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Barenbrug Grow Business In Ireland

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Barenbrug Grow Business In Ireland: Barenbrug’s plan to further expand its business in Ireland has been given an additional boost with the appointment of new distributor, Cropcare, based in Co. Wicklow.

Cropcare will be selling Barenbrug’s Sport and Essential range of grass seed to the amenity market across Ireland. Thanks to a new investment in storage, Cropcare will be stocking most Barenbrug seed mixtures in Ireland, further enhancing their already excellent customer service.

Barenbrug Grow Business In Ireland

 

Cropcare has been trading for over 28 years and employs 10 staff. The company provides a wide range of amenity products including grass seed, chemicals and specialist fertilisers to the golf, sport and landscaping market. They pride themselves on having technically focused and well-trained staff that work closely with their customers to help them find solutions for their needs. This trait is also a high priority of Barenbrug making the decision to appoint Cropcare even easier.

The relationship between Barenbrug’s North England and Ireland Account Manager, Phil Logan, and Cropcare has been on-going for a number of years, Áine said: “We have known Phil for three years now and it’s good to be working with him more closely. We are confident that this new partnership will bring real success for both companies.”

Áine Daly, Director of Cropcare, said, “We are delighted to be working with Barenbrug. They have been a high-profile seed supplier for many years and their quality is well known. We are very impressed with their strong sales and marketing approach and their move to invest in Ireland with a dedicated Account Manager means support for us and our customers is unrivalled.”

Commenting on the appointment, Barenbrug UK’s Managing Director, Paul Johnson said: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Cropcare as a distributor in Ireland.

Based in County Wicklow, Cropcare has particular expertise in the professional amenity market.  The experience and commitment of its salespeople are clearly evident. Cropcare has a proven track record in sourcing high-quality products for amenity professionals within its market place”.

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Beau Desert Invest In Toro

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Beau Desert Invest In Toro: 660 feet above sea level and hidden among Staffordshire’s Cannock Forest, the unique location of Beau Desert Golf Club means the club has its own microclimate and a specific set of challenges when it comes to course maintenance. It’s for these reasons the club has signed its first lease deal with Toro.

Course manager Steve Mucklow explains that with colder temperatures for longer periods of the year, the risk of cutting the turf of the 18-hole 6,458-yard course too short, resulting in damage or stress, increases. Having equipment that provides a precise cut and great finish without damaging the grass is vital, hence the deal with Toro.

Beau Desert Invest In Toro

“Having a high-quality fleet to deal with the demanding maintenance of the course is incredibly important and I’m confident Toro will be able to deal with that and at the same time improve the course, raising the standards and making it easier for the team in the process.”

Steve continues: “I’ve been course manager for 25 years and our fleet has always featured Toro equipment. We’d been wanting to invest in a full Toro fleet for a while, but the timing hadn’t been right. As soon as it was, we turned to Redtech Machinery and Reesink Turfcare and set about discussing the best combination of machines for what we wanted to achieve.”

And aeration was a priority meaning the ProCore 648 made the list, as Steve explains: “I’ve been looking to try out the ProCore 648 for a few years now, and although we haven’t been using it for long, it’s now a firm favourite of mine. It’s going to be really exciting to really put it through its paces here and see what it delivers.”

In addition, the club’s new fleet also includes a Greensmaster 3400 TriFlex, Groundsmaster 4100-D, Reelmaster 3100-D Sidewinder, RM3555-D and Workman GTX.

With plans in the making to further improve the club, including restructuring the bunkers, Steve is confident that “Toro will deliver on every aspect” from course maintenance to course improvements. “It’s a very exciting time to see the club taking its next steps to progress and move forward, especially with Toro on board.”

Jon Lewis, area sales manager at Reesink Turfcare says: “I am extremely delighted that Steve and Beau Desert Golf Club have chosen to enter a partnership with Reesink Turfcare and Toro. With the addition of a new Toro fleet, it will only help the team here to enhance a great course even further! Particularly when it comes to managing the challenges created by its unique climate.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Royal Cinque Invest In Otterbine

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Royal Cinque Invest In Otterbine: Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club has recently invested in two Otterbine High Volume aerators to improve the water quality of its reservoir and help prevent stagnant smelling water and the build up of weeds.

The club in Deal, Kent has a 13,000m3 reservoir, the water from which is used to irrigate the 18-hole Championship Links course, but with no aeration to keep the water clean and clear James Bledge, course manager, was noticing a significant deterioration in water quality.

Royal Cinque Invest In Otterbine

“The water was starting to turn stagnant and was giving off a strong smell, and there was a considerable amount of weed and algae forming on the bottom of the reservoir,” he explains.

To solve the worrying problems the club opted to have two Otterbine aerators installed at the same time as a new Toro irrigation system and a renewal of its Toro fleet, all delivered by distributor Reesink Turfcare.

The club is a Toro Total Solutions club meaning it has a 100 percent Toro fleet as well as a Toro irrigation system, but that didn’t mean an automatic order for Otterbine, which is also distributed by Reesink Turfcare.

In fact, the Otterbine aerators were suggested by Robin Hume Associates when designing the new irrigation system. With success at similar clubs in the same application, the irrigation design consultancy was confident Otterbine would help to solve the issues at Royal Cinque Ports, and it seems that judgement was right.

“We’re seeing a substantial difference since the installation of the new Otterbine aerators,” says James. “The water doesn’t smell anymore and we’re already seeing an improvement in the water quality.”

The Otterbine High Volume aerator adds an impressive 3.3lbs or 1.5kg of oxygen per horse power, every hour and is constructed from marine-grade, 316 stainless steel, thermoplastics and a rugged, energy efficient, low speed motor to withstand even the toughest of aquatic environments.

But it’s not just that which has impressed James, the ease of use of the control system has too: “It’s been set on a timer, so that way it doesn’t disturb any nearby residents and helps us to save on energy.”

The importance the club places on its water quality, sustainability and the technology that it manages, is evident in James’ decision to assign greenkeeper Nick Machin the role of supervising all the irrigation and aeration technology. Coincidentally, Nick happens to be the 2017 winner of the Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award and James feels confident the day-to-day management of the new additions will be in safe hands.

“With the technology we now have at our fingertips and the supervision from Nick, I am confident about the improvements we’ll see in the long term. It will be interesting to see, for example, how the turf benefits from the better-quality water irrigating it.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Montrose Invest In The Future

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Montrose Invest In The Future: Montrose Golf Links has announced details of one of the largest investments ever made in the celebrated east coast course. Completed earlier this year, the new, far-reaching irrigation project will enable significant improvements to be made across the links and coincides with Montrose receiving the most comprehensive sustainability award in golf.

The new automated irrigation system addresses a swathe of issues that have affected the presentation of the course, which twice hosted Final Qualifying for the Open Championship. It replaces the previous system that had been in situ for more than 30 years and suffered from insufficient pressure, poor and uneven water coverage and limited irrigation options.

Montrose Invest In The Future

“The new irrigation system is a significant improvement on what we had before,” said Jason Boyd, PGA professional and operations manager at Montrose Golf Links. “It addresses a lot of on-course issues and will enable our greenkeeping team to present the 1562 course like never before. This is a massive investment that will have a huge impact on golf at Montrose.”

The introduction of the £100,000 irrigation system follows the renaming of the world’s fifth oldest golf course in 2018. More importantly, it will free up the Montrose greenkeepers to present the 450-year course to the highest possible standards.

“Because so much time was spent hand-watering greens, the new system will have a number of knock-on effects, especially for the greenkeepers,” explained Boyd. “The time released by the new system will now be spent improving greens, tees, fairways and approaches as well as focussing on smaller, detailed jobs that are so important.”

Although largely unaltered, the classic Scottish links at Montrose has been adapted and tweaked by the likes of Willie Park Jr, Old Tom Morris and Harry Colt. With a run of seven spectacular cliff-face holes, it has also become a destination course for many visitors to Scotland and is widely regarded as one of the country’s most natural links.

According to Darren McLaughlan, head greenkeeper at Montrose, the addition of the new irrigation system is hugely significant. “The need for a fully functioning irrigation system was overwhelming,” he says. “The new system will not only allow greenstaff to concentrate on course improvements while reducing disruption to play, it will also provide the foundation for producing true and consistent putting conditions and a more sustainable approach due to using less water.”

Towards the end of 2018, Montrose Golf Links was awarded the Golf Environment Organisation (GEO) certificate – an accreditation the club had been working towards since 2007. Mike Wood, GEO accredited verifier, highlighted a number of key strengths during Montrose’s verification process. These included “committed ecological stewardship of an authentic setting of duneland topography and landcover, within which the high-quality playing surfaces harmoniously fit”.

McLaughlan, who has a wealth of links golf experience after holding the position of course manager at Machrihanish Golf Club, says the new irrigation system ties in perfectly with the new CEO certified status at Montrose. “We are committed to delivering a world-class golfing experience that is sympathetic to the surrounding environment and spectacular coastline,” he said. “Montrose is a special place full of history and outstanding golf holes. We want people to enjoy Montrose, but we want to achieve that responsibly. This latest investment in the infrastructure that supports the course will help us do just that.”

The Medal course was renamed The 1562 Course during the 2018 season and is the fifth oldest golf course in the world. It has hosted a number of prestigious tournaments including the World Hickory Open (2013); The Europro Tour (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018) and Final Qualifying for the Senior Open Championship held at Carnoustie (2016).

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John O’Conner Trusts In Toro

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John O’Conner Trusts In Toro: As one of the UK’s most successful and reputable grounds maintenance companies, John O’Conner Grounds Maintenance knows that having the best groundscare equipment is vital, which is why they put their trust in Toro to provide their clients with the high-quality service they expect.

Having recently won the Toro sponsored Grounds Maintenance – Limited Public Access category at the BALI National Landscape Awards, and with the companies 50th year coming up in June 2019, senior workshop manager Simon Redhead, who has been with the company for 35 years, tells us how Toro has become an essential equipment provider for the family run business.

John O’Conner Trusts In Toro

“We have a wide range of customers, so we need flexible and reliable machines to deal with them all,” he says. “We look after grounds on the Isle of Wight all the way up to Scotland, so making sure we provide a consistent service no matter where in the country or what kind of client they are is really important and Toro helps us to achieve that.”

With 45 pieces of kit in the company’s grounds maintenance fleet, it’s clear Toro is highly valued.

“We have everything from pedestrian and ride on mowers to tractor drawn gang mowers. In particular the Toro LT3340 heavy-duty triple cylinder mower has been great and has been our front-line machine for many years. For example, when we have long wet grass and difficult conditions, the LT3340 comes into its own.

“The majority of our clients are local authorities and with increasing budget cuts, many of them now need areas to be cut less frequently while still providing the same finish. The LT3340 has proven over the years to be an integral part of our fleet of machines.”

And it’s not just the machines themselves that are highly valued by John O’Conner, but the service from Reesink Turfcare as well.

“Reesink have always been great, especially when it comes to their parts service and training. Anything you need they’ll get to you within 24 hours, which is great because it means we can get machines back in use almost immediately.”

The company is about to trial another Toro machine, the CT2240. “I know that Toro will always deliver durable, reliable, high-quality machines and are always looking at innovative ways to make things better for the operator and customer. They also come with excellent service to back that up.”

He concludes: “Toro fits in very well with what our customers expect with regards to cut, finish and appearance.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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