC: Ganton Golf Club in North Yorkshire has upgraded its irrigation system with Toro Lynx central control and Infinity sprinklers on the greens and aprons.

And it was an installation which went “almost too smoothly” according to deputy head greenkeeper Mathew Wormald thanks to the combined efforts of Reesink Turfcare and Green Irrigation.

Smoothly Does It At Ganton GC

“It’s so rare in life to have something deliver exactly what it says it will and this irrigation system does just that. From the start everything has worked well, performed and delivered exactly what we want, where we want it. Working with Peter Newton from Reesink and Rob Green from Green Irrigation has been a pleasure, in fact, installation went almost too smoothly, I kept thinking it can’t be this easy!”

The sandy course in the rural Vale of Pickering, which is one of the top 80 golf courses in the world, was once a North Sea inlet. Over the years the original characteristics of the heathland and links course have changed, and undulations have been lost due to woodland and heathland growth. As a result, the greenkeeping team of nine have been restoring the more traditional aspects of the course. Some of the aprons have been made larger to widen the areas of play.

And it’s this that instigated the decision to replace the irrigation system, says Mathew: “The previous system was over 20 years old so we were coming up to the time to replace it, simply to take advantage of the technological improvements a new central control system, such as Toro Lynx, would offer. But really the upgrade was made all the more urgent after the work implemented to update the course.

“Basically, the old sprinklers didn’t have the capabilities to throw the arc of water as far as we needed with the changes we’ve made to cover the bigger area of play on the greens. Full uniform coverage is so important, and we simply weren’t getting the reach.”

Mathew had a diverse CV before joining Ganton with stints in Belgium and Hong Kong, all of which bought valuable experience to one of the very few clubs to have staged the Curtis Cup, Walker Cup and the Ryder Cup.

Having previously used Toro irrigation, Mathew says: “I’ve used Toro irrigation before, so I was aware how easy it was to use and how precise. We don’t rely heavily on our irrigation system here, mainly because the grass is deep rooting so we can push it a bit more and that’s another thing that appealed so much about the Toro system – we can be as accurate as we need to be, tackling only the areas that need it. This will be far more efficient for us long-term.”

And it’s not only Lynx and Infinity that are working so well together, as previously mentioned the relationship with Reesink and Green Irrigation delivered too. Mathew concludes by saying: “It was a project that didn’t just bring us a solution to a problem, it introduced us to some really knowledgeable people in the industry and from start to finish was problem-free.”

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