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PRO 34R The Ultimate Rotary

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PRO 34R The Ultimate Rotary: After a long-term search for the ultimate rotary mower, Shrewsbury School grounds manager, Andy Richards, believes that he has finally found the mower he has been looking for in the Dennis PRO 34R.

Shrewsbury School has a world-class reputation for all-round excellence. As well as boasting fantastic academic results the school is also renowned for highly competitive sports teams. The pupils compete internationally in cricket and its football teams are considered to be some of the best in the UK.

PRO 34R The Ultimate Rotary

In matching the reputation of its teams, the sports pitches are also highly regarded and there’s a reason that the first team pitches at Shrewsbury School are on par with most Premier League football pitches or County Cricket pitches. That reason is grounds manager Andy Richards, who has been in his current position since 2010. Ever the perfectionist, Andy and his team arguably encounter some of the highest usage in sports turf, and even still he insists on leaving no stone unturned.

Andy demands the best in all aspects of his role and even more so when it comes to turf maintenance equipment. After struggling to find a rotary mower which matched his expectations, Andy claims that the solution arrived in the newly launched Dennis PRO 34R.

“Over recent years we have struggled to find a rotary mower that actually ticked every box – they were either too fast or not fast enough; some were too heavy and some felt too light; and there were some that would not pick up the debris clean enough or produce a good enough cut.

“I saw the new rotary mower at SALTEX and knew it would be good because it is a Dennis mower and I already know the quality of cut from their cylinder mowers. It actually seemed to me that a rotary mower was something which was missing from their portfolio so when it did finally come to market I put my name down as soon as possible to get one. It is safe to say that it definitely hasn’t let me down.”

The Dennis PRO 34R is a 34” (860mm) rotary mower which has been designed to help groundsmen achieve an aesthetically pleasing appearance and desired playing surface. It is ideal for sports pitches and lawns producing the enviable ‘Dennis Stripes’ while a powerful vacuum flow collects debris quickly and efficiently.

The angle of the cutting deck and twin blades can be easily adjusted using a single ‘click adjuster’ ensuring the mower is suitable for changing conditions and meeting groundsmen’s requirements.

“We bought two of them and I would say that they are easily our most used machines,” said Andy.

“We originally just bought them to hoover up the debris but we quickly found that the cut is comparable to a cylinder mower so we started mowing with them too. Our first team football pitch is surrounded by 30 trees so in autumn we used to come out in the morning of a match day and leaves would be all over it. We actually used to use a cut and collect ride-on mower and then follow up with a Dennis cylinder mower but now we just use the Pro 34 R. It does a brilliant job, saves us time, keeps the weight off the pitch and avoids wheel marks from the heavier ride-on machines.

“I had a feeling it would also work well on our cricket pitches and it has. The amount of debris that is produced during the cricket season is huge. We blow it off with blowers from the surrounding wickets so they can get covered and then the morning after we just hoover it all up with the PRO 34R.

“Maintenance wise, it has been completely trouble-free. It’s my favourite machine at the moment and I think it will take some beating,” said Andy.

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

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

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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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The Worker Is King: GKB Renovator

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The Worker Is King: GKB Renovator: Encountering problems with a compacted synthetic or hybrid turf pitch? Is the compacted infill layer responsible for reduced water permeability?

GKB Machines, the company behind sustainable, reliable and robust maintenance machinery for natural, synthetic and hybrid turf are able to provide you with the solution thanks to the GKB Renovator.

The Worker Is King: GKB Renovator

Adaptable for scarifying hybrid and natural turf pitches, the GKB Renovator’s interlocking five brushes that form the foundation of the machine can easily be removed and replaced with a set of rotating spring tines. Available in 1.6 and 2m working widths, the circular oscillating movement of the spring tines removes unwanted material from around the plastic fibres and in turn improves the quality and effectiveness of the pitch.

Not only a method for in-season hybrid maintenance, the GKB Renovator can also be used subsequently with the GKB Combinator as an important part of the renovation method. Using the GKB Renovator and GKB Combinator together is an ideal combination for stitched and non-stitched hybrid pitches. Through vigorous testing in The Netherlands, UK and Belgium, this method has been developed over the past 2 years.

In addition, you are able to adjust the operating depth of the GKB Renovator by turning two adjustable legs, in or out, and the rubber wheels ensure the GKB Renovator will softly roll across the synthetic turf pitch. The machine is driven by a power-take off shaft (PTO) and the entire powering system is executed in a robust manner.

For more on GKB Machines and their reliable and robust range of machinery for natural, hybrid and synthetic turf, please visit www.gkbmachines.com or contact Tom Shinkins on 07495 883617.

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The Worker Is King: GKB Infiller

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The Worker Is King: GKB Infiller: Are you looking for a way to infill in the construction of your sports field? Or do you have other material such as cork that you want to apply accurately?

GKB Machines, the company behind sustainable, reliable and robust maintenance machinery for natural, synthetic and hybrid turf are able to provide you with the solution thanks to the GKB Infiller which can perform these different actions.

The Worker Is King: GKB Infiller

Equipped with a rotatable driver’s seat, the innovative GKB Infiller can be driven in both directions and has the ability to efficiently apply several types of infill material like sand, SBR rubber, TPE rubber and cork in two directions.

The precision control valve can be set from 0 to 100mm to determine how much infill material is sprinkled which is manually adjustable as well as hydraulically operated. This flap in the front of the bunker gives you the possibility to regulate the amount of sand that is distributed whilst there are specially designed agitators in the bunker to break up rubber crumb infill and guarantee an even spreading pattern.

The GKB Infiller is also provided with aluminium extensions to enlarge the bunker capacity of the bunker mounted on top of the chassis. The bunker is increased by these extensions from 1.06m3 to 3m3.

For more on GKB Machines and their reliable and robust range of machinery for natural, hybrid and synthetic turf, please visit www.gkbmachines.com or contact Tom Shinkins on 07495 883617 to enquire about the GKB Infiller ready for next season.

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Toro Hits The Mark At Altcar

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Toro Hits The Mark At Altcar: The UK’s premier facility for small arms marksmanship training, Altcar Training Camp in Merseyside, recently invested in a Toro Groundsmaster 7210 and LT-F3000 triple flail mower for their sports and residential grounds maintenance.

With a football and rugby pitch, general-purpose field and residential green areas, having robust and high-performance mowers to tackle a variety of jobs was essential for Altcar Training Camp. After a competitive demonstration process where Toro and multiple other brands were tested, Toro hit the mark and came out on top.

Toro Hits The Mark At Altcar

Mark Byrne, infrastructure resource manager, explains: “Our previous machines were on their way out and so we wanted to get the best possible replacements. That was when we got in touch with Cheshire Turf Machinery and set up a demonstration with several brands.

“We wanted a zero-turn mower again because that suited our needs here perfectly. We were looking for something that would be simple to use and would be a seamless transition from our previous machine. With the triple flail mower, we wanted to get a robust alternative that would be more reliable.”

With the help of Cheshire Turf Machinery a competitive demonstration was organised in order to trial several machines and find the perfect replacements for the camp.

“It became quite clear fairly soon that Toro was winning,” says Mark. “The combination of performance and price was just what we were looking for, and with simple and easy to use operation, it meant we could get straight onto using the new machines when they arrived.”

Having had the machines since September 2018, the GM7210 and the LT-F3000 have proved to be right on target. “They’re both really good machines and doing everything we expect from them.”

And with Toro impressing Mark, future investment is definitely on the cards. “We’ve had Toro before and been impressed and would definitely consider going with Toro again.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

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