Tag Archive for: Keeps

ISEKI Keeps Praa Sands Pristine

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ISEKI Keeps Praa Sands Pristine: ISEKI UK & Ireland, distributors of ISEKI compact tractors and mowers alongside their local dealer Nigel Rafferty Groundcare based in Redruth, Cornwall recently sold an ISEKI TLE3400 to Haulfryn Group to help improve maintenance standards on the 5 Star Praa Sands Holiday Park based in West Cornwall.

Adrian Pidcock the Maintenance Manager for the idyllic park explained; “I started working at the park 14 years ago, there has been a lot of hard graft and development in recent years but the site is now a 5 star holiday destination with over 100 luxury holiday homes, a pool, spa, gym, clubhouse with bar and entertainment plus various outdoor play areas.”

ISEKI Keeps Praa Sands Pristine

Having previously owned an ISEKI TM3265 the holiday park decided, at the end of their five-year lease, to upgrade their tractor to a TLE3400 to continue improvements to the park.  Commenting on the TLE3400 Adrian said; “following the reliability and quality of the previous ISEKI tractor I didn’t feel it necessary to look at any other manufacturer when the lease came up for renewal.  I spoke with our longstanding local dealer Nigel Rafferty Groundcare, he came to us with some suggestions of suitable machines for our budget and requirements.

“With all these improvements comes the increase in maintenance demands so we needed a higher horsepower tractor plus the ability to run extra implements.    The 38hp engine of the TLE3400 and the lift capacity of up to 1000kg enables us to carry out further jobs in house instead of paying higher fees for contract workers.  Equipped with a front loader and backhoe the TLE3400 has the horsepower and lift capacity we need at an affordable price.

The spacious platform and clearly laid out controls allow all of our staff to utilise the machine safely and productively ensuring all attachments can be operated easily and precisely.”

The team of eight at Praa Sands not only have the park to keep pristine but in 2009 the Haulfryn Group purchased the golf course adjacent to the holiday site.  Adrian explained further; “used for numerous jobs from spraying, topdressing and mowing, to towing a trailer to assist in cleaning the site each day the TLE3400 is used vigorously all week in order to help with the upkeep of this exceptional holiday park and we will shortly be looking for a flail arm hedge cutter attachment to add to our fleet of machinery.

“With many demands put on the tractor the build quality of the machine needs to be at the very highest, ISEKI’s products have gone way beyond any expectations. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.”

For more information, visit: www.iseki.co.uk.

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Flexibrush Keeps Worm Casts Away

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Flexibrush Keeps Worm Casts Away: Oswestry Golf Club head greenkeeper, Gary Barnfield, claims the SISIS Flexibrush has proved to be an ideal solution for controlling worm casts.

Oswestry Golf Club is a mature parkland 18 hole course set in the glorious Shropshire countryside and Gary has been working at the club for an impressive 31 years after joining as an apprentice. Over the years he has worked his way up through the ranks and six years ago he was promoted to the position of head greenkeeper.

Flexibrush Keeps Worm Casts Away

Since taking over as head greenkeeper Gary has implemented a number of changes to the maintenance regimes which has no doubt reinforced the club’s reputation for being in an excellent condition all year round.

However, over recent years Gary claims that he has faced arguably his biggest challenge after a number of chemicals were removed from the turfcare market.

“With the ban of certain chemicals we have not been able to use what was once in our armoury,” he said. “This proved to be problematic, as it no doubt did for every other greenkeeper, but the biggest loss was Carbendazim. Unfortunately the worms came out and more and more casts were appearing so we had to come up with a solution.

“An STRI advisor came to visit us and recommended that we apply some sand to top dress to the areas and also to brush the worm casts and level them off before we cut. We needed to find ourselves a reliable machine that would give the worm casts a rigorous brush and we trialled four brushes from four different brands. The SISIS Flexibrush was the stand out machine.”

The SISIS Flexibrush is a tractor mounted brush which is equally effective to disperse top dressing and remove excess material on natural turf and on synthetic surfaces. The versatile Flexibrush can also be used for dew dispersal and striping for improved presentation. It has a 5.35 metre working width, its brush sections float to follow ground contours and the outer sections fold for transport and storage.

“It’s not only great for brushing the worm casts but it also stands the grass up before we cut – which improves the quality of the cut and gives us better presentation,” said Gary.

Flexibrush Keeps Worm Casts Away

“In fact, the Flexibrush has got multiple uses because we use it for knocking dew off in the mornings and also in the winter months when the turf is not growing so much we will brush instead of cutting to keep the presentation to a high standard.

“Ultimately, we had to do something about the worm casts and the Flexibrush has done a brilliant job. I think it is a great alternative to spraying the worms and I think more greenkeepers will go down this route.

“It has been a cost saving exercise for us too because we used to have contractors come in and spray the worms but the SISIS Flexibrush was a one off payment and we get to keep it for us long as we like.

“It’s such a well-built machine and nothing can really go wrong with it – I think it will probably even outlast me!”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact SISIS on 01332 824 777 or visit www.sisis.com

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow SISIS on Twitter or Instagram @SISISMachinery and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/SISISMachinery. You can also view the latest SISIS videos by visiting www.youtube.com/SISISMachinery

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Headland Keeps School Disease Free

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Headland Keeps School Disease Free: Thanks to help from Headland Amenity, the 17 hectares of grounds for rugby, tennis and cricket at Kings Bruton School have come through the winter of 2017 disease-free and stronger than ever before.  For a relatively small school, they punch well above their weight when it comes to sport and the facilities they offer their 350 pupils.

Grounds Manager, Adie Davis, and his team of 6 groundstaff are kept busy looking after the facilities. “I have been familiar with Headland products for a long time and have enjoyed success with their programmes here at the school for a number of years. On our cricket outfields & rugby pitches we’ve been using Multigreen 28-0-0 which delivers results for the full 5-6 months it promises it will.” Applied in April and then again in September for strength through the autumn/winter, this is complemented on the fine turf areas by C-Complex in various formulations: 4-3-4 used during renovation work; 7-0-7 through the cricket playing season and 5-2-10 as a spring-starter.

Headland Keeps School Disease Free

On the cricket squares, Adie has found success with the combination of Multigreen Mini and Headland’s 20/20/30 non-pesticidal tank mix. “We apply the Multigreen Mini in early autumn to take us through the winter and then once a month between October and March we supplement this with a spray of the 20/20/30 enhanced plant health mix.” Headland’s industry-leading 20-20-30 mix combines Seamac ProTurf Fe and Liquid Turf Hardener plant protectants and Turfite elicitor that work together to strengthen the plant against disease. The combination of products applied at Kings Bruton delivers enhanced root development, disease resistance and strong colour. “This programme has kept all disease, including Fusarium and Dollar Spot, at bay – which I know groundsmen at other schools are suffering from.”

As the school heads towards its 500-year anniversary celebrations in 2019, Adie is delighted with the success achieved with their current nutritional regime. “I’ve worked closely with Headland’s Alex Hawkes, who is very knowledgeable, for a number of years and it’s thanks to him that we now have a combination of products that are really working. We get a lot of comments from staff, parents and local clubs that they’ve never seen turf quite like ours, our cricket areas in particular, which makes all the hard work worthwhile.”

For more information, visit: www.headlandamenity.com

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Textron Keeps Meldrum Peaceful

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Textron Keeps Meldrum Peaceful: Meldrum House Country Hotel & Golf Course extended its hotel in 2016 to 55 rooms, and since then has invested in golf course maintenance equipment and vehicles from Textron Golf in order to lessen noise levels around the hotel grounds. The equipment featured on the five-year lease deal includes mowers and vehicles across the Jacobsen, Cushman and E-Z-GO brands. Local dealer Fairways GM facilitated the purchasing process and is providing continued after-sales support.

Meldrum House Country Hotel is a four-star hotel in a 13th-century estate house, the oldest stone building in Aberdeenshire. The hotel is set in beautifully manicured grounds which are maintained by Kenny Harper, Golf Course and Estate Grounds Manager, and his team. Having spent five years at Gleneagles, and 20 at Meldrum House, Kenny said:

Textron Golf Keeps Meldrum Peaceful

“The golf course here is a members-only course, and it is crucial that whilst we keep our members happy, we also need to be mindful of our hotel guests, as the rooms and the golf course are very close to each other geographically.

“I looked into the Jacobsen Eclipse 322 riding greens mower, and it ticked all of the boxes for us. The noise levels are dramatically reduced, meaning that we can cut greens around the hotel whenever we like without disturbing anyone. As well as the noise advantage, the Eclipse 322 doesn’t use any hydraulic oil, which means there aren’t any disastrous leaks on the greens either. I also like being able to set speeds and clip rates using a passcode so that everything is being cut consistently. The members have noticed the difference on the course; our greens have never looked better.”

As well as three Eclipse 322 greens mowers, Meldrum House has also invested in two LF570 fairway mowers, two Cushman Hauler Pro vehicles (one with a sprayer, and one with a topdresser), three Cushman XD-R vehicles one Jacobsen TR-3 mower, one AR-3, one HR500 wide-area mower, one Truckster XD, and Iseki tractor and 10 E-Z-GO RXV electric golf cars.

“The Eclipse 322 and the electric E-Z-GO vehicles are another addition to our environmental plan. The reduced noise and air pollution is important to us, and we are already using wood-burning boilers to provide hot water and heat to the hotel and maintenance facility. We also use recycled rain water for washing down machines, and wild-flower plantations were used around the hotel extension which has allowed us to have bee hives on site which we produce our own honey from. Pesticides are being reduced to protect our bees and wildlife, and our new machinery also plays a crucial role in our environmental efforts.

“We are very happy with all of the machinery from Textron Golf. Textron Golf really has its finger on the pulse right now with the latest technology and providing machinery and vehicles which are built to last. We’re very pleased with what we have, and most importantly, the back-up from Fairways is superb; nothing is too much trouble, and a representative is always in to check on us.”

Meldrum House Country Hotel & Golf Course was purchased by its current owners in 1995. A nine-hole golf course designed by Graeme Webster was opened in 1999, and an 18-hole, 7,000-yard parkland course followed in 2000.

About Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc.

Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc. is a leading global manufacturer of golf cars, utility and personal transportation vehicles, snowmobiles, side-by-sides, all-terrain vehicles, professional turf-care equipment, and ground support equipment. Textron Specialized Vehicles markets products under the E-Z-GO®, Cushman®, Arctic Cat®, Textron Off Road™, Jacobsen®, Dixie Chopper®, Ransomes®, TUG™, Douglas™, Premier™ and Safeaero™ brands. Its vehicles are found in environments ranging from golf courses to factories, airports to planned communities, and theme parks to hunting preserves.

 About Textron Inc.

Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna, Beechcraft, Hawker, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, Textron Off Road, Arctic Cat, Textron Systems, and TRU Simulation + Training.

For more information, visit: www.textron.com

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AquaTrax Keeps Pitches Pristine

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AquaTrax Keeps Pitches Pristine: Lillieshall is one of the United Kingdom’s National Sports Centres and centres of excellence. The centre is set to host to some of the country’s leading sports activities like Archery, Gymnastics and Hockey. Within the 350 acre site are 2 synthetic pitches, a water based hockey pitch and a multi-sport surface. The Grounds Supervisor Peter Bolland, and his team of 6 which includes an apprentice, have their work cut out ensuring all the facilities meet their rigorous requirements and are kept performing at their best – which they do with the help of Replay Maintenance.

“The centre has a rich history,” explains Peter, “and having previously been on the English Heritage at Risk Register, but following a management plan set up back in 2013, the team are now working on a long term 21 year master plan, to bring the site back to the 1830’s when the Duke of Sutherland would have been prevalent. The majority of maintenance work, including pitch renovations, is conducted in-house and this is no different when it comes to the regime on the artificial surfaces.  We do cleaning,
drag-mat/brushing and removal of debris on a daily and weekly basis, but as a training facility for GB Hockey and other international teams alike we like to go that step further and have Replay in to conduct a deep clean at least once a year.”

AquaTrax Keeps Pitches Pristine

Their most recent visit saw Replay utilising their unique AquaTrax process on the two synthetic pitches.  This process combines pressure washing and vacuum extraction to dislodge and remove dirt and algae growth. The annual work also ensures that the surfaces pass the Centres twice-yearly audits.

Replay have been working with Lillieshall for a number of years and Peter says that, moving forwards, he has no reason to change that. “It tends to be the same guy visit each year.  He’ll report in and, unless there are any issues, he’ll just crack on with the job – there are times we don’t even know he’s there! They do such a great job, right from the initial quote and advice through to the actual work – they’re knowledgeable, always really helpful and work together with us in meeting the standards for the pitches and our facility as a whole.”

For more information, visit: www.replaymaintenance.co.uk

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