Tag Archive for: golf

Vandals Leave Golf Green ‘Completely Shredded’

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Vandals Leave Golf Green ‘Completely Shredded’: This was the scene of devastation left at a golf course after an off-road buggy was seen performing ‘doughnuts’ on the greens.

A section of the course at Prestwich Golf Club has been ruined after the act of vandalism, which took place at 4.40pm last Friday.

It is believed someone managed to gain access to the golf club via a path from nearby Kersal Moor before driving across a green, fairway and teeing complex.

The course has been left badly damaged, with evidence of tyre marks and mounds of turf having been torn up.

Furious golf club bosses estimate it will cost them tens of thousands of pounds to repair the damage.

Police are investigating. No arrests have been made.

Golf course manager, Chris Harding, said: “The damage is horrendous, it has been completely shredded.

“It is going to cost a hell of a lot of money to repair.”

A major course remodelling, costing just shy of £1m is currently taking place at the club.

The work has been funded by a payment from a developer as part of an agreement to build 17 luxury homes on part of the old course.

Half the course has been closed since last September while contractors carry out work on the scheme, which will see 11 holes altered.

Mr Harding said the damaged section of course had only been laid down for three months and is yet to be played on.

It had been hoped that the course would be ready to play on by June, but the latest act of vandalism has proved a major setback to that schedule and has left members ‘gutted’.

“The club doesn’t deserve this,” said Mr Harding.

“There has been a good buzz about the place, but everyone is just feeling flat now.

“It’s heartbreaking after all the work and dedication that has gone into it.

“A lot of time and money has gone into building the course and making sure it is ready to play on.”

“It is going to take a lot of time and effort to get us back on schedule.”

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police confirmed the force had received a report of the incident, adding: “The damage is believed to have been caused by an off-road four wheel drive vehicle that has been driven on the green.

“No arrests have been made at this stage and anyone with information should contact police on 101.”

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London Golf Club And Club Car Celebrate 20-Years

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London Golf Club And Club Car Celebrate 20-Years: London Golf Club, host venue of the 2019 Staysure PGA Senior Championship and a European Tour Destination, has celebrated its 20-year relationship with Club Car by taking delivery of a new high-spec fleet of golf vehicles. 

The fleet of 50 Tempo golf cars supplied by Club Car, a brand of Ingersoll Rand and Official Supplier to The European Tour, features the market-leading connectivity solution, Visage, which formed an important part of London Golf Club’s decision to renew.

London Golf Club And Club Car Celebrate 20-Years

This ‘connected’ GPS Fleet Management platform boasts unique features that helps support maintenance of the club’s two pristine Jack Nicklaus designed courses, provides guests the greatest range of in-car services on the market, and offers specific options that support the venue’s valuable corporate golf revenue stream.

Stephen Follett, CEO of London Golf Club, commented: “We pride ourselves on our ability to offer both members and guests an unrivalled level of service and attention-to-detail, and we therefore need to work with suppliers that mirror these standards.

“Having partnered with Club Car for the past 20 years, we trust the brand and have every confidence in the performance and reliability of the golf cars.”

He continued: “London Golf Club hosts a substantial number of corporate and professional events, and the integrated Visage system enables us to tailor the in-car screens with company logos, contact details and so on, which further enhances the customer experience and supports this important branch of our business.”

The newly installed fleet of Club Car vehicles marks the sixth that local dealer, Bradshaw, has delivered to London Golf Club over the duration of the 20-year relationship.

Kevin Hart, Director of Golf Sales EMEA at Club Car, added: “London Golf Club is one of Europe’s leading golf destinations and is a fantastic example of a venue completely in tune with its customers’ wants and needs.“We are honoured to have been the chosen supplier for the past 20 years, and we look forward to continuing this long-term relationship.”

London Golf Club, the first club to feature within the European Tour Destination network of world class venues, has impeccable tournament credentials, having held European Tour events in the form of the 2008 and 2009 European Opens and most recently the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship in 2018 and 2019.

For more information about London Golf Club, visit: https://www.londongolf.co.uk

For more information about Club Car, visit: https://www.clubcar.com

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Le Golf National’s Short Game Area

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Le Golf National’s Short Game Area: Not content to rest on its laurels after the stunning success of last year’s Ryder Cup, the team at Le Golf National is continuing to invest in its facilities, building a substantial new training area for short game practice.

Located between the sixteenth green of the Albatros course and the club’s driving range, the new short game area housed a large grandstand during the Ryder Cup. “When the stand came down after the event, all the grass in the area was dead, so it was clear we needed to do something with the ground,” said Lucas Pierré, golf courses and estates manager at Le Golf National. “At the same time, we decided to rebuild all our training areas using better materials. They are really important for us and get a great deal of use, both from our paying golf customers and from our coaches running clinics for local schoolchildren.”

Le Golf National's Short Game Area

“The area between the sixteenth green and the driving range was ideal for this use, as it was already covered by our irrigation system,” said Pierré. “The new short game area was designed in house, jointly by me, by Alejandro Reyes [LGN’s former superintendent, now an agronomic consultant] and by our head golf teacher. We saved as much of the USGA rootzone as possible – it is quite large, with 3,000 sq m of green space, 4,000 sq m of surrounds and 1,000 sq m of sand, in two big bunkers.

“We already have Capillary Concrete on the Albatros course, and we are used to working with their French distributor, Stan Chapus of Greenmix,  so we know that the system works, and we decided on EcoBunker to create the bunker edging. Together they make an advanced system – not cheap, but they work well together. We can keep the sand on the bunker faces; it doesn’t wash down every time there is a big rain.’”

The new area will open in September for use by the local childrens’ golf schools, and be in use when the French Open returns to Le Golf National in October.

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Toro’s 100 Years In Golf

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Toro’s 100 Years In Golf: It’s doesn’t seem like five minutes ago the occasion of Toro’s 100 years in business in 2014 was marked. But now it’s time to celebrate the company’s centennial milestone serving the golf industry, and what a century it’s been.

Starting as it meant to go on, The Toro Company made its entry into the golf sector with product innovation by developing the industry’s first motorised fairway mower for the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis.

Toro's 100 Years In Golf

By mounting five lawn mowers on the front of a farm tractor, Toro created the motorised golf course equipment industry and in doing so started a century of listening closely to its customers, developing innovative products based on feedback and available technology, long-standing customer relationships, and establishing a distribution network to deliver great local service and support.

Reesink Turfcare, or Lely Turfcare as it was, has been part of that journey as the sole Toro distributor in the UK for golf and sports fields equipment and irrigation products for almost half that time. And as Toro’s four pillars for success so closely match Reesink’s, it’s no wonder it’s been such a long-lasting and rewarding partnership for all these years.

But the biggest reason for marking the occasion is to say thank you.

Grant Young, general manager of Toro’s Commercial Business, says: “Without a doubt, we owe much of our success to the Toro employees who have helped shape the golf industry with countless innovations. But we wouldn’t be here today without the Toro customers across the globe who put their faith and trust in our products every day. As we celebrate a century in the golf industry, we simply want to say thank you to our customers and channel partners for continuing to put your trust in Toro people and products.”

David Cole, managing director of Reesink Turfcare, says: “The first Toro product to hit UK shores was the Toro Greensmaster 3 at the beginning of the 1970s. That innovative ride-on product was born from Toro’s established golf focus and projected the brand into the UK as a producer of high quality, innovative golf equipment in the UK.

“Since then a reputation has been built that centres on reliability, durability and support and a mutual trust has developed between our customers, us as distributor and Toro which can be truly viewed as a partnership. We’re extremely proud to have represented Toro and its product values for so many years and we also thank our UK golf customers for their long-standing loyalty, confidence and trust.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Pitch Vandalised With Golf Clubs

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Pitch Vandalised With Golf Clubs: A football club has hit out after vandals tore up their pitch with golf clubs only a week before their first pre-season friendly.

Billinghay Athletic Football Club, which competes in Division One of the Boston and District Saturday Football League, have criticised the actions of the vandals, which have left them with an uphill struggle to get the pitch ready in time.

Vandals armed with golf clubs made 20 holes in the pitch, while dog poo has also been found on the grass, in what the club secretary describes as a “kick in the teeth”.

Nathan Wood, who has also played for the club since he was a youth player, said it was not the first time they’ve had to deal with dog poo, but golf-related vandalism is a first.

“We’ve had issues for a long time with dog poo, but not with the golf,” he said. “We’ve not seen anybody do it, but we do find golf balls on the pitch.”

He added the vandalism, which is believed to have taken place on Saturday, July 6, was all the more frustrating after the club made great efforts to improve the quality of the pitch.

“Since we’ve taken over the club we’ve invested a lot of money,” he said. “We’ve bought a new lawnmower. There’s me and another guy taking two or three hours of our day, every couple of days to cut it.

“The grass they’ve chopped won’t grow back in time.”

Mr Wood added that although it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen, he felt the person who did was being “very irresponsible”.

“It’s nothing major, we are not saying it’s the end of the world,” he said. “The person who’s done it is very irresponsible. They’d done up to 20 holes. This person, for whatever reason, they’ve done it on the football pitch when they’ve the whole field to do it on.”

In a Facebook post on Sunday, July 7, the club hit out at members of the public who appear to have been using the pitch for non-footballing activities.

“Unfortunately after the football club has spent time and money cutting, marking out and repairing the pitch for the new season, somebody has decided to take chunks out the pitch playing gold,” it reads.

“We have no issue with people using the pitch in this way but please take your shots off the pitch. We have also had to remove numerous piles of dog poo off the pitch as well.

“We want a pitch everyone in the village would be proud of and need your help in succeeding.”

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