Tag Archive for: Manager

ICL Appoints Philip Mayes as Technical Area Sales Manager

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ICL Appoints Philip Mayes as Technical Area Sales Manager: ICL Turf & Landscape has appointed Philip Mayes as Technical Area Sales Manager, South.

In this role, Philip will be responsible for supporting golf and sports clubs across southern counties, predominantly Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire, and West Sussex, working closely with distributors, greenkeepers, and sports turf managers to provide technical guidance and tailored solutions.

ICL Appoints Philip Mayes as Technical Area Sales Manager

ICL Appoints Philip Mayes as Technical Area Sales Manager

Philip brings a wealth of experience in sports turf management, with a strong background in golf course maintenance and education. His career spans both the UK and the Middle East, where he has led high-profile projects in golf and sports turf. He holds an MSc in Horticulture (Sports Turf Management) from the University of Reading and a BSc Honours in Turfgrass Science and Golf Course Management from the University of Central Lancashire.

Philip’s UK-based experience is extensive. He spent 11 years as a senior lecturer and programme manager at Merrist Wood College, training future turf professionals in sports turf, landscaping, and grounds maintenance, as well as golf course architecture and construction. Additionally, he held the positions of Deputy Head Greenkeeper and Assistant Greenkeeper at golf clubs, alongside other turf management roles at various sporting venues.

His international experience includes working as Graduate Assistant Superintendent at The Old Collier Golf Club in Florida, and as Senior Sports Turf Manager and Project Manager in Doha, Qatar, where he oversaw the maintenance of five FIFA World Cup stadiums and training facilities before, during, and after the FIFA World Cup 2022. He also played a key role in developing a 430,000m² turf nursery to support the tournament’s pitch requirements. Prior to this, he worked in Dubai as a Project Manager and Training Manager, supporting major sports turf projects across the region.

Philip is also a keen golfer, enjoying the game whenever time allows, further strengthening his connection with the industry and his understanding of the needs of course managers. His hands-on experience in golf course maintenance, combined with his work in large-scale sports turf projects, means he is well-placed to help clubs optimise playing conditions while balancing sustainability and budgetary considerations.

Commenting on his new role, Philip said: “I’m excited to join ICL and help golf and sports clubs achieve the highest turf standards. With experience in golf course management, project execution, and education, I understand the challenges turf managers face. I’m looking forward to offering practical, research-driven solutions that improve playing surfaces.”

Andrew Pledger, Sales & Business Development Manager – UK South, welcomed Philip to the team, saying: “Philip’s extensive experience in both the UK and international turf sectors adds significant value to ICL and the turf industry. His technical expertise, coupled with his hands-on approach, will be a great asset to our customers.”

Philip’s appointment highlights ICL’s ongoing commitment to delivering expert technical support and innovative solutions to the golf industry. By working closely with both distributors and sports clubs, he will ensure that turf managers receive insights that go beyond standard sales calls—providing actionable, research-based guidance that enhances long-term turf performance.

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie  if you are in Ireland.

For more news and insightful views, you can follow ICL on Twitter @ICL_Turf

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Haileybury Grounds Manager Praises MM Tetra Sport

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Haileybury Grounds Manager Praises MM Tetra Sport: Andy Richards, Grounds Manager at Haileybury, one of England’s leading independent schools, has hailed MM Tetra Sport for setting a new standard in maintaining the school’s extensive sports pitches.

Praising its exceptional performance, Andy highlighted how the innovative seed mixture has delivered outstanding results on high-use pitches, transforming both their resilience and his team’s workload.

Haileybury Grounds Manager Praises MM Tetra Sport

Haileybury Grounds Manager Praises MM Tetra Sport

Nestled in 500 acres of stunning Hertfordshire countryside, Haileybury is one of England’s leading independent co-educational schools. Known for its academic excellence and vibrant co-curricular programme, Haileybury boasts national champions in girls’ hockey, top-tier cricket teams, and competitive rugby and football squads.

Maintaining the school’s extensive sports facilities, which include approximately 180 pitches and courts, is no small feat, but Grounds Manager Andy Richards thrives on the challenge.

Now in his sixth year at Haileybury, Andy oversees the site with a team of 11 staff. “It’s a large site, and the co-curricular side is massive—not just sport but activities like mountain biking and horse riding,” he explains. “The sports side is huge, and we’re constantly working to maintain and improve the pitches to meet high standards.”

Andy was drawn to the role by the potential he saw at Haileybury. “It’s a big school and was a bit of a sleeping giant when I started. It wasn’t in the best condition, but they wanted to improve it and make it one of the best schools in the country. I liked the challenge—it ticked a lot of boxes for me.”

Having relied on MM50 and MM60 seed mixtures for years, Andy recently turned his attention to MM Tetra Sport, a winter sports overseeding mixture treated with Headstart® GOLD – a performance-enhancing grass seed coating. Impressed by tetraploid ryegrass trial results he’d seen, Andy decided to test MM Tetra Sport on one of Haileybury’s high-use rugby training pitches.

“What I’d heard about Tetra Sport was that it’s harder wearing and requires less water, which was ideal for us given the site conditions,” Andy says.

Its unique tetraploid ryegrass composition offers several advantages:

  • Rapid establishment and germination, even in challenging conditions.
  • Reduced water requirements, promoting deep rooting.
  • High wear tolerance, perfect for high-use pitches.
  • Outstanding disease resistance and excellent colour year-round.

The results were astounding. “We sowed Tetra Sport in three directions, then did a fourth pass after two weeks. The germination was really quick—helped by a rainstorm—but even when the weather turned dry, we didn’t need to water it as soon as we would have with traditional ryegrass.”

For Andy, the reduced need for irrigation was transformative. “Watering a pitch here takes 8 hours, with 290 metres of hose to set up. With Tetra Sport, we held off watering for 10-12 days longer than usual, which was unbelievable.”

After four weeks of growing in, the pitch was ready for its first training session. “It held together really well,” Andy notes. “The pitch next to it, which isn’t Tetra Sport, is like chalk and cheese. That pitch gets about 2 hours of use a week, while the Tetra Sport pitch averages 6 hours, and you’d think it was the other way around. The coverage is fantastic, the colour is natural and vibrant, and it’s incredibly resilient.”

Andy has also noticed other benefits. “We’ve had no disease on the Tetra Sport pitch, whereas other pitches have had issues like fusarium. It’s ticked every box we could have hoped for.”

Andy is so impressed with MM Tetra Sport that he plans to use it across the entire site next year. “I’m even going to experiment with it on a cricket wicket,” he says. “It shows how much seed breeding has developed — tetraploids used to be too coarse, but now the colour and performance are exceptional.”

He also credits MM Seed’s Matt Gresty for his support. “Matt is exemplary—always at the end of the phone and great for bouncing ideas off. He’s incredibly knowledgeable.”

For Andy Richards and the team at Haileybury, MM Tetra Sport has revolutionised pitch performance, proving that with the right seed, you can achieve exceptional results while saving time and resources.

For further information, please contact MM Sports Seed on 01386 791102 or visit the company’s website www.mm-seeds.co.uk.

You can also follow the company on X: @MM_Seed.

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Ben Morgan becomes new DLF Amenity Technical Manager

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Ben Morgan becomes new DLF Amenity Technical Manager: DLF are pleased to announce the appointment of Ben Morgan as their new Regional Amenity Technical Manager for the North East.

With more than two decades of hands-on experience in the turf industry, Ben is well placed to support customers across the DLF portfolio of brands on grass seed selection and sustainable surface management.

Ben Morgan becomes new DLF Amenity Technical Manager

Ben Morgan becomes new DLF Amenity Technical Manager

Driven by a sense of accomplishment in growing businesses and solving challenges, Ben is a true professional who takes pride in every blade of grass he nurtures – and having been in the industry for 24 years, that’s a lot of blades! During his tenure as a Consultant Agronomist for the STRI Group, Ben developed a deep technical knowledge and understanding which was combined with a genuine passion for sustainable turfgrass management. Holding a BSc (Hons) and a Foundation Degree in Sustainable Turfgrass Management, along with BASIS and FACTS certifications, he’s built an impressive career across technical sales roles within Countrywide, AGS and Origin.

Ben’s expertise extends beyond the theory, with years of ‘on-the-tool’ greenkeeping work in both the UK and USA under his belt. His career highlights include working at prestigious sites such as St Andrews’ The Old Course and Pinehurst Golf Resort in North Carolina USA. Whether as a greenkeeper or an agronomist, Ben has cultivated a reputation for delivering results and tackling turfgrass challenges, with a firm belief that seed holds the key to many future solutions.

On his new position, Ben comments, “As a self-confessed turf enthusiast, working with the team at DLF was an opportunity I could not turn down. The incredible research and development taking place across DLF’s global breeder network puts us in great stead to provide the right solutions for our customers now and long into the future. I look forward to hitting the road and helping facilities across the sporting spectrum to make informed, tailored decisions on their seed selection over the coming months and years.”

When not ‘talking turf’, Ben enjoys a range of different hobbies. You’ll often find him fishing for barbel on the River Derwent or tending to his 15 colonies of bees. A black belt in kickboxing, he balances a love for precision and discipline with an appreciation for light-hearted banter with colleagues, customers and friends.

Ben can be contacted on 07801 459623 or via email on Ben.Morgan@dlf.com

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New sales manager for Reesink E-Vehicles

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New sales manager for Reesink E-Vehicles: Darren Clewes is the new sales manager for Reesink e-Vehicles.

As the only distributor in the sector with a division entirely dedicated to only sustainably powered vehices, it needed an experienced manager to take it forward and ensure its growth which is where Darren comes in.

New sales manager for Reesink E-Vehicles

New sales manager for Reesink E-Vehicles

With a focus on electric and sustainable transport options, the e-Vehicles division of distributor Reesink UK, is home to innovative, award-winning, rapid-charge lithium-ion phosphate battery-powered passenger buggies and utility vehicles.

The enviromentally friendly fleet management journey is one nearly all turfcare customers are on in some shape or form, with buggies certainly at the forefront for golf clubs and leisure venues.

Darren brings 25 years of turfcare experience to the role and is a familiar face in golf. “When I realised I wasn’t going to make it as a golf pro, I delved deeper into alternative career options in the sector and I was amazed by the size and extent of it,” he says. “The opportunities, possibilities and options hooked me in.”

Specialising in sales early on, he says he’s visited “all golf clubs in the North of England” in his roles with Tacit Turf Equipment, Collier Turfcare and Allett Mowers, and it was his role with Eco Bunker that gave him his first experience of innovative and sustainable turfcare solutions.

“Through my role of Sales Manager for Eco Bunker I got a taste of working in this relatively new area and it sparked my interest, so when the role came up at Reesink e-Vehicles it instantly appealed. I could see how beneficial electric transport options were for the sector by then and I was eager for a challenge on a national level.

“To join a relatively new division brings the ambition to grow it. There’s a huge amount of potential within the dealer network and I can see the untapped areas of the market.”

The recruitment process for the role was competitive, exhaustive and essential to ensure the right candidate took on the role says Reesink’s Managing Director, Alastair Rowell: “This is one of the fastest growing sectors in the industry and a great opportunity to reach customers – new and existing – with our range of innovative solutions. Darren demonstrated he had the experience, insights and relationship management skills to continue the strong start for the division.”

Darren is now position and can be contact via Reesink head office on 01480 226800.

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New branch manager for Reesink Scotland

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New branch manager for Reesink Scotland: Mike Turnbull brings six years’ experience as Regional Manager looking after UK Reesink dealers, customers and retail partners, bolstered by more than 20 years working at Toro Spellbrook, to his new role of Branch Manager at Reesink Scotland, the distributor’s service branch based in Livingstone.

Supporting all of Scotland in distribution and service, Reesink believes Mike will bring huge benefit to this extensive geographical area for the business, thanks to his extensive expertise.

New branch manager for Reesink Scotland

New branch manager for Reesink Scotland

Scotland, being the home of golf, is the location of the country’s, and indeed world’s, most prestigious golf clubs, many of which are long-term Toro commercial machinery and irrigation customers, including major sporting venues, councils, local authorities and landscapers who favour the comprehensive grounds machinery range from Toro.

“We have many of the business’s key customers in Scotland and a team of staff at the top of their game, and it will be an honour to lead the branch forward in our plans to grow existing and build new customer relationships in the golf and groundscare sectors,” Mike says.

“My focus will be to make sure all existing deals, service packages and backup and support requirements are catered for and plot a new course of growth for the branch.”

With growth in mind, one of the first jobs Mike will be responsible for is launching a satellite branch in the north of the country to service the area north of Aberdeen. He says: “Our branch in West Lothian is convenient for its central location and good transport links, but with the level of work and customers we have spread over such a large area that has grown since we opened eight years ago means it’s time for additional resource over a bigger area.

“We’re currently staffing this new facility and already have Jim McKay, Area Sales Manager North and Gordon Rodgers, a full-time mechanic/engineer in position. The fully supported hub will make it easier for customers in the north to access our maintenance and genuine parts after-sales services.”

For Mike, who is Scottish, this move marks a return home. “It was a hard decision to leave the role I was doing. I was working with some of the best dealers in the UK and the relationships we formed were really successful. I will miss that, but the timing was right. I  view it as the same job but with a different office and I am looking forward to bringing all I have learned over the years to Scotland to drive the branch forward and benefit our customers there.”

To speak to Reesink Scotland about what brands, services and expertise it can offer, call 01506 300880.

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