3-in-1: Needle tine - Pitchcare

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Achieving a championship course - all year round THE prime objective of every golf course is to keep the greens in top condition. Huge investment is made in a vast array of course maintenance equipment, of which, grass-cutting machinery probably accounts for the largest proportion of spend. The recent successful Open Championship at St. Andrews Old Course, is a testament to the dedication of the greens staff, and is reflection of how an efficient, coordinated year round maintenance programme, ensures a perfect course of International standards. Euan Grant, Old Course Head Greenkeeper, explains how the pretournament preparation is an extension of their regular maintenance activity. “If you have bad maintenance strategies throughout the year, you won’t be able to correct this to stage a large event. We operate good practice all year round, then strengthen it leading up to the Championship.” Three weeks before the Open, the course is closed and the maintenance programme is intensified to achieve the levels of play required for the Open. This increase is partially achieved by seconding staff and machinery from the other St Andrews Links Trust courses which run adjacent to the Old course. Amongst the staff there is a huge amount of experience in tournament preparation to draw on as well as the resources. “Our six workshop technicians are on call 21 hours a day during the Open week, responsible for 13 ride-on mowers with 3 units each, 16 pedestrian mowers and a sidewinder.” said Euan “The grass is cut every morning, with all the machines brought in for checking at the end of each day. Fortunately, we are better organised and more efficient that we have ever been and always have spare units to fall back on if there is a Sleeping GIANTS waking up? YOU could be forgiven for thinking that New Holland were, at best, sleeping giants or, at worst, not serious about the groundscare market. Sure, they could be found exhibiting at Saltex, BTME and regional shows but aren’t they really agricultural manufacturers just dipping a toe in the turfcare water? Whilst competitors such as John Deere and, to a lesser extent, Massey Ferguson, have successfully made the crossover from Ag and raised their profile in the industry, New Holland appeared simply to ‘plod on’. But this view is, perhaps, rather unfair. Quietly and confidently the New Holland team at Basildon, along with their network of dealers, have secured major contracts with some of the top sporting venues in the UK. Many local authorities use the blue problem.” Euan continues “The grass has to be healthy all year round and this can only be achieved by a sensible approach to our use of water, fertiliser and equipment. We cut the grass fairly high at 5mm and to maintain its health we have to have a quality cut. We are fortunate to have our own grinder in the workshop and operate a system whereby we check the mowers every week for any damage that may have been caused by obstacles on the course or the effects of our substantial top dressing programme.” The central workshop servicing the five and a half courses at St Andrews Links is located near the Old Course and houses a Jupiter 2000 relief and spin grinder and an Amazon Bottom Blade Grinder, both supplied by Hunter Grinders Ltd. Hunters advocate relief grinding as the primary method of achieving an accurate cut and all its grinders are designed to return cylinders and/or bottom blades back to original manufacturers specification. The use of coolant, unique to Hunter machines, minimises air born dust and heat buildup. “We believe that relief grinding gives a superior, longer lasting cut” said Euan. “This is very important because, by relief grinding the units, the accuracy of the cut lasts for the whole season. We will occasionally give a cylinder a couple of passes to get it back on cut if it has suffered damage on the course, but nothing more substantial is usually required. Accuracy of cut is essential for healthy grass and as a consequence we beasts in preference to green or red and, contractors can be seen using New Holland models up and down the country. So why the perceived low profile? To outline the company’s ongoing strategy, members of the press were invited to visit the manufacturing facilty at Basildon to see at first hand what NH are all about. Seen one factory - seen ’em all! Modern, robotic, health and safety, on-time production blah-de-blah-de-blah!. It goes without saying that Basildon is all that and more. So let’s skip the factory. New Holland ARE sleeping giants. Even their dealers will tell you this. One told me “the products are great, probably the best on the market, but without promotional back-up it’s very hard to compete against the green tide.” have very little disease here. Another benefit of this degree of accuracy is that the units are very easy to set-up for noncontact mowing. We have used non-contact mowing for a very long time. Low levels of nutrition and water usage promote very little growth and therefore the potential cooling effect of the plant through the cylinder is minimal. Non-contact mowing avoids the effects of overheating and has been proven to prolong the life of the cylinder.” Gordon Moir, Links Superintendent acknowledged that it had been extremely hard work for everyone involved, but the R & A had appeared relaxed and very satisfied with the course. “Although the weeks leading up to the Tournament had been very wet and the courses slow, we managed to get the speed of the greens up to 10.2 and 10.3 for the first couple of days and 10.5 by the Sunday. The rough was also achieved where required. The weather, particularly the wind plays a significant role in this area and can carry the ball too far. All these factors have to be considered, but the fairways were hard and fast by Sunday and a lot of the bunkers came into play, all in all making a very exciting and interesting Open.” So New Holland aim to change this. Product awareness is to become the main priority. There’s new styling on all models, new badging and a desire to ‘mix-it’ with their competitors. Only time will tell but everything appears to be in place to turn the green tide to blue!
An IRISH connection DESIGNING, manufacturing and retailing a range of competitive aerators and top dressers came together for a group of young men (well they were when they first started!) from Northern Ireland. Billy Warke, founder of Groundsman Industries, manufactures a range of aerators (tractor mounted and pedestrian) and more recently a range of turf cutters. Kevin Gates, founder of Ultra Spreader International, designs and manufactures a range of top dressers (both drop dressers and spinners), high lift trailers and the most recent multifunctional material handlers. And then there’s Synergy Products run by David Meharg. He was the link that brought both companies into the home market. Each company has combined to offer the professional greenkeeper and groundsman a range of proven, strong, locally manufactured equipment with a knowledgeable back up. DESIGNING products for the professional user which allow them to achieve their goals of accuracy, speed and with the minimum labour is a challenge. An example of how this was achieved was the development of the Groundsman tractor mounted 8120 aerator and core collector. This 48” -120cm working width unit can be powered by a compact tractor of 17-24HP. It has aeration depths to 5” - 130mm with a wide range of quick change holders (twin, triple, quadra, quint and a series of cluster heads) giving spaces from 3” - 75mm square at worst to a fine pattern of 1” - 25mm. Tines range from jumbo to micro hollows and the same for solids and chisels. To core and collect in one operation a hollow core tine and holder are selected and loaded on to the 8120 (takes about 2 minutes) attach the Flexblade core collector using the four mounting pins. This Flexblade collector has a series of 7 interlinked blades which move across the surface collecting the cores and smoothing it. The collector has no extra power requirement, no drives to break down and operates as one i.e. no other machines or men needed. On a typical golf course using this unit 18 greens and tees can be aerated in one working day. The operator can bring cores to the edge of the green on each pass and then turn at right angles and collect these cores into one large pile before leaving the green clear of cores and ready for top dressing. This is were the spinner top dresser from Ultra Spreader International has proven a hit. Many golf courses are using a fine micro hollow tine (6-8mm) on a quadra holder giving a hole pattern of 30-35mm in each direction down to a depth of 75-100mm These cores are collected using the Flexblade system in a clean fast one man operation. Following on behind the coreing is the UB30S Mk2 spinner top dresser, this can be either mounted (Toro or John Deere work trucks) or tractor towed. The spinning width is 5-7mts and the whole top dressing operation can be as short as 2/3 hours for 18 greens. The same operation can be carried out on cricket and bowls areas using this combination or the Ultra Spreader drop dresser if heavier dressing are required. The Groundsman range of aerators gives the user the same rugged proven mechanism in both the small units as well as the larger tractor mounted. Access is often a problem at bowls greens and gardens. The overall width of 31” - 78cms means you can get these units into these difficult areas. Once in you have the same power and performance, which is not found on other competitor units! Over the years cricket squares have suffered from root break. The problem has been cured by the use of vertical action aerators Core and collect in one pass Top dress 18 greens in 2 hours Steve Birks, Head Groundsman at Trent Bridge This power and performance is most evident on cricket squares and outfields. Over the years cricket squares suffered in particular from root break (between 1 - 2”/25 -50mm) as a result of using shallow roll-over type aerators. The problem has been solved by the use of robust vertical action aerators with suitable tine combinations. The Groundsman range of pedestrian aerators was the choice of the ECB on their trailers along with many test venues, first class and county grounds. Providing a range of competitive efficient machines which can complete the tasks in a timely manner is what these two companies are about. Synergy Products gives the link to the customer and a channel for information exchange. Synergy Products Ltd 01380 828337. 41
Page 1 and 2: WE’RE SERIOUS ABOUT TURFCARE TURF
Page 3 and 4: Inside this issue Any damage caused
Page 5 and 6: Wembley appointment announced As we
Page 7 and 8: National Turfgrass Federation Resea
Page 9 and 10: MagKnife cuts it at RASE Silver awa
Page 11 and 12: “There’s a long journey ahead i
Page 13 and 14: ARE YOU GETTING THE MESSAGE? THE Me
Page 15 and 16: The most damage tends to come from
Page 17 and 18: For Tividale Football Club’s volu
Page 19 and 20: The difference in pitch quality in
Page 21 and 22: 20 www.pitchcare.com/re For UK sale
Page 23 and 24: ESSENTIAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS trainin
Page 25 and 26: The perfect choice for every pitch.
Page 27 and 28: Using the Mag Knife blade system on
Page 29 and 30: PSD Agronomy visit Denmark and disc
Page 31 and 32: “There is still much to be debate
Page 33 and 34: Brother Joseph could not wait to dr
Page 35 and 36: “Here’s one for you! When we do
Page 37 and 38: “The seed houses have worked clos
Page 39 and 40: “Treading-in is part of the show
Page 41: A day with MACHINERY & WORKSHOP DEN
Page 45 and 46: “Warranties aren’t worth the pa
Page 47 and 48: An industry standard should be avai
Page 49 and 50: Oil Storage Regs - have YOU complie
Page 51 and 52: What do you know SQUIRT? PETER POYN
Page 53 and 54: Bono has left the stadium! Carrow R
Page 55 and 56: occasions. The next part of the bui
Page 57 and 58: Can you tell what it is yet? Paint
Page 59 and 60: and prices can vary from around £5
Page 61 and 62: In a large installation there could
Page 63 and 64: OVERSEEDING ROLLERS NEED TO 38 OVER
Page 65 and 66: Head Groundsman Llanelli Rugby Foot
Page 67 and 68: The IOG & Google? THE Google search

3-in-1: Needle tine - Pitchcare

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