Tag Archive for: toro

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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Toro At Peterborough Golf Clubs

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Toro At Peterborough Golf Clubs: The family-managed duo of golf courses, Thorpe Wood Golf Course and Orton Meadows Golf Course in Peterborough, continues its joint ambition to switch to Toro with the arrival of its latest fleet.

Golf is in Simon Fitton’s blood. Not only is he a fourth-generation golf professional, he’s also the third generation of the Fitton family to be managing the two courses. Simon assumed the role of managing director of Nene Golf Ltd, the company managing both sites, in 2010 and has been adding more Toro to the shed on an annual basis – and has also added a rescue dog called Toro to the ranks!

Toro At Peterborough Golf Clubs

Simon says: “I took over the company from my dad in 2010, but the first Toro arrived a decade before me. Since then, we’ve been on route to becoming all Toro and I foresee that being achieved in three to four years. Every year we switch more out and get one step closer.”

The reason for this, Simon says, is the service from Reesink Turfcare and rep Julian Copping is “surprisingly good” and the quality and reliability from Toro is “sound”.

“I met Julian pretty much as soon as I joined and the relationship was there straight away. It was all good, actually surprisingly good – very natural – and as a result it has easily developed into what it is today. Julian continues to help us sort out what we need and makes the process very easy.”

The machines delivered in this most recent order includes, among others, a Reelmaster 3100-D with Sidewinder, Workman HDX utility vehicle, ProPass 200 topdresser and an ex-demo SandPro 5040, which, with up to 17 attachments all of which can be changed in under a minute, is the perfect addition for two busy clubs.

So, with the machinery replacement programme taken care of, Simon can concentrate on the recent developments across both courses driven by the changing industry: “We’re already unusual in that we’re a business comprising two courses, in two locations offering our customers two great challenges. But the industry is changing and we’re making updates to both courses to make sure we don’t get left behind. These include a 23-bay covered floodlit driving range, the building of which meant we had to adjust parts of the course to accommodate it, a large putting green by the first tee and a chipping tee by the 10th. Meanwhile, Orton Meadows has an updated 12-hole Pitch and Putt course to introduce more people in the area to the game and provide somewhere for players in the area to perfect their shots.”

With two 18-hole courses and all these new additions to the clubs, it is probably quite a challenging role for Toro? “You’d never notice,” says Simon. “Toro takes everything we throw at it, whether it’s course maintenance or more challenging build projects, in its stride. And you can really notice the difference as we get more Toro – you see how the quality cut, finish and care spreads to cover more of the course.”

So how about Toro the dog, how does he fit into the story? “That’s a story that was just meant to be,” says Simon. “I already had a dog called Welly and although I wasn’t looking for another, I’d heard of a rescue dog that needed a home. His name was Toro and as soon as I saw him I knew he was coming home with me! I don’t know why he was given the name of Toro but it certainly suits us – he arrived and in the same week so did a new arrival of Toro machines!”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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New Toro For Newlands Holidays

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New Toro For Newlands Holidays: Newlands Holidays, a family-run caravan park, has recently invested in a Toro Groundsmaster 3500-D to help maintain its 23 acres of landscaped grounds and keep customers happy and coming back.

Situated near the World Heritage village of Charmouth in Dorset and a short walk away from the stunning Jurassic Coast, Newlands Holidays is a popular vacation destination. As such, maintaining the grounds to a high standard is vital says business partner, Rex Ireland.

New Toro For Newlands Holidays

“The appearance of the park is of the utmost importance for our business,” says Rex. “It’s a significant factor in customers choosing to holiday here and it’s essential the park looks its best. That’s a major factor in keeping our customers happy and coming back.”

With that in mind, Rex was in the market for a reliable machine which could easily cope with the undulating terrain, bank cutting and general maintenance cutting around the 23-acre site.

Having briefed his local dealer on his requirements, Devon Garden Machinery brought in the Toro Groundsmaster 3500-D, amongst many, to trial and despite tough competition the GM3500-D’s performance won in the end.

“The performance of the Toro machine was just great compared to the other brands,” says Rex. “It did really well on the banks which was very important as we have a fair amount of undulating terrain. Overall, the GM3500-D showed itself to be a really reliable machine and since it will be used for the bulk of the work here, that was really important. It was clear it would provide the best fit for us.”

The combination of the machine’s ground-following design of each free-floating contour cutting deck and the unique parallel traction drive system means it can tackle the most challenging of terrain in all weathers without scalping. As a triplex rotary mower, the GM3500-D has the added benefit of producing the quality trimming you’d expect from a reel mower as well as the easy maintenance of a rotary mower, something which proved to be a key consideration for Rex.

“We’ve had cylinder mowers before, but they’ve proved to be quite high maintenance,” Rex continues. “With the GM3500-D we’ve been able to move away from that and I can already see that it’s going to save us a lot of time on maintenance.”

“When it came to finding a new machine, Devon Garden Machinery provided us with a range of options and simply put, we chose the best,” Rex concludes. “From Toro, we’ve got a good machine that does the job well and will make sure we’re in the best position for the start of the season.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Toro A Hit At Radley College

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Toro A Hit At Radley College: Four years ago, Radley College welcomed a new Toro fleet of Groundsmaster and Reelmaster mowers to the independent boys’ school in Oxfordshire. As the facilities continue to grow we hear how Toro has performed during its tenure.

There’s a lot of pressure on Radley College’s grounds team. Not only does it have the upkeep of some of the most extensive and finest public school sporting facilities in the country on its hands, but with the school increasing the number of bursaries and scholarships for the first time in its 172-year history, the sports facilities are expanding too.

Toro A Hit At Radley College

Luckily, grounds manager Adam King and the 19-strong team in the estates department, including groundsmen, greenkeepers and gardeners, have the benefit of a Toro fleet of Groundsmaster and Reelmaster mowers working across the 14 rugby pitches, 10 cricket squares and football pitches, three astroturf hockey pitches, tennis courts and a nine-hole, par 34 golf course.

The College’s latest fleet joined four years ago in a significant lease agreement with Reesink,

Adam says: “With more to do, the biggest benefit from our Toro fleet in the last four years is how it’s saved us time, allowing us to be more efficient and productive. Having two Reelmaster 3100-D mowers for the weekend cutting of the cricket outfields and aprons has been particularly beneficial.”

As the school gears up for a new boarding house opening in 2020 and the expansion of the sporting facilities to accommodate, the reliability of the fleet as well as its time-saving aspects has not gone unnoticed by Adam.

“We chose this combination of machines with specific work in mind and they’ve not only delivered on that but more. We’ve built more natural and artificial sports surfaces into the equation and got them into play. Plus, there have been no problems running the fleet, no breakdowns or issues.

“The lease agreement with Reesink allowed us to have new machines straight away, while also covering winter service, and all at a fixed cost. We were able to manage our budget and benefit from new and upgraded equipment at an important time in the College’s history.”

So, what’s next for Adam and the team? “We were at BTME to take in the new technology and product development on offer, and I was most interested in seeing lightweight three-wheel fairway mowers and greens mowers which we haven’t specifically had before. Plus, there’s been developments in engine size and I’ll be interested in seeing the effect of that on our surfaces here.”

Since then, Adam and the team have trialled the Toro Reelmaster 3555 and 3575 mowers across the School, based on which Adam concluded they are the “best bits of new kit I’ve seen in a long time and versatile enough to be multi-sports mowers”.

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Toro The Choice At Bridgnorth

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Toro The Choice At Bridgnorth: Bridgnorth Golf Club in Shropshire recently signed their fourth renewal agreement with Toro despite competitive offers from other brands because “nothing matched up” says head greenkeeper, Martin Jones.

When it came to the end of the club’s third renewal agreement with Toro, Martin chose to consider all the options to find the best possible machinery for the parkland course situated alongside the River Severn.

Toro Beats Competition At Bridgnorth

“One company even brought a whole fleet for us to trial,” says Martin. “But at the end of the day, myself and the whole team agreed that nothing matched up to Toro.

“Since our first agreement, we’ve been impressed with the quality of machines, service and the improvement to the course, and it’s continued to get better through the tenure of two more agreements. In fact, in the last five years, I can count on one hand the number of issues we’ve had! That’s an incredible track record that’s hard to beat.”

Martin also credits the service from local dealer Oakley’s Groundcare and Reesink Turfcare, an official Toro UK distributor, as largely influencing the decision to renew for a fourth time.

“We’ve got a great relationship with Oakley’s. On the rare occasion we have a problem, I know I can pick up the phone and they’ll get a mechanic out to us in an hour and a replacement machine within a day. Similarly, Reesink’s area manager John Pike has been really helpful, from general advice to the training; it’s all been great.”

Having been at the club for 42 years and head greenkeeper for over 20, Martin knows quality when he sees it, which he says is exactly what Toro provides.

“The quality of Toro machines is second to none and every single machine does exactly what it says on the tin. That’s why we’ve renewed like for like as well as purchasing a couple machines from our previous fleet.”

The new fleet consists of a Greensmaster TriFlex 3400, Groundsmaster 5610, GM4000-D, GM3500-D and Reelmaster 3100-D alongside a purchased Workman HDX-D and GR3250-D. “The quick release unit of the Greensmaster TriFlex 3400 in particular is fantastic,” says Martin. “It’s a real time saver and the standard of cut is outstanding.”

“With every new renewal the course has improved, particularly the fairways and the tees,” Martin concludes. “With Toro things just keep getting better!”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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