Tag Archive for: toro

Woodhall Spa Puts Trust In Toro

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Woodhall Spa Puts Trust In Toro: Woodhall Spa Golf Club, has signed its fourth five-year exclusivity agreement with Reesink Turfcare and Toro.

Sam Rhodes, courses manager for 12 years and at the Lincolnshire club for 23 years, says it was the complete package offered by Reesink that sealed the deal: “The machinery is obviously a very important aspect to the deal, but it’s one element in a very big package. We signed on again for everything Reesink offers, but especially the back-up and service. We’ve really enjoyed building a relationship with Fineturf Machinery, the new dealer for the area, too, which played a part in the decision.”

The deal coincides with the club’s three-year restoration project to return the course back to its original heathland appearance. Leading architect Tom Doak is overseeing the project, which has become known as being one of the biggest in-house renovation projects in the UK.

Woodhall Spa Puts Trust In Toro

Sam says: “Working alongside Natural England we’ve removed a large number of trees to allow the site to regenerate and restore the course to its original heathland state. Not only is this important work to maintain our course as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, but the removal of some vegetation and scrub will open up the course and provide new strategy for the players, who in recent years were having to play around the encroaching trees.”

With these site changes come new requirements from the machinery maintaining the course, as Sam explains: “Things are different with this order. Because we have different requirements now with regards to the finish and feel we’re after, we’ve moved away from rotary mowers, opting for cylinder mowers instead. The Reelmaster 3100-D will be one of our main workhorses. The DPA cutting units were a real draw as they hold adjustments well and will give us the tightness of cut around the heathland landscape.”

Joining the RM3100-D in the order are two Workman GTX utility vehicles, a Greensmaster 3250-D, Reelmaster 5010-H, TriFlex Hybrid 3420 and a Groundsmaster 4300-D, the only rotary mower.

Sam explains some of the reasons why he went for this selection: “We’ve been using the Toro TriFlex 3420 for some time and it’s performed so well and given us such fantastic results that I had 100 percent confidence in choosing hybrids again with the TriFlex 3420 and the RM5010-H. What’s interesting about the RM5010-H is how maintenance-friendly it is. The maintenance team often comments on how well it stays on cut, and it’s making us big savings on fuel.”

Also included within the renovation work is the repositioning of some tees which the GR3250-D is now tasked with looking after, says Sam: “We chose the GR3250-D for the tees and collars mainly because it can go forever!” Plus, the GR3250-D is good for mowing near bunkers thanks to its triangle wheel stand, and bunkers are certainly something to be considered at Woodhall Spa!

Sam says: “In this project we’ve reopened old bunkers, reshaped many of the existing ones and built new ones. We’ve always been renowned for our bunkers and this work ensures we maintain that reputation. The project as a whole will ensure we retain our status as one of the ‘Top 100 courses in the world’, and the decision to stick with Toro for another five years ensures we will maintain the course, in its refreshed form, to the standards for which we’ve been known for the last 15 years.”

Sam returns to his first thought to finish our catch up: “When you undertake such a big project as this, which spans years and is all-encompassing, it really is vital to have the right back-up and support, and the reassurance that there is always someone on the end of the phone should you need them. It’s a partnership of many elements and there’s no question that Reesink and Fineturf are the best choices to partner us on this journey.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Get More With Toro Cylinders

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Get More With Toro Cylinders: Reesink Turfcare is reminding customers that replacing or upgrading to new Toro cylinders offers customers so much more than a perfect finish, among many other things they bring the best possible value, too.

Value, one of the most important factors determining purchasing decisions. Budget control is something all course managers and greenkeepers will feel the pressure from and getting value from what is spent is paramount. Which is what makes Toro cylinders such a sensible option. Here we look at the reasons why.

Get More With Toro Cylinders

With the workings of a cylinder mower so intricate, it would be unwise to upset the equilibrium by putting anything other than genuine parts in your Toro, and only genuine Toro cylinders balance with genuine Toro bedknives for the perfect fit.

Fitting an inferior ‘will-fit’ part against a genuine Toro bedknife removes the guarantee of a consistently accurate cut right down to 2.5mm, increasing the risk of turf damage. This means only genuine Toro cylinders give you the best fit and deliver the cleanest cut, promoting healthier turf and giving you an amazing after-cut appearance.

And because genuine Toro cylinders are built strong and fit in the cutting units so well, they wear less, so the need for constant cylinder grinding is less, meaning less maintenance and more efficient mowing operation.

Toro cylinders are also the only cylinders available in 5, 7, 8, 11 and 14-blade configurations to fit all cylinder mowers, including the Greensmaster and Reelmaster ranges.

Add to that Reesink’s parts backup is widely accepted as being second-to-none -15,000 Toro items, with performance parts delivered within 24 hours’ notice pretty much anywhere in the UK and 12,000 fast-moving lines are housed at the European distribution centre in Belgium with 48-hour availability. If all else fails, a 72-hour trans-Atlantic airfreight service comes into action calling on parts held at Toro’s Minneapolis manufacturing base. This is all at no extra cost to the customer and represents the kind of reassurance Reesink wants to give greenkeepers: minimum downtime, maximum productivity and more customer service.

In fact, it’s this approach, focusing on keeping the customer’s total cost of ownership as low as possible – a shared philosophy with The Toro Company, that has seen Reesink recognised by The Toro Company for outstanding performance in Parts, Service and Technical Training in the past.

 Contact distributor Reesink Turfcare’s Toro parts department on 01480 226800, email info@reesinkturfcare.co.uk or visit reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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“Fantastic Results” From Toro

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“Fantastic Results” From Toro: Scarborough Borough Council’s recently appointed parks and countryside manager, Tim Allison, has invested in Toro for the first time in the form of five new Toro LT-F3000 triple flail mowers, and the green spaces of the North Yorkshire seaside town are already benefitting from the change.

Previously cut by cylinder mowers that struggled with long grass and dandelions, the highway verges, small open spaces and mini golfs of Scarborough are now being maintained by the five innovative flail mowers, five days a week.

"Fantastic Results" From Toro

With 28 years’ experience working in various roles within Scarborough’s parks and countryside service, Tim wanted to re-evaluate the council’s grounds strategy to uphold its national reputation for prestigious green flag award-winning parks and open spaces, such as Peasholm and Falsgrave Park.

He explains why he decided to take this new approach of using flail instead of cylinder mowers and Toro, which is distributed in the UK by Reesink Turfcare: “Jon Wright from our local dealer Russells Groundcare was especially helpful during the decision-making process by helping organise a demo of machines across the market.

“We lined up five different cylinder, rotary and flail mowers from different brands and put them to use in a local park. The Toro LT-F3000s were agreed to be by far the best, both in build quality and the standard of cut they produced.

“In fact”, he continues, “the machines are only on their second cuts across the borough and already we’ve received positive feedback from the public, councillors, managers and, most importantly, the operatives about the quality of cut and improvement in after-cut appearance.”

Tim compares the after-cut appearance produced by the machines to a ‘green carpet’: “Thanks to the ability of the LT-F3000 to tackle longer grass, we’ve raised the height of cut and there are many benefits to doing this.

“Firstly,” he says, “there are shorter grass clippings, which are swept into the freshly-cut sward. Because of the space in the flail head, where grass does not build up, clippings are not left in clumps but spread evenly in the machine’s wake and hidden from view – giving the impression of a green carpet.”

Reduced grass growth is another, says Tim: “The higher you cut grass, the less you promote its growth. So while grass isn’t cut as short as when we used cylinders, it remains a neater length for longer. This is ideal because time is of the essence.”

Finally, and most importantly, Tim adds, there is public perception: “Rather than seeing short grass for a moment followed by a long period of rapid growth, the public is now seeing spaces across the borough maintained at a constant rate. The build-up of grass cuttings have gone and they are reassured that we are out looking after the green spaces of Scarborough regularly.”

Buoyed with positive comments from all angles, Tim concludes: “Councils can quite often become stuck in the old ways of doing things, so by going against the status quo there was additional pressure for the machines to perform. With such fantastic results, these new Toro LT-F3000 flail mowers have left no room for doubt that they are up to the job.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Toro Impresses At SALTEX

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Toro Impresses At SALTEX: At SALTEX 2017 last November, Toro’s LT-F3000 triple flail mower stood out from the crowd to Harlow Council-founded facilities management company, HTS Group Limited. In fact the company, which deals with grass cutting and landscape maintenance for the postcode, was so impressed it promptly invested in two machines.

As Andrew Bradley, landscapes manager at HTS Group, explains: “The LT-F3000 not only stood out with its signature Toro red, but for looking professional and robust. After making some enquiries, it was clear that it would tick all of our boxes, too.

Toro Impresses At SALTEX

“Post-show, I got in touch with our local Reesink Turfcare representative, Danny Lake, who took me on a tour around the Spellbrook Toro Factory in Bishop Stortford. Seeing machines hand built before my eyes convinced me that for quality and robustness, Toro was the way to go.”

Two LT-F3000 flail mowers join HTS Group’s fleet of 19 grounds machines and replace a 12-year-old cylinder mower to maintain medium-sized open spaces across the Essex district too small for a tractor-drawn mower and too large for a rotary.

Another box ticked for Andrew is that the LT-F3000 is road legal. He says: “With most sites six miles away, and their proximity to busy roads making parking a nightmare, being able to drive our machines to jobs is a must. A bonus with Toro’s triple flail is that it has a good road speed of 15.5mph.”

And the machines are proving their worth in action too, meaning Andrew’s show instincts were well-founded: “The wet spring has made grass grow like mad, but the flail mowers are chewing through it effortlessly. This would have been too much for our cylinder mower,” he says.

“The Toros, however, make light work of the grass and even leave a beautiful striped finish to really top it all off,” Andrew concludes.

To find out more about Reesink’s groundscare range, tailored to the needs of the UK groundsman, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Toro A Cut Above At Cruden Bay

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Toro A Cut Above At Cruden Bay: The performance of Toro’s Reelmaster 5410-D mowers on the fairways of Cruden Bay Golf Club, the traditional Scottish links course in Aberdeenshire, is preferred over all others.

Course manager, Alister Matheson, comments: “The first thing I noticed about the Reelmaster in the demo was the way it handled the ground. The course at Cruden Bay follows the original lie of the land to great effect and as a result the fairways have a few humps and hollows. This didn’t pose a problem to the RM5410, its quality of cut was by far the best. As a result, we decided to buy two.”

Toro A Cut Above At Cruden Bay

Alister and his team are proud to present their perfect example of firm and fast undulating natural links fairways, back after five years thanks to a particularly dry end to spring. As Toro’s UK distributor Reesink Turfcare’s David Raitt says: “The game originated here in Scotland and this is the way links courses should look at this time of the year. Many foreign golfers, especially Americans, love this set up for links golf because it represents how the sports should be played in the natural environment.”

The grass looks like this when the ground is dry and there is little moisture for the plant so it goes dormant. When enough rain comes, which it undoubtedly will, the grass will come out of dormancy and its familiar green colour will return.

Not that any of this has been a problem for the Reelmasters brought in for the fairways, as Alister confirms: “They can cope with all conditions.” The fact that the RM5410-D is designed with improved operator comfort in mind, did not go unnoticed by Alister either: “This machine is so much nicer to the driver,” he says. Alister’s right: tilt steering, a deluxe suspension seat, improved visibility and lower operating noise, all go a long way to enhancing the operator experience and helping to reduce fatigue.

Alister completed the order by selecting the Multi Pro 5800-D sprayer for the Championship course, which is ranked 24th in the country by the Top 100 Golf Courses, and primarily chose the machine for its increased tank capacity: “We had a tank capacity of 700 litres before, whereas the Multi Pro 5800-D can hold 1136 litres. This will be far more cost effective, and productive to use.” But it was in the demo that Alister realised just how “robust and reliable” the Multi Pro is too, and that sealed the deal.

Alister has a formidable CV with many of the golfing greats on it. Before his ten years at Cruden Bay, he spent five years at one of the best clubs in the world, Royal Dornoch, and before that was at the club that needs no introduction, The Wentworth. However, it could be said that Cruden Bay is the club delivering some of his biggest challenges, due, mainly, to the club’s location.

Alister explains: “Here at Cruden Bay we have true Scottish light and dark seasons. In the summer, we can have up to 21 hours of sunlight a day, in the winter, only seven hours. Plus, the growing season is much reduced here to just five months of the year. We have a sharp easterly wind to deal with and the usual challenges of being a sandy links course; we’ve been known to have sand dunes as high as three-story buildings! And all this against the backdrop of the North Sea.”

But with a team of nine full-timers and a machinery replacement programme which sees machines selected on their individual merit, it’s easily handled by the team and fleet.

So, what’s next for the top Scottish club? Alister is working towards a new Toro irrigation system for installation this winter on the greens, tees and approaches, which will ensure precise irrigation of the course even in its windy, exposed location. Until then, we leave Alister, the team and the club’s members enjoying improved fairways, thanks to Toro.

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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

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