Three deals in for “best in the business” Toro at Little Aston
Little Aston Golf Club in Sutton Coldfield, one of the highest ranked parkland courses in England, has signed its third five-year agreement with Toro and Reesink Turfcare taking their partnership to 15 years.
Reesink Turfcare’s Joshua Nash with Iain Burns and Dave Gibons from Little Aston Golf Club. The club is celebrating 15 years working with Toro and Reesink.
Iain Burns, Club Manager, says the enduring relationship is down to trust in the brand: “We’re delighted to continue our excellent relationship with Toro as we believe they are the best in the business when it comes to the provision of cutting machinery. This marks the beginning of a third five-year term which consolidates our trust and satisfaction in the Toro brand and performance.”
In a deal worth roughly half a million pounds, it guarantees the club longevity, reliability, and durability for its turfcare equipment according to Course Manager David Gibbons: “In our opinion, Toro machinery offers the best overall performance for the type of maintenance required at Little Aston Golf Club. With no onsite mechanic, we need hard wearing machinery with a good finish for the level of presentation you’d expect for a top 100 England golf course.
“Our team is familiar with it – how to use and look after it, and it is robust and well made, meaning that after five years the machinery is still in good working order and holding a good price.”
The relationship with Reesink also plays a significant part in the decision and just gets better with time, says David. “While Toro is globally recognised as the leading mower manufacturer, Reesink brings an enormous amount to the table too.
“Financially the club needs to be happy with the price and overall deal. We look for solid warranties, discounts on parts, good support from a machinery point of view and investment in the team with training and greenkeeper education.
“Then we come back to that word trust. We trust Reesink will keep us up to date with alternative or new machinery, we trust we’ll get help with demonstrations as we consider new technology, and we trust they will advise us about any new machines that can do the job better.”
On that note, while the club will “happily replace like for like if it’s the best option, we still always ask if there are any new machines available that can do the job better,” says David.
“For example, we have been building bunkers, and found that the Toro Reelmaster 3100 with the SideWinder technology is the best mower for maintaining bunker banks. It really helps with the undulations and has a patented front unit sliding control for safety when near the edges.”
That’s another advantage with the machinery delivery being spread over the years, “we have time to evaluate the current machine before the next term and adjust accordingly to changing priorities and projects underway,” concludes David.