Tag Archive for: Impresses

TYM Impresses At Elland Road

TYM Impresses At Elland Road: Elland Road, home of Leeds United Football Club, has been using TYM at its training grounds since 2017 and has now chosen the tractor brand for the stadium too. 

And the reason for that is TYM has proven to provide high-quality performance and deliver the results required across both surfaces says head groundsman, Kiel Barrett.

TYM Impresses At Elland Road

“We’ve recently invested in another TYM tractor because what we’ve been using has performed so well,” he says. “Thanks to the range of tractors available, we’ve found models to suit the surfaces at both the stadium and the training grounds which are very different despite being the same length and width.”

It all started in 2017 with the arrival of the T503 at the training ground: “The T503 has delivered over and above expectations and worked brilliantly for our annual renovation work at the training ground as well as for topdressing and stripping turf off. It’s a really reliable workhorse.”

With such an assured performance it made sense to invest in TYM again for Elland Road, but with such different requirements at the stadium Kiel requested a demonstration from local dealer Russell Groundcare who brought the mid-duty T393 for Kiel and the team to trial.

Kiel says: “The demonstration proved the T393 could deliver the same quality of work at Elland Road, although in less heavy-duty roles. Its user-friendly operation really impressed me as well as the cab, which is really comfortable to work in. It’s a productive all-rounder and we use it to help move equipment, carry out drainage, aeration and spraying.”

Since having the machine, Kiel has not been disappointed: “The T393 is the perfect addition to the stadium’s maintenance fleet. Like the T503 at the training ground, the T393 is a huge improvement from the previous equipment we were using and we can really tell the difference.

“In terms of a compact tractor range, TYM is one of the best around and I foresee that in the coming years it’s going to be seen more and more across the grounds industry,” Kiel says. “That’s what happens with a range that delivers innovation, reliability and value for money. Plus, it has the benefit of Reesink as its distributor who I trust to provide high-quality products. That’s why we have Toro machines and irrigation as well.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Sherriff Impresses At Sweetwoods

Sherriff Impresses At Sweetwoods: Two tank mixes containing a range of Sherriff Amenity products have been impressing at Sweetwoods Park Golf Club in Cowden, Kent, with Course Manager Allan Tait reporting excellent results. Based on the borders of Kent and Sussex in an area of outstanding natural beauty, Sweetwoods Park offers a fantastic golf experience through its par 72, 18-hole golf course.

Widely praised by its 450 members, the Championship course is kept in impeccable condition from season to season thanks to Allan Tait and his greenkeeping team.

Sherriff Impresses At Sweetwoods

Allan, who has been the Course Manager at Sweetwoods Park for just over 4 years, predominantly uses Sherriff Amenity products on key areas of the golf course and has singled out two tank mixes for particular praise.

“The majority of products I use on my greens, fairways, tees and approaches are all from Sherriff Amenity and I’ve always had consistently good results. I’m a fan of foliar feeding as I feel I have more control over growth and more flexibility with regards to tank-mixing,” said Allan.

Therefore, on his fairways, tees and approaches he relies on a liquid tank mixture which consists of Evolution Xtra 46.0.0 Soluble, Ferromel 20 – a water soluble formulation of iron sulphate hepta-hydrate and Primo Maxx II growth regulator.

“I use this mix for recovery in spring; Evolution Xtra encourages steady growth, whilst Ferromel 20 provides colour and discourages moss. The Evolution Xtra provides rapid greening, while the iron in the Ferromel 20 discourages the moss and the Primo Maxx II keeps control of the growth.

“For fairways I normally budget for two applications per year of this mix and that is more than enough because it has great longevity. It is nice and controlled and you don’t get a flush from it. I also like how soluble the product is. With some solubles you really have to grind them down but with the Evolution Xtra 46.0.0 Soluble, you simply run a hose over it and it disperses perfectly into the tank. I never get any blockages either. For me, it’s been a game changer.”

Allan admits that he prefers the preventative route, but most recently, following a prolonged dry spell, he turned to a tank-mix containing Aqua-Zorb 45 wetting agent, Rootmass Plus soil and plant conditioner and Amino Turf – a bio-stimulant.

Sherriff Impresses At Sweetwoods

“I’ve experimented with wetting agents before but for the past couple of years I’ve not really touched them – I’ve mainly used penetrants. However, after the recent weather conditions the greens were beginning to show signs of heat stress, drought stress and disease. I had watered them quite heavily and it was clear that it wasn’t enough or that it wasn’t getting into the right places so I decided to look at Aqua-Zorb 45 as a solution. I had heard of numerous golf clubs reporting great results from it so thought I would give it a go. With the seaweeds and amino acids in the mixture, which have been proven to reduce the stress and lessen the chance of getting disease, it seemed like a perfect tank-mix.

“We applied it down and the next day, literally within 24 hours, the greens had a completely different look to them – they were so much healthier. I will continue to apply that mixture every four to five weeks right through until the end of the season. It has made a huge difference to the greens and it means that I could sleep easy at night!”

Ever the perfectionist, Allan is always looking at ways in which he can take the course to another level and he believes that the technical support he receives from Amenity Specialist Joseph Dormer is another benefit in his decision to work with Sherriff Amenity.

“I like to think I’m quite technically minded and I like to know every product inside out – Joseph is exactly the same and we are quite often having discussions about the technical aspects of greenkeeping. It’s great to be able to bounce ideas off one another.”

For further information, please contact Sherriff Amenity on 01638 721 888 or visit www.sherriffamenity.com

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GoGreen Impresses At Rustington

GoGreen Impresses At Rustington: According to Head Greenkeeper Rob Hill the unique nine-hole course at Rustington Golf Centre in West Sussex is looking the best it has ever been thanks to Sherriff Amenity’s GoGreen Select.

Rustington Golf Centre was opened in 1992 and offers a number of unique facilities for golfers of all abilities. It boasts a driving range, a putting green, a par 3 academy course and a nine-hole, 18-tee par 70 course.

GoGreen Impresses At Rustington

Rob, who has been in the greenkeeping industry throughout his whole career, has been the Head Greenkeeper for just over two years. His team consists of four greenkeepers, including himself, as well as a horticulturalist.

“There is a common misconception that we have quite a large team for a nine-hole course,” says Rob. “However, it is actually very challenging because there are 18 tees and effectively people are playing the course twice which means we have a lot of wear – it is double the traffic of a normal 9-hole golf course. We also have a hectares worth of greens and land wise we look after a 4 acre garden which belongs to the owner.

“We tend to every facility here and I feel we have to be slightly more intense with our maintenance procedures.”

To maintain the impressive course and teaching facilities at Rustington Golf Centre, Rob chooses to use a variety of Sherriff Amenity products which includes the GoGreen range. Throughout his career Rob has seen impressive results from the long-lasting iron granules (GoGreen Granules) and in liquid form (GoGreen Plus), as well as GoGreen Energy – a concentrated bio-stimulant, formulated to assist plant health and relieve stress symptoms. It was the performance of these products which led to him using GoGreen Select.

“With GoGreen Select you apply it out and an hour later you see a dramatic change in colour – it provides an instant green-up. In fact, I bought one drum and before I had even finished it I was on the phone ordering another one – it is that good.”

GoGreen Select is a unique complex iron sulphate that may be used as a stand-alone product for rapid greening of turf or more flexibly, as a tank-mix partner with fertiliser and herbicide. Unlike ferrous sulphate and chelated iron, that can react forming precipitate and rendering the spray solution unusable, GoGreen Select is stable and provides a range of spraying options not normally associated with the use of iron.

GoGreen Impresses At Rustington

“It works incredibly well as a tank mix partner,” says Rob. “Initially, I used it at the start of May on my fairways which was mixed in with a three-way selective herbicide mix and Evolution Xtra 46.0.0 Soluble. The results were brilliant and it was a great boost to start the season – not only did it get rid of the weeds thanks to the herbicides, but it gave us really good colour and presentation.

“It is such a versatile product and I have started mixing GoGreen Select with Primo Maxx II on my tees and approaches as well. The course presentation is arguably the best it has ever been and that is based on feedback from the golfers as well.”

GoGreen Select was recommended to Rob by Joseph Dormer, Amenity Specialist for Sherriff Amenity, and Rob was quick to praise the support he receives.

“Joseph offers fantastic knowledge and will always give me that little bit extra advice when I need it. Quite regularly we will go for a walk around the course, look at anything the turf might require and talk through what improvements we could make.”

For further information, please contact Sherriff Amenity on 01638 721 888 or visit www.sherriffamenity.com

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Toro Impresses At SALTEX

Toro Impresses At SALTEX: At SALTEX 2017 last November, Toro’s LT-F3000 triple flail mower stood out from the crowd to Harlow Council-founded facilities management company, HTS Group Limited. In fact the company, which deals with grass cutting and landscape maintenance for the postcode, was so impressed it promptly invested in two machines.

As Andrew Bradley, landscapes manager at HTS Group, explains: “The LT-F3000 not only stood out with its signature Toro red, but for looking professional and robust. After making some enquiries, it was clear that it would tick all of our boxes, too.

Toro Impresses At SALTEX

“Post-show, I got in touch with our local Reesink Turfcare representative, Danny Lake, who took me on a tour around the Spellbrook Toro Factory in Bishop Stortford. Seeing machines hand built before my eyes convinced me that for quality and robustness, Toro was the way to go.”

Two LT-F3000 flail mowers join HTS Group’s fleet of 19 grounds machines and replace a 12-year-old cylinder mower to maintain medium-sized open spaces across the Essex district too small for a tractor-drawn mower and too large for a rotary.

Another box ticked for Andrew is that the LT-F3000 is road legal. He says: “With most sites six miles away, and their proximity to busy roads making parking a nightmare, being able to drive our machines to jobs is a must. A bonus with Toro’s triple flail is that it has a good road speed of 15.5mph.”

And the machines are proving their worth in action too, meaning Andrew’s show instincts were well-founded: “The wet spring has made grass grow like mad, but the flail mowers are chewing through it effortlessly. This would have been too much for our cylinder mower,” he says.

“The Toros, however, make light work of the grass and even leave a beautiful striped finish to really top it all off,” Andrew concludes.

To find out more about Reesink’s groundscare range, tailored to the needs of the UK groundsman, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Jacobsen Impresses At Golspie

Jacobsen Impresses At Golspie: Golspie Golf Club, which is located on the Dornoch Firth in Scotland, is a versatile course which boasts a beguiling mix of classic links, heath and parkland holes. The Club has invested in a Jacobsen Eclipse 322 and a Jacobsen LF550 fairway mower from Textron Golf to maintain the different surfaces on the James Braid design 18-hole golf course.

“Jacobsen has provided us with the quality and versatility we need to maintain all areas of the course,” Alexander MacDonald, Head Greenkeeper at Golspie Golf Club said. “We face many challenges such as maintaining the correct and uniformed moisture levels over varying terrains, so when it comes to cutting grass, we want reliable equipment that produces a really good finish with minimal fuss. I am proud to say we’ve achieved that with the Jacobsen machines that we have purchased.”

Jacobsen Impresses At Golspie

Previously using alternative fairway mowers, Alexander observed that it took the team 40 minutes to set a machine before it was ready to cut the fairways. Conversely, the new Jacobsen LF550 is easily set in five minutes, with adjustments rarely having to be made to the cutting units.

Routine service items, including spin-on filters, are all easily accessible meaning that there’s no need for a lift. The FlashAttach™ Reel Mounting System allows for quick reel removal, and the active monitoring system provides full text diagnostics making the LF550 easy to monitor and maintain. Additionally, hard tubing with bulkhead fittings to hoses make long-term maintenance easier with fewer service parts to stock.

“We only have three full-time greenkeeping staff, so we can’t be wasting time repairing and setting machinery. This is where the LF550 has really helped us; it’s reliable, it produces a brilliant finish, and it doesn’t demand a lot of time to maintain and set-up.

“The Eclipse 322 is the best cutting machine in golf. It’s a pleasure to use on the greens, and the team loves the satisfaction of producing first-class greens which the golfers often compliment them on. Of course, having good machinery is important, but the back-up from the dealer is even more so. Our local dealer Fairways has been brilliant. Fairways has been very efficient and helpful, and if we need anything the dealer is with us within a day, meaning there isn’t any downtime.”

Alexander has been at the club for 10 years, having spent 3 ½ years at Royal Dornoch and 6 ½ years at Wentworth. Golspie Golf Club is celebrating its 128-year anniversary and was voted number 54 in Golf World’s “Scotland’s Top 100 Courses” in 2015.

For more information, visit: www.textron.com

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Toro Impresses At Leicestershire

Toro Impresses At Leicestershire: The Leicestershire Golf Club presents a tough cut for its fleet of machinery. The 6329-yard par 68 parkland course which was established in 1890 has a hefty percentage of ridge and furrow, which is challenging for any kind of machinery. And not just coping, but excelling at the challenge is Toro.

In particular, a 14-year-old Groundsmaster 4500-D and 21-year-old Reelmaster 6500-D continue to surprise Chris Lewis, course manager. “The machines manage the challenging ridge and furrow, which was created by a system of ploughing in the middle ages, with relative ease and that’s why we’re a 100 percent Toro club. Not only that, they also demonstrate incredibly good value in their longevity and continually impressive performance; especially the older machines, which are still running problem-free.

Toro Impresses At Leicestershire

“These two machines in particular are surprising us with just how well they are performing despite their age and the number of hours on their clocks. They are a great example of why we stick with Toro year after year.”

In fact, Chris has spoken specifically about how impressed he is with these two machines before. In 2012 when the machines had clocked up 15,000 hours between them, well over the average machine life expectancy, he praised their robust build-quality and reliability. Five years on and nothing has changed. Now the GM4500-D boasts almost 10,000 hours of work, with the RM6500 just 1500 miles behind that.

And the workload at the popular course, which is home to the English Men’s Open Mid-Amateur Strokeplay (Logan Trophy), shows no signs of slowing down. Some bunkers are being repositioned as part of an ongoing course improvement programme and there are plans to extend the course by introducing two par fives, making the par 70 course around 6400-yards. But what will remain the same are the contours for the mowers to manoeuvre and the steeper areas that the RM6500-D in particular has to climb. The wear and tear the machines get as a result makes their longevity all the more remarkable.

“The GM4500-D has a pretty tough workload to contend with. As the only mower doing all the semi-rough cutting across the course, it’s out cutting all day, up to five days a week.”

So, what’s the secret? “Build quality, good mechanics and regular thorough machinery maintenance,” says Chris with the utmost confidence and the hours on the clock to prove it.

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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