CHOOSING THE RIGHT MACHINERY
Turf professionals must be careful when buying new equipment
by TurfPro Editor, Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR
I would always advise that you buy your machinery from a reputable machinery dealer, who has the relevant skills and experience in selling and after-sales servicing of machinery.
Following on from my previous blog, A Groundsman’s Lot, I thought it relevant to talk about the resources, machinery and aides that are essential for turf professionals to enable them do their job efficiently.
As an ex greenkeeper / groundsman I am acutely aware of the need to have the appropriate machinery and tools to enable you to do many of the tasks required to maintain and sustain a playable grass surface.
Particularly on large sports complexes, the economics of being efficient are paramount. When I started out in the industry some 45 years ago, specific grounds equipment and machinery was fairly limited. I remember vividly the basic equipment we had at Cocks Moors Woods GC, the council’s 18 hole municipal golf course near Birmingham.
Effectively we only had one tractor, a set of trail rough and fairway gang mowers, two Auto Certees greens mowers, two Acto tees / banks mowers and a Pattison spiker.
Today on a typical 18 hole or large golf complex we now see a large fleet of rotary, cylinder and flail mowers being used along with a rack of complementary renovation and maintenance machinery such as aerators, fraise mowers, strimmers, blowers, scarifyers, brushes, sprayers, trucksters, tractors and other tractor mounted equipment.
Similarly, schools, local authorities, contractors, football clubs, National Trust properties and large estates need an array of machinery and equipment to do their jobs.
We are now perhaps spoilt for choice with many new manufacturers joining the ranks of long-established companies such as John Deere, Toro, Ransomes, Jacobsen, Charterhouse, Dennis, Wessex, Kubota, Allett, Scag, STIHL and Husqvarna. In recent years we have seen the introduction of Etesia, Baroness, Trimax, Club Cadet, Echo and many others - the list is now almost endless.
In my experience, machinery has always been bought on reputation and reliability. Over the years each and every manufacturer has had to develop new machinery to keep up with the demands of the industry, along with falling in line with current government health & safety legislation.
We now have a plethora of machinery to choose from and in recent years have benefited from many overseas products that have become popular in the renovation of our pitches. A special mention goes to the Koro Fraise mower and other Dutch and European machinery that Richard Campey of Campey Turf Care and a number of other companies have introduced to our industry.
Manufacturers have certainly been working hard to develop new and more efficient machinery. However, this comes at a price of having to meet tough legislation that covers pollution, noise and vibration and operator safety laws, along with meeting their ongoing R&D strategies. The cost of machinery has gone up significantly.
Many of the larger ride on mowers can cost in excess of £25,000. Therefore, end users must be careful when choosing and buying new equipment. Also, you need to be mindful of the aftercare and servicing requirements of the machinery purchased.
I would always advise that you buy your machinery from a reputable machinery dealer, who has the relevant skills and experience in selling and after-sales servicing of machinery. Today there are more than 600 machinery dealers in the UK servicing our needs, whether they are large Ag machinery dealerships or smaller dedicated professional turfcare dealerships.
These dealers are often family run businesses that have been in operation for more than three generations and have over the years built up fantastic relationships with both their suppliers/ manufacturers and customers.
Having interviewed a number of these dealerships, I have found them to be very caring and driven in supporting and catering for their customer’s needs. Their job is never easy. Each year they have to forecast what products / machinery they are likely to sell and work hard with manufacturers to get the best deal they can to offer a wide range of machinery deals for their customers.
With machinery becoming ever more complex and precise, these dealers also have to invest in new technologies to be able to repair and service customers machines to retain manufacturers warrantees.
The benefits from buying from an established machinery dealer also gives you the satisfaction you are buying a professional product that has the appropriate back up, parts servicing and repairs service during its working life.
My colleague Steve Gibbs, who edits TurfPro’s sister title Service Dealer, a specialist publication aimed solely at the independent machinery dealer sector, says of the network, “As well as selling you the right machine for the right job, your local dealer will be offering you much more – their expertise. For a professional outfit, be it a sporting facility, local authority or contractor, building a long-term relationship with a specialist retailer near you will be mutually beneficial. You will have the support and advice required to keep your equipment working, with as little downtime as possible, throughout the machine’s lifespan.”
Most dealerships are generally happy to carryout machinery demonstrations to secure a sale of a high value product. Most if not all dealers have extensive knowledge and experience of their products and their capabilities, therefore enabling them to recommend the appropriate product for their customers’ needs.
Also, the dealers can offer a range of finance and service packages to suit the needs of both client and customer. At the end of the day it is all about choosing the right product for your individual needs.
Attending our two industry shows Saltex and BTME is also a great way to see a vast range of machinery and associated services that will help you decide on the right machine for you.
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CHARITABLE GREENKEEPER RECEIVES MOWER
To allow him to continue gardening for the disadvantaged
Jack Percival, who won the Outstanding Achievement of the Year Award at BTME this year, has been donated a mower by manufacturer Hayter.
Hayter say they are proud to support charitable greenkeeper Jack Percival in his quest of donating free gardening services to people in need, by gifting him an Osprey 46. The mower will support Jack in taking on further ‘charity-mows’ in his local community and beyond.
L-R: Ian Harwood, Groundserv; Jack Percival; Alistair Tod, Hayter
Jack, the deputy course manager at Chipstead Golf Club (Surrey), started donating his services earlier this year to help those less able to care for their gardens to get out and enjoy their outdoor space. It has already made a big difference to those receiving his support including the elderly, ill, disabled and charity workers.
This charity project is not Jack’s first though. Over the last few years, Jack has been working hard to support the homeless community around Croydon by rallying people through social media to donate food, drinks, clothing and hygiene products, and has to date helped over 75 people in need. His work in supporting the homeless was recognised by being awarded the Jacobsen Outstanding Achievement of the Year Award at the Harrogate BTME.
Jack knows first-hand through a brush with homelessness how tough life can be and how much kindness and support from others can mean when in need. In Jack’s case, a family friend gave him the chance to get back on his feet and start a career in grounds care, something that has continued to inspire him to help others.
Jack says, “Charity work means a great deal to me and I am so grateful I’m able to combine my passions for greenkeeping and being outdoors with my charity work. I am so grateful for the support I received from Hayter and can’t wait to get out and donate my services so that more people enjoy the benefits of being out in their gardens.
“You never know what someone else is going through. What might seem like a small gesture to you could mean a world of difference to someone else. I have experienced it myself and see it in the people I help. It is so important to spread kindness whenever possible. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 minutes or several hours, it all makes a difference.”
Craig Hoare, sales and marketing director at Hayter said, “We were impressed when we heard about the work Jack has been doing for people in his community and we are pleased to support him in this project going forward by offering him the tools to help more people.”
The mower, which was collected at Jack’s local Hayter dealership, Groundserv, will be taking on more projects across the Sutton and Croydon area. If you know someone who would benefit from Jack’s services, share your nominations to his Twitter at @jackpercival99.
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TEESSIDE'S TRANSFORMATION
Significant developments at club
Investments at Teesside Golf Club have seen renovations to the course, plus new course maintenance equipment, supplied as a John Deere Financial lease package by dealers Greenlay.
In the last 10 years Teesside Golf Club at Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees has undergone the biggest transformation of any club in the area, both on and off the course, which has been altered dramatically with the introduction of new tees, ponds and bunkers and the planting of more than 30,000 trees.
The 18-hole parkland course is situated on what used to be the old Stockton racecourse, while the clubhouse was originally a granary to which ships coming up the Tees delivered their grain. This has been fully renovated and extended, and future plans include improvements to both the practice and course facilities. Additional significant investment has more recently been made in new drainage, irrigation and John Deere course maintenance equipment to take the course and its presentation up to the desired level.
(Front left to right) Teesside club captain Dave McGuinness, dealer Alastair Briggs of Greenlay, head greenkeeper Gary Evans (seated on mower), greens chairman Tony Foster and John Deere territory manager Richard Charleton with (back row left to right) greenkeepers Chris Clemmett, Lee Cameron, Liam Barker, Richard Harvey and Nathan Wood.
Supplied as a John Deere Financial lease package by dealer salesman Alastair Briggs of Greenlay at Cramlington, the latest equipment includes a new 9009A rotary rough mower; a used 3235C fairway cylinder mower that was specified for the practice area, but also fills in as back-up fairway mower; 2653B & 2653A tees & surrounds mowers, the latter an older machine that was refurbished as part of the deal; and a 2500B greens triplex mower.
Greens chairman Tony Foster joined Teesside Golf Club’s committee last year, and straight away consulted with long-serving head greenkeeper Gary Evans over the choice of new equipment and supplier. “Downtime is an invisible but huge cost,” says Tony. “We don’t want our greenkeepers to be in the workshop, we need them out on the course, which is our most important asset.
“Repairs and breakdowns were becoming uneconomic, not only in terms of the maintenance expense but also the time it was costing the club - it was not cost-effective for us to keep having to repair an ageing fleet. It had got to the point where it was simply unsustainable, so the timing was right to bring in some new kit.
“We’ve bought a few John Deere machines over the years, and we did look at other makes, but no-one did as much as Alastair and Greenlay to get the deal. They put on a robust series of demonstrations, which showed off all the key equipment and their capabilities really well to the greenkeeping team. They also spent a lot of time with us on the different finance options and quotes, to get the deal just right for the club.”
Gary Evans picks up the story: “There’s a huge amount of grass here, with big areas of rough to cover,” he says. “We’re cutting around 160 acres across 18 holes, compared to a normal average of about 120 acres - plus I like to cut the grass as often as possible, to keep it tidy and clean, so there’s a lot of work involved to achieve this.
“Therefore, the first machine we considered was the 9009A TerrainCut, as the rough was what we were really struggling with. It needed two men and machines before, but the John Deere did the job on its own in different cutting conditions, with no problems. We then went for the 2500B greens mower with QA5 cutting units, and the 2653B utility mower was the final choice - the older model has never failed us, so that was a no-brainer.
“It’s all about making the team more efficient and giving us more flexibility to cope with the course conditions, weather and timing of operations. The better the cut quality and finish, the better the course is for the golfers, it’s that simple.”
“Greenlay and John Deere gave us the confidence that they could provide the right back-up and support, which is the basis of a good working relationship,” Tony Foster adds. “Their whole approach to delivering a complete package of advice, equipment and training also meant we could promote the investment to both our members and new golfers as a really positive benefit to the club.
“I’m a great believer that you need the right tools to do the job, and with these John Deere machines we have them.”
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FRESH PAIR OF EYES AT THE BRADFORD
Course manager Darrell Crowley
When Darrell Crowley re-joined the club as course manager in 2018, one of his first big decisions was to choose the supplier from which he would source his new fleet.
If success is a fresh pair of eyes, then The Bradford Golf Club in West Yorkshire believe they have well and truly succeeded since the arrival of its first Toro fleet.
Darrell Crowley re-joined the club as course manager in 2018, and one of his first big decisions was to choose the supplier from which he would source his new fleet, as part of the club’s commitment to continually investing in the course.
Course manager Darrell Crowley, seated right, with Russell Groundcare’s Paul Nichols, left, and Reesink’s Mike Turnbull
Having seen the difference and improvements that the previous Toro fleets had made since his return, it was an easy task. Darrell comments: “There have been Toro machines, among other brands, at the club since the millennium, but it wasn’t until 2006 that the first package deal arrived. I had recently started as an assistant greenkeeper at the time and the club wanted to move away from updating individual machines to getting a bulk amount of new kit from one brand to see what difference that made, and if that approach further improved the course.”
And while Darrell could see the immediate improvements the switch to a Toro fleet deal with Reesink Turfcare made to the overall quality and condition of the course, it’s coming back to the club now as course manager and seeing the long-term benefit that this has made when it really hit home for Darrell.
“The course is looking better than ever. It goes without saying each individual machine makes a difference, but of course only to its particular area such as the greens or tees, so to get a fleet of new machines to cover all areas of the course, well the collective improvement is simply striking.
“The board has been working tirelessly for the last twenty years to keep the club in the modern era, keep up with the latest machinery advancements and make it more self-sufficient, the first Toro fleet deal was a big part of that. It’s been so successful and made such a positive improvement to the course since that we have continued our relationship with Toro, and this is now our third lease agreement.”
And it’s an impressive fleet of Toro machines that have been brought on board. The fleet consists of like-for-like renewals of the Greensmaster TriFlex 3400, Groundsmaster 3500-D, and Workman HDX, plus three new additions in the Groundsmaster 4500-D, Reelmaster 5010-H and Multi Pro WM sprayer, which are already making a strong impression.
“The Multi Pro WM sprayer and RM5010-H are definitely my new favourites,” says Darrell. “The Multi Pro WM’s information centre gives us more accuracy and the hybrid drive system on the RM5010-H is really beneficial for fuel savings.
“The demonstration process for these two was great as well. Russell Groundcare were able to get us the machines we wanted quickly and then gave us the time to really test them out. They then worked closely with us to help supply the package once we were set on the machines for the fleet. The whole process from start to finish was seamless.”
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GSK PRAISES ELMO*
*Electronic Lawn Mowing Operative
British multinational pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has praised the adoption of Husqvarna Automower technology to maintain the green spaces around its Global head office in Brentford.
British multinational pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has praised the adoption of Husqvarna Automower technology to maintain the green spaces around its Global head office in Brentford over the past three years.
The robotic mower at work at GlaxoSmithKline's head office
GSK house in Brentford has relied on ELMO, a robotic lawnmower manufactured by Husqvarna and named by GSK staff, to work unassisted and maintain a large lawn area surrounding its headquarters.
ELMO stands for Electronic Lawn Mowing Operative and is an Automower which is able to maintain green spaces up to 5000m2 per machine. Installed in 2017 by Sodexo, GSK’s grounds maintenance provider, the company say the robotic mower has quietly gone about its business and without disturbing office staff, cutting little and often through its random mowing pattern, ensuring that grass of GSK house remains a lush, healthy green.
Sodexo’s senior facilities service manager for GSK, Michelle Chapman, said, “ELMO has truly become part of the family at GSK house – our staff just love watching the robot work and GSK couldn’t be without ELMO now.
“For us, the Automower means time saved and an environmentally way for us to manage the green spaces at our headquarters whilst improving the lawn appearance. It gives the grounds team more time to focus on other, more crucial things and the fact that it’s silent in its working means it does not disturb staff when cutting the grass.”
UK Manager - Husqvarna Professional, Kevin Ashmore, commented, “Sodexo’s close relationship with Husqvarna was key in them being one of the first in the UK to trial Husqvarna Automower in public spaces. The result was that GSK Brentwood recommended the Husqvarna Automower to many of its main Global sites.”
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WATFORD FC PRIASE ECOLINE+
Has become line marking paint of choice
Watford FC became the first to use the improved formula at the opening game of the season against Brighton and Hove Albion in August this year.
Pitchmark’s Ecoline+ has become the line marking paint of choice for FA Premier League club Watford FC.
The demand for using a premium paint at the Vicarage Road stadium led to trials last season, since when Pitchmark have been further developing Ecoline+. Watford FC became the first to use the improved formula at the opening game of the season against Brighton and Hove Albion in August this year.
In 2018 Scott Tingley, head groundsman at Watford FC, set out on what was originally a cost exercise and to see if they could establish the use of one paint for all marking.
“We were using top end paint for the stadium and bottom end for the other pitches,” he says, “we wanted to make it one paint but of course the cost had to be taken into account. We looked at Pitchmark and what we found different was their specialisation solely in line marking products.”
The club had been using Pitchmark’s Direct at the Watford FC training ground and academy, located at the University College London Union Shenley Sports grounds in St Albans. Home to five full-size and two goalkeeping/warmup natural grass training pitches as well as a full-size artificial turf training pitch and fourteen college/academy natural grass pitches, there’s a sizeable amount of line marking required. In the stadium only premium quality is acceptable. The club say Ecoline+ offered the ideal all-round solution.
Scott says: “We trialled Ecoline+ and we had no issues, only benefits. We use a Pitchmark Hybrid marker which gives us the quality of a spray marker, without compromising the precision and quality of a transfer marker. Fixture dependent, we can mark up to three times a week and with the traditional wheel to wheel and four-wheel spray markers you lose ground cover and it’s too easy to transfer paint.”
The Pitchmark Hybrid uses a three-wheeled spray design, which is easily manoeuvred over wet lines. The company says the cone nozzles give deep leaf coverage, so only one pass is needed.
“It’s easy to use, it feels like a normal wheel marker and you get premium quality.” Scott adds, “it’s quite complex though and needs looking after but if we have any issues Olly Boys, the Turfix rep, gives us second to none service and back-up.” (Turfix is Pitchmark’s recently formed sole UK distribution arm).
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CHESTERFIELD PLEASED WITH 'PREMIER' FINISH
Using Infinicut mowers
Head groundsman at Chesterfield Football Club Liam Reynolds is delivering a premier finish at the clubs Proact Stadium recently and was recently awarded runner-up in the National League Groundsman of the Year Awards for 2019.
Equipped with the TurfClean cassette and a duo of Infinicut mowers, head groundsman at Chesterfield Football Club, Liam Reynolds, is delivering a premier finish at the club's Proact Stadium. Such is the standard of surface preparation and aesthetic quality that Liam was recently awarded runner-up in the National League Groundsman of the Year Awards for 2019.
Head groundsman Liam Reynolds using the Infinicut FL. Photo Credit: Tina Jenner Photography
Together with his colleagues at Premier Pitches, Liam took over the maintenance at Chesterfield FC in 2016. In addition to the wealth of experience within the team, Liam also brought with him a fleet of machinery including two Infinicut mowers from MTD Specialty Turf Products.
“We have two 34” mowers, one Floating Head and one Fixed Head. These are used in conjunction with one another, with the Infinicut FL being our mower of choice for match day preparation. They deliver such exceptional cut quality, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the spectators, players and managers alike who all comment on the stripe definition and overall appearance.”
The most recent addition to his armoury is the TurfClean hygiene cassette, which Liam uses for post-match clean-up. Fitted with an angled comb beneath a rotary brush, the cassette collects divots, debris and organic matter while standing the grass plant up to help ensure a healthy sward.
“With the two adjustable rollers on the FL, we can adjust both the height and the angle of the TurfClean cassette to clean deep down into the turf canopy or raise it up to just remove debris off the top.
“It’s brilliant even in the wet,” Liam explains. “Once debris is collected in the comb, the rotating brush then gives no option but to throw the collected material into the box, leaving nothing behind.”
In use after every match and training session, Liam says the TurfClean also comes into its own through the winter, when the plant is at its most vulnerable. “When growth is slow, we will use the TurfClean during prep instead of cutting and it puts down a fantastic stripe without risking any unnecessary stress to the plant.
"The sharpness of cut delivered by the Infinicuts, together with the hygiene we’re achieving with the TurfClean, has dramatically improved the health and condition of our surface.”
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