Newslines Summer 2019

HEALTHYWATER ANDHAPPY FISH WITH OTTERBINE With two lakes home to hundreds of fish and covering four acres, Millets FarmFly Fishing Club takes its water quality seriously and turned to Otterbine to help achieve the best water quality possible. Having installed an Otterbine Fractional aerator last year in one of its lakes and seeing vast improvements, the club invested in a second. Head Squared Aquatics chief executive Giles Head, who recommended and installed the aerators, explains: “In the lakes at Millets Farm there’s a high level of anaerobic digestion, which reduces dissolved oxygen in the water, and theywere suffering from thermal stratification, which trout are sensitive to, so it’s vital tomaintain high levels of dissolved oxygen, ensuring a consistent temperature.” Never was this more evident thanwhen one of the old aerators was damaged by fishing wire and removed. “Within four days oxygen levels dropped dramatically. It goes to showhowdelicate the water balance is and howquickly it’s disrupted,” says Giles. The introduction of Otterbine brought a welcome change: “The club’s old aerators were resulting in dissolved oxygen levels of between only four and six percent. With Otterbine, the lakes are up to saturation point. That’s why I recommend Otterbine. I’ve seen that for every pound spent on an aerator, you’ll get twice as much dissolved oxygen froman Otterbine aerator.” With the larger of two lakes nowbenefitting from two Otterbine aerators, there are plans to install another two in the other. news lines . summer 2019 . 11 Ganton Golf Club in North Yorkshire has upgraded its irrigation system with Toro Lynx central control and Infinity sprinklers on the greens and aprons. And it was an installation which went “almost too smoothly” according to deputy head greenkeeper Mathew Wormald, pictured right with Reesink’s Peter Newton, thanks to the combined efforts of Reesink and Green Irrigation, who installed the system. “From the start everything has worked well, performed and delivered exactly what we want, where we want it. Working with Peter and Rob Green from Green Irrigation has been a pleasure, in fact, installation went almost too smoothly, I kept thinking it can’t be this easy!” The sandy course in the rural Vale of Pickering was once a North Sea inlet and over the years the original characteristics of the course have changed. As a result, the greenkeeping team has been restoring the more traditional aspects of the course and widening the areas of play. It’s this that instigated the decision to replace the irrigation Smoothly does it at GantonGolf Club It’s so rare in life to have something deliver exactly what it says it will and this irrigation system does just that. Mathew Wormald Deputy head greenkeeper After the successful installation of Highwoods Golf Club’s irrigation system with a Toro Lynx central control system, and Toro Infinity series for greens and approaches and T5 and T7 series sprinklers installed on tees, the Sussex club now has the Toro ‘Total Solution’. Deputy course manager Jamie Melham, pictured below right with High praise fromHighwoods Reesink MD David Cole, says: “Toro had already proved the quality of its products and services to Highwoods having been the brand of choice for the club’s machinery fleet for six years, because other brands don’t come close to the quality of Toro.” And it seems the quality of service from Reesink has also impressed. “The whole process from the first demonstration with Peter Newton from Reesink Turfcare, to the installation by Lakes and Greens was seamless,” he says. “Everyone was really helpful, informative and kept us regularly updated, which is so important in a process like this.” To round it off, testing out the system since installation has lived up to expectations. “We’ve seen a huge difference in the tees, greens and approaches,” says Jamie. “Before we only had the greens irrigated, but the sprinklers weren’t providing an even coverage. We’d end up with a big wet patch in the middle of the green and the perimeters suffering. But now we’re getting a uniform coverage that we’ve never seen before. “This is the catalyst we needed for the next step in the club’s development. I’m confident that the quality and presentation of the course will continue to improve with Toro irrigation on board, just as we saw with Toro machinery.” system, says Mathew: “The old sprinklers didn’t have the capabilities to throw the arc of water as far as we needed with the changes we’ve made to cover the bigger area of play on the greens. Full uniform coverage is so important, and we simply weren’t getting the reach.” Mathew concludes by saying: “It also was a project that didn’t just bring us a solution to a problem, but it introduced us to some really knowledgeable people in the industry and from start to finish was problem-free.”