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EDITOR'S BLOG

ROBOTIC POTENTIAL
Manufacturer sees growth this year
by TurfPro Editor, Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR

At a dealer day I attended last week, I heard a major manufacturer excited about the opportunities that breakthroughs in robotic and battery technologies could mean for the industry,

Last week I was fortunate to be able attend a Husqvarna Dealer Day on behalf of TurfPro and our sister title, Service Dealer. It was one of six days they are currently undertaking to inform their dealers on their latest products and what work behind the scenes they have being doing to improve communication and services to their customers.

The event I attended was held at Hawkstone Park GC in Shropshire, targeting dealers from all over the Midlands and Wales. Over 90 attendees took part representing more than 60 businesses.

Assembled dealers

The day began with an introductory talk by Husqvarna’s UK sales manager, Stephen Irvine, who outlined some of the recent challenges the company had faced and what plans they have for 2023 to improve customer services.

Stephen was also keen to speak about the great potential for robotic mower products, stating that the UK was lagging behind on the uptake of these machines compared to other European countries. Germany for instance sell over ten time more robotic mowers than the UK.

With robotics technologies and vastly improved battery performances, Husqvarna are this year bringing to market some new products, including the mew Aspire range of domestic gardening tools that includes a robotic mower. They also have launched two new models of Automower; the 320 NERA and the 430X NERA that offer new GPS technologies.

New NERA robotic mowers

Professional tools

The group of delegates was then split into three groups, with each demoing a different set of products, with Husqvarna staff on hand to demonstrate, offer advice and answer any questions.

Husqvarna ride-ons

I was able to catch up with several dealers who were excited about the year ahead and were confident that Husqvarna’s sales would be strong this year. Many also believed there was strong interest and confidence in investing in robotic mower technologies.

Upcoming articles

Elsewhere, I recently caught up with Simon White, head greenkeeper from The Chase GC in Staffordshire. I shall be writing an upcoming article on the progress he has made since he started some 16 years ago and what a difference the new owners Chris Simmons and his family have made since they took over the club in 2009 - especially paying attention to the creation of new mowing regimes designed to increase wildlife and biodiversity out on the course.

The Chase GC

It also looks that I am going to be busy trailing some new equipment kindly supplied Chris Gibson of GGM Groundscare Machinery Supplier | Gibson's Garden Machinery Ltd (ggmgroundscare.com) in the form of a Eliet 450 ZR pedestrian Scarifier and Eliet DZC 450 Overseeder. I will be using the equipment on a range of turf surfaces and sourcing opinions from other professionals and domestic users.

NEWS

WHICH GREENKEPERS HAVE MADE THE CUT?
Almost 50 names announced

Previous members of The Open Volunteer Support Team joinerd the Claret Jug on stage at BTME in January

In our first WEB ONLY story, the team has been revealed to support The R&A during the hosting of The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool

TURF TANK TAKE TOP TEN
Alongside likes of Open AI and Disney

In our next WEB ONLY story, robotic line marker maker joins annual list of the world’s most innovative companies for 2023.

"SCOTLAND HAS BEEN DESPERATE FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS"
First Scottish turf event for almost 15 years

Taking place on Wednesday last week (1st March), organisers say they were pleased with the attendance.

The first Scottish event aimed at turf professionals for almost 15 years, The Scots Turf Show, opened its doors at Hamilton Park Racecourse on March 1st last week, with organisers saying visitors began to pour in an hour before official registration had even opened.

The trial show was devised by 17 industry companies, who said they wanted to give something back to the Scottish turf community by providing a local turf event, accessible to a vast swathe of groundsmen and greenkeepers from all areas of sport, that had never had the opportunity to attend a local industry event.

One visitor was David Roxburgh, head groundsman at Rangers Football Club who said, “Something needed to happen here in Scotland, I think it's been great. The fantastic turnout here hasn't surprised me because I think Scotland has been desperate for something like this. It needs a big show, and I think this could possibly be the forerunner of something great.”

Organisers say the number of registered visitors had risen above the target of 200with 287 attending on the day.

Alan Thompson addresses the delegates

The day began with introduction to the idea behind the show by Alan Thomson of AllGrass and Richard Heywood of Campey Turf Care Systems. The guests were immediately engaged with two 20 minute speakers, Gary Smith senior agronomist from the STRI, quickly followed by Joe Shaw from SIS Pitches, before heading out into the spring sunshine for the outdoor exhibition area.

After a couple of hours of interaction with the exhibitors, the group enjoyed a lunch in the hospitality suite overlooking the magnificent race track at Hamilton Park. Then it was back to the marquee for two more short seminars, one from Kelly Marie Clarke agronomist from Origin and finally an introduction to Hamilton Park itself by Ashley Moon, managing director of Hamilton Racecourse.

The organisers said it is important to the companies behind this event to gauge the response of the visitors going forward, with a view to expanding the event significantly next year.

One of the main drivers of the day, Alan Thomson from AllGrass explained,“Don’t get me wrong we are not reinventing the wheel here, but simply putting it on a different path and a path that can continue to build excitement for the Scottish and beyond markets. ‘Connecting the Industry’ this is something that Richard and I believe we can do and hopefully with the many ideas for the future we can achieve this.”

Organisers have announced 6th March 2024 as the date for next year's event.

WORLD'S FIRST CARBON NEUTRAL GOLF COURSE
Announced last week

The club says hopefully this is just the beginning and more clubs around the world will commit to becoming carbon neutral in the near future.

Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore has announced that it has become the world’s first carbon neutral golf club, delivering on a commitment made during golf’s HSBC Women’s World Championship in 2021.

As part of its sustainability commitment, and to complement ongoing carbon abatement efforts identified during its carbon profiling, the Club say they have offset 5,000 tonnes of CO2, the annual equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions from 12.4m miles driven by an average petrol-powered car and CO2 emissions from 630 homes’ energy usage.

Since April 2021, the Club has with the support of its members set aside $1 from every round of golf to procure high quality carbon credits from the Katingan Mentaya Project (Indonesia) and Cordillera Azul National Park (Peru).

The Cordillera Azul National Park project helps restore degraded forestry, preventing 25.2 million tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere to date, as well as supporting 665 jobs in the local community, 40% of which are held by women; whilst the Katingan Mentaya Project protects more than 150,000 hectares of peat swamp forest, generating 7.5 million carbon credits; its impact is equivalent to removing two million cars off the road each year.

Following on from its initial pledge, Sentosa Golf Club’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality formed part of its commitment to the UN Sports for Climate Action Race to Zero initiative, as well as the Sentosa Carbon Neutral Network, with a number of steps taken to compensate its carbon footprint, all under the umbrella of its sustainability campaign, GAME ON.

The Club was also the first in Asia to introduce carbon products in the form of Biochar into their agronomy programme to help remove more carbon from the atmosphere.

Other initiatives, pioneered over a decade of work, were identified to help with the reduction of scope 1-3 carbon, including a state-of-the-art irrigation system and agronomy equipment that creates efficiencies and minimises product wastage seen by over fertilisation and watering.

The introduction of an all-electric golf cart fleet powered with lithium batteries, car charging stations and waste digesters, also helps to grind down food and horticultural waste to reuse as fertiliser on the golf course. Further initiatives were also introduced to increase energy efficiency, resulting in the Clubhouse being awarded the Green Mark Certification.

These complement other on-course efforts that saved over 300 different species of trees during the redevelopment of the Club’s Tanjong course, and the introduction of stingless bee colonies on-site that thrive in an ecosystem alongside otters, peacocks, long-tail macaques and other migratory and native birds. Endangered mangrove species situated in The Serapong Lagoon and heritage sites such as Fort Berhala Reping have also been preserved within the natural landscape of the golf courses.

On achieving the carbon neutrality goal, general manager and director of agronomy, Andrew Johnston highlighted the importance of this milestone for the golf industry, saying, “We are proud to see that Sentosa Golf Club has become the world’s first carbon neutral golf club and are extremely proud of this achievement. Ever since we began to share the importance of our sustainability journey back in 2018, we have always been focused on becoming an industry leader and inspiring others to follow suit by implementing eco-friendly initiatives to help reduce our overall carbon footprint.

"Hopefully this is just the beginning and more clubs around the world will commit to becoming carbon neutral in the near future.”

OVERTAKEN BY A MAN WITH A FRIDGE ON HIS BACK!
But Duncan & Emma complete Brighton Half Marathon

Duncan & Emma running the Brighton Half Marathon

TurfPro owners Duncan Murray-Clarke and Emma Craigie completed the event recently, raising cash for The Addington Fund.

TurfPro owners Duncan Murray-Clarke and Emma Craigie completed the Brighton Half Marathon recently, raising cash for The Addington Fund.

Describing the race Duncan said, "Just when I thought I was doing well, I was passed by a man with a fridge on his back!

"Seriously though, thanks to all our sponsors for helping us pass our £1,000 target and especially Kubota UK for sponsoring my head!. Congratulations also to Sam Hammond for his great work for SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity."

You can still back Duncan and Emma in their quest to raise cash for The Addington Fund, the charity supporting farming and rural communities, by visiting their Gofundme page.

EGO MEET THE PRESS
Introduce new tools

Members of the press checking out Ego's line timmers

EGO Power + held some press days last week at their UK testing centre, where new machines were on-hand to try out.

EGO Power + held some press days last week at their UK testing centre, near Slough, where new machines were on-hand to try out.

The team on site to meet the press also spoke of the company's Challenge 2025 initiative - which they describe as their "call to arms to educate and empower change in both domestic and professional outdoor power equipment users to make battery the principal power source and leave petrol where it belongs, in the past."

As part of the initiative's package the company is carrying out several eco-activities including:

Planting Trees - partnering with the Eden Reforestation Projects EGO have pledged to plant a tree for every one of their tools sold in Europe and in addition, each tool that is registered for extended warranty.
Emissions Calculator - launched so users can discover their environmental impact based on the petrol gardening tools they use
Education Pack - in the UK they are trialling an education pack. linked to the Key Stage 2 national curriculum, to help pupils engage with the "hidden dangers of petrol-powered tools". They say they created this pack to support lessons already planned to discuss air and noise pollution.
Clean Air Zone Project 2023 - the company's campaign will be looking into why clean air zones throughout Europe are currently only applied to vehicles and not outdoor power equipment.

Amongst new product innovations seen at the events, the Line-IQ system was demonstrated which automatically extends grass trimmer line to the right length when it gets short.

Also of note was the new E-Steer zero turning system (pictured above) that EGO says combines the mobility of a zero-turn mower with the control and intuition of a steering wheel, making zero-turn mowers more accessible.

DEALER NETWORK GROWS
In Scotland

A new dealer, and an expansion of territory and responsibility for an existing dealer, has been announced following manufacturer ending its relationship with HRN.

Merlo UK have announced a new dealer, and an expansion of territory & responsibility for an existing dealer to strengthen their dealer network in Scotland. This follows a decision by Merlo UK to end its relationship with HRN.

L-R: Gavin Smith (regional sales manager, Merlo UK); Karen & Jimmy Low (J Low Agri Services); Stuart Henry (area service manager, Merlo UK)

New to the network are Fife based J Low Agri Services Ltd. Established by Jimmy & Karen Low in 2002 as a tractor hire business, J Low Agri Services quickly expanded into an agricultural engineering service business in the Fife area following Jimmy’s decision to become self-employed. Now based off Junction 4 of the M90 at Kelty, the dealership looks to continue their trend of consistent growth as a Merlo dealer.

Owen Buttle, National Sales Manager of Merlo UK, commented, “Fife is a key agricultural area of Scotland and we are extremely happy to have J Low Agri joining the Merlo network."

Jimmy Low, founder and owner of J Low Agri Services, said, “This is a great opportunity for us to grow our product offering to new and existing customers, we look forward working with Merlo and further developing our business.”

Expanding to become a combined Merlo dealer with the upcoming launch of RAS Plant Sales, Ross Agri Services Ltd will grow the Merlo offering they have provided to their customers since 2020.

L-R: Owen Buttle (national sales manager, Merlo UK); Shaun Groom (general manager, Merlo UK); Martin Ross, (md, RAS); Sarah Shorrock (company accountant, RAS); Craig Walker (sales anager, RAS)

The newly formed division of RAS Plant Sales will operate alongside Ross Agri Services from their existing St Cyrus, Turriff depots plus the newly acquired Muir of Ord location, enabling RAS to carry Merlo construction products.

Shaun Groom, general manager of Merlo UK, said, "I am confident that the Merlo brand will only continue to grow further with the high level of customer support that RAS are renowned for”.

Martin Ross, managing director of Ross Agri Services Ltd, stated, “We are delighted to be expanding our Merlo trading area, not only representing the Merlo agricultural range, but now the Merlo construction product offering too."

Sponsored Content

PADDED STRAPS NOW AVAILABLE
On Cooper Pegler Classic and Series 2000 knapsacks

Professional knapsack specialists Cooper Pegler have introduced cushioned straps on more of its models to heighten operator comfort and limit body strain for operators.

Many of the go-to knapsacks across the popular brand include ergonomically tailored harnesses to channel loading forces in a way that limits stresses on the body.

The latest advance from manufacturer Hozelock-Exel, which follows extensive trialling, further enhances operator safety and protection to include cushioned strapping on Cooper Pegler’s Classic and Series 2000 knapsack models.

"This is a global initiative," says Allan Wainwright, Hozelock-Exel's UK Sales Manager, "which aims to make our knapsack brands fully inclusive for all spray operatives."

The cushioned strapping is introduced at a time when more sports venues and amenity sites are reducing the quantity of treatment liquids they apply in a bid to improve their green credentials.

Golf course greens teams report they are using knapsacks increasingly for spot-spray weed control, a practice that cuts the quantity of liquid applied
significantly.

More knapsack hand spraying raises the importance of operator comfort to new levels, therefore.

"Those who spend a full day knapsack spraying will find the new cushioned straps more comfortable," Allan adds, "reducing the stresses and strains possible on the body during extensive sessions in the field."

The strapping is available on new knapsacks from March 2023 but models already in use can be retrofitted with the accessory.

www.cooper-pegler.com

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@CooperPegler

Instagram:
@cooperpegleruk

Facebook:
@cooperpegler

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