Tag Archive for: Perfect

Be Pitch Perfect with SCH

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Be Pitch Perfect with SCH: The pressure is on for sports ground professionals to create the perfect playing surface whilst sticking to a budget – not always an easy task.

Artificial pitch care specialists SCH (Supplies) Ltd are delighted with the opportunity to sponsor the SALTEX 2018 Best Managed Artificial Surface award. As manufacturers of both real and artificial pitch care machinery, the choice of award was an easy one to make. The SCH surface care range will leave your surfaces in award winning condition at very affordable prices.

Be Pitch Perfect with SCH

The Artificial Surface Grooming Rake (Ref: ASR2) is designed to carry out routine maintenance on artificial playing surfaces with a sand base. The two rows of spring tines tease through the playing surface to remove surface compaction and aid drainage, and the trailing brush will level and groom the play area. A single pass allows for the two operations to be carried out simultaneously, which enable groundsmen to prepare and maintain the pitch to a high standard in very little time.

Each working row of tines may be lifted out of work individually, and a weight tray is incorporated in the design in order that top weight may be added to aid penetration on heavily compacted surfaces. This simple grooming unit may be towed behind 13HP tractors and above, with a variety of sizes available.

The Triangular Brush (Ref: TMB2) is a small, basic machine which gives artificial and natural grass areas that vital ‘scratch’ in between major services. The wheels on the upper side of the brush make it an easy task to transport it to the storage area – simply turn the brush onto the wheels.

SCH products have simple designs for low maintenance. The robust welded steel frames and their dedicated spare parts team will help ensure the life of the machine year after year.

SCH (Supplies) Ltd manufacture a wide range of both artificial surface and natural grass care systems, consisting of many different widths and attachments. With over 250 products on their website, and a selection of hand held and towed rakes, brushes and drag mats in their brochure, pitches of all sizes and budgets can achieve award winning results.

Contact SCH on 01473 328272, email sales@schsupplies.co.uk, or visit their website to find out more www.schsupplies.co.uk

SCH (Supplies) Ltd, proud sponsors of the SALTEX 2018 Best Maintained Artificial Surface award.

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Whisper Twister Perfect For Coxmoor

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Whisper Twister Perfect For Coxmoor: Coxmoor Golf Club, an accredited England Golf Championship venue, is in its fourth year of a major ten year redevelopment, working closely with architects, Creative Golf Design. The progressive Nottinghamshire club has an innovative programme of bunker and tee improvements to future proof the course which are already elevating its stature. 

Running alongside is a ten year woodlands plan in partnership with The Sherwood Forest Trust and the Forestry Commission.  The goal is to restore the Sutton-in-Ashfield club to its natural heathland habitat with a better understanding of woodland management.  Over 1500 trees have been thinned out making way for the best indigenous species, the focus on selecting trees across a spectrum of life cycle stages. By necessity, Course Manager, Ben Cumberland and his greenkeeping team of seven, adopt very effective solutions for removing leaf debris.

Whisper Twister Perfect For Coxmoor

Central to their operation is a previously under-used John Deere 3730 tractor, which now supports a Wiedenmann Whisper Twister blower on the front and a variety of equipment on the back.

“When I joined Coxmoor, the 3730 tractor was a couple of years old with its three point front linkage kit untouched and no obvious plans to put it to use. With front linkage in place it made sense to attach a blower which could stay on for two to three months at a time,” explained Ben Cumberland.  “James Robson from dealer Henton and Chatell got on the case and brought the Whisper Twister for demo and we kept it.

“It’s fortunate the John Deere has low ground pressure and Galaxy flotation tyres so it can be over the greens for most of the year, leaving no imprint whatsoever. The Whisper Twister balances on a low pressure wheel so together they are perfect for fine turf. When it’s dry, the blower goes round the greens that need it in the morning to tidy them. We drive right up to a bunker, point the nozzle, rotate if required and the leaves are taken out easily. Because the driver’s view is to the front, you see everything; no awkward neck twisting trying to look behind,” continued Ben Cumberland.

Whisper Twister Perfect For Coxmoor

“Only in the depths of winter will we go over the greens and blow leaves by hand. But for other parts of the course when it is damp and the leaves are dormant and bedded into the grass, we will pair the blower with the Wiedenmann Terra Rake.  The scarifying tines on the rake go through the longer grass, teasing the leaves out from the bottom; the leaves are blown out and then we rake them up.

“Having the blower to the front is so versatile; the set up gives scope to do more and more. We will put another machine on the back and tidy as we go, especially with aeration work on the greens, or with the slitter, the sorrel roller, the brush… even down to blowing tees before we spray them with the sprayer attached. We often do two jobs in one. Kill two birds with the one stone if you like.”

For more information, visit: www.wiedenmann.com

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Perfect Start For Terra Spike GXi 6

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Perfect Start For Terra Spike GXi 6: Throughout his 26 years of service at Ashley Wood GC in Blandford Forum, head greenkeeper, Mark Sherwood, can count the snow days there on the fingers of both hands.  With high elevation and fast draining chalk soil, extreme weather rarely halts play at the Dorset club. Indeed during winter, Ashley Wood is a magnet for those looking for year round golf.

So in March, when Andy Frost from local Wiedenmann UK dealer,  EG Coles of Shaftesbury and Chas Ayres, Wiedenmann UK Sales Manager, pitched up to install a Terra Spike GXi 6 aerator, everyone was hugely surprised by a 3 inch snowfall.

Perfect Start For Terra Spike GXi 6

“The snow was gone in no time but it put a stop to the handover run,” recalls Mark Sherwood.  “However, that was the Monday, by the Wednesday we got on so well we were even hollow coring. It was an instant success.”

Ashley Wood’s GXi 6 was specifically chosen to deliver a clean finish to the greens, tees and aprons. Being busy with member and society golf leaves little down time and aeration can’t be allowed to cause disruption.

“We pushed it to see what it could achieve so we double hollow cored some greens,” continued Mark Sherwood.  “First pass, we used a two by one hole pattern.  We then cleared all cores. Next for the second pass, we slowed right down for maximum accuracy. Once we’d sanded the greens our golfers were straight back on without any issues.  Afterwards we got an endorsement I wasn’t expecting.  For the first time ever, several members came up to say they couldn’t believe the great finish the new machine had left, even with twice the number of holes we’d usually create!  Crucially, approval from our members, so we were as pleased as they were…”

Perfect Start For Terra Spike GXi 6

Mark and his team of four have kept to their planned programme and been out every three to four weeks, varying heave and depth as appropriate.

“Mostly we’ve been out with solids although at the end of August we went back for few single passes with hollow coring tines. We’ve lots of undulation, with several of the greens particularly full of humps and bumps.  The Wiedenmann follows these with no issues at all. The solid three part rear roller is a real benefit. There’s a good weight on it that puts the turf back ‘down’.  Previously we had to keep a very close eye with our last machine where we’d have had a few ripples in the ground where the tines enter and leave the ground but now it’s as smooth as silk.  Once it’s set it’s set.”

For more information, visit: www.wiedenmann.com

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Kubota’s Perfect Match

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Kubota’s Perfect Match: Boasting over 2000 pitches for touring, holiday and residential mobile homes across seven separate sites throughout the UK, Partingtons Holiday Parks is a nationwide leisure company that has firmly established itself as a popular household name, and is next year celebrating its 75th anniversary.

The successful business is overseen by the 4th generation of the Partington family. Robert Partington Kearsley and his sister Andrea Challis run the business and employ over 250 individuals as part of their ‘family first’ approach.

Kubota's Perfect Match

With six Visit England accredited holiday sites and one residential site in the Partingtons portfolio, it’s imperative that each park is kept in the best condition possible to ensure visitors continue to return year after year. This is a challenge Robert and Andrea’s grounds maintenance teams face on a daily basis and easily achieve through their longstanding relationship with high quality suppliers, working closely with Kubota and local dealer Dennis Barnfield over the last 15 years.

Currently boasting a 25 strong Kubota fleet, maintenance of the various sites is headed up by each individual park manager and their dedicated grounds maintenance teams.

Speaking of the partnership, Robert said: “With seven different parks to contend with, it’s vital that our grounds maintenance is consistent across the board to ensure we achieve the highest standard at every park. The service we receive from Dennis Barnfield and the varying models of quality Kubota machinery they provide, ensures each of the sites are kept in premium condition.”

From transporting seven tonne caravans across the park to mowing and mulching of the lawns, Kubota machinery plays an essential role in the running of the sites. The parks have been home to a multitude of machines over the years, with its current fleet including a number of G Series high dump mowers and F Series ride on mowers for regular grass cutting.

For the more heavy duty site work, two L Series compact utility tractors, four larger scale M6040 tractors and two L3200 tractors are used to help the maintenance teams move the holiday homes and complete essential upkeep. With such substantial loads to transport across the parks, the high performance tractors are the perfect solution for the task, safely and carefully helping the team to transport the caravans around the site.

The sites are also home to five recently acquired RTV-X1140’s. Robert continued: “We recently purchased the new RTVs because the option to have an additional two seats in the back or a larger cargo bed is useful for the team when transporting equipment around the vast sites. The RTV-X900 we previously purchased was so robust and resilient that I knew we needed more Kubota RTVs to help the maintenance team complete their tasks easier and quicker.

“Past generations of the Partington family has used Kubota machinery for decades based on the quality and reliability of the brand, as well as its first class aftersales services. Our confidence in the performance of the machines means that Andrea and I have one less thing to worry about as we know the maintenance of the sites will continue to run like clockwork.”

For more information on Kubota and its range of solutions for the groundcare sector, visit www.kubota.co.uk/groundcare or call 01844 268 000.

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Linnets Aim For Perfect Pitch

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Linnets Aim For Perfect Pitch: The Walks might be a far cry from the old Wembley Stadium and Portman Road, but Steven Curtis is relishing the change in role after becoming groundsman at King’s Lynn Town Football Club.

Mr Curtis, who has worked at a number of iconic venues during the last 40 years, is enjoying the challenge of trying to make the surface at Lynn pitch-perfect.

So much so that he has even put his property at Beck Row on the market so he can be closer to Lynn.

As if the task in hand wasn’t big enough when he took the job on, the lack of rain during one of the hottest summers for many years has hindered his hard work even further.

“The weather has been horrible for a groundsman,” said Mr Curtis.

“Water has been a problem, as it has been for everyone, and trying to get the pitch green has been a nightmare.

“Richard (Simper) has been an angel, coming in and moving the hose pipes which we’ve had on the go constantly.

“We’ve literally had two hose pipes on the go 24/7 so I think that Mr Cleeve might have a very sorry water bill, but what do you do?

While several players were dusting down their flip-flops for the summer holidays at the end of last season, Lynn’s groundsman was plotting a pristine playing playing surface for the new campaign.

Mr Curtis, 63, was left with the unenviable task of transforming the surface – which came in for much criticism from the club’s previous manager – into tip-top condition after leaving his position at Mildenhall after two-and-a-half years.

Lynn’s pitch had four thousand metres (two-and-a-half miles) of new drainage installed before it was eventually verti-drained, overseeded and fertilised.

“I’ve certainly done my 10,000 steps a day,” quipped Mr Curtis.

“We’ve had to constantly back fill the trenches to keep them topped up. We’ve shifted about 20 tonnes of sand to help us keep it topped up.”

As previous Linnets turf-tenders will concur, sustaining the pitch’s quality throughout a nine-month campaign is a mammoth task considering its heavy-duty usage.

But it isn’t such an issue for Mr Curtis who worked at the old Wembley between 1986 and 1994, along with clubs such as Ipswich, Norwich City, Leyton Orient and Cambridge United during 40 years as a contractor.

“The club approached me and I was happy to come here,” he admitted.

“It was a step up, bigger facilities, better players and better everything really.

“The players have been great and appreciate what has been done, everyone has been great which is why we’ve put our house on the market and our thinking of moving this way.”

And the chances of Lynn having a surface to be proud of come kick-off on August 11?

“At the moment it’s a seven out of ten for me,” said Mr Curtis.

“Come another three weeks and given a bit of moisture, I think we will be there or thereabouts.”

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