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Nick Brown Joins Campey as Export Sales Manager

Campey Turf Care Systems has appointed well known industry figure, Nick Brown, as their new Export Sales Manager.

Nick has over 20-years of experience in golf, and sports turf and through his previous role at Ransomes Jacobsen has extensive knowledge of the international markets. His understanding of these areas doesn’t only come from work. Four generations of his family were born and worked in the Far East, and he has lived in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and predominantly Indonesia across 25 years.

His experience in this part of the world, in particular his knowledge of local cultures, makes him exceptionally well suited to the role, and his decision to join the company is centred on Campey’s innovation and creativity as well as the core value of building and maintaining long lasting customer relationships.

Nick Explained: “Campey is a highly regarded company in the turf industry here in the United Kingdom and across the world. They have earned that reputation by providing innovative, reliable and robust machinery that meets the needs of customers through an excellent distribution base.

“In my new role, I want to build on the consistent and well-known message that Campey is always willing to go the extra mile to help. I have always worked on the basis of ‘making a customer, not a sale,’ and that matches perfectly with the common goals and message the Campey team has.

“By listening to customers and what they need, we can continue to make machines that solve common issues while thinking one step ahead and finding more creative solutions to improve turf quality. I think by putting these aspects together we can grow the Campey brand into new territories and I’m looking forward to working with everyone in the team.”

Nick joins Campey during a challenging time for global travel and distribution, but Campey chairman, Richard Campey, believes Nick’s knowledge and enthusiasm will bring a fresh approach to the situation.

“Nick is someone who comes with a lot of experience and will be a great asset to our company, and we’re delighted to welcome him to Campey,” Richard began. “He joins us at a time of constant change in terms of global travel, in particular the restrictions we have to work with while still providing the best service to our customers. With support from our Director Lee Morgado, who is already well-known to our dealer network and end users from the middle east to Australasia we hope to continue to grow in these established and new markets. That will require a different approach in terms of connecting with our export markets, and I’ve got no doubt that Nick will take that challenge on with enthusiasm.”

Campey currently has 53 distributors across Europe, Asia, North and South America and the Middle East. Their wide range of product lines has allowed them to assist turf professionals across the world in improving turf standards through innovations in fraise mowing, aeration, spreading and seeding.

For any international enquiries, contact Nick at nick@campeyturfcare.com or phone +44 7974 318 584.

NewsJul 7th, 20200 comments

Education City & John Deere deliver quality experience

The 2020 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in March moved across the Qatari capital for the first time in its 23-year history to Education City Golf Club. As a partner and equipment supplier, John Deere brought key customers to this prestigious event in order to review course maintenance solutions and performance under unique climatic and championship conditions.

Designed by two-time Masters Champion José María Olazábal, the venue comprises 33 holes split into three courses of 18, nine and six holes. The golf club also sits in the noticeable shadow of Education City Stadium, one of the host venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Education City also includes a state-of-the-art learning and practice facility housed in the venue’s Centre of Excellence and is at the heart of Qatar’s vision to grow the game in the Middle Eastern country.

John Deere was initially chosen as the club’s preferred equipment supplier when it opened in 2018 and became the Official Golf Course and Turf Maintenance Machinery partner. The John Deere brand has a long association with professional golf and is an official PGA Tour and Ladies European Tour supplier.

The Education City course is fully equipped with a comprehensive range of John Deere machinery, including the latest E-Cut hybrid electric greens and fairway mower technology. The local John Deere dealer, Progressive Trading, has supported the golf course throughout the partnership with machine selection and set-up, to ensure that the entire fleet delivers a first-class, quality finish to the playing surfaces.

During the 2020 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, John Deere and Progressive Trading were able to invite key customers from diverse countries to visit the venue and meet the greenkeeping team to exchange information about local challenges.

“Such an event is a great opportunity for customers to experience turf management from a new perspective, in a different part of the world with different challenges such as high temperatures,” said Carlos Aragones, John Deere’s Manager Sales & Marketing, Golf & Turf Europe, North Africa, Near & Middle East and CIS.

“All this was represented at Education City Golf Club’s state-of-the-art venue. My sincere congratulations go to the event management and greenkeeping team for the outstanding quality of presentation and the tournament’s success.”

Education City General Manager Michael Braidwood added: “Our guests were particularly impressed by the facilities and extremely high standards of course maintenance. They also appreciated how Education City Golf Club organised and delivered a very successful championship tournament, while supporting the continued growth of the game of golf in the Middle East.”

NewsJul 7th, 20200 comments

La Grande Mare Golf Club Gets Relief with Foley Company Accu-Pro 633 with ATC

For La Grande Mare course manager, Rick Hamilton, relief grinding is what it’s all about when it comes to reel maintenance, so when he had his pick of grinders, he opted for the Foley Company Accu-Pro 633 with Accu-Touch 3 Control (ATC).

Rick first used a Foley grinder 30-years ago while working in Asia, and over the three decades that followed has used several manufacturers while a consultant. However, he has remained impressed by the principles Foley has stuck to and how they have developed their machines to make them user friendly and deliver consistent results.

“The main reason I stayed with Foley was to do with the principles of relief grinding. They have such excellent relief grinders, and although other manufacturers have good machines, but they don’t relief grind at the same level, and for me, that’s what it is all about,” he explained. Foley has always kept to the principles of that, and it’s something I believe is essential in maintaining a good quality reel and delivering and retaining the sharpest cut ; you have to relief grind.

“Because it’s an important part of maintaining the reel I wanted to make sure we could always grind when we needed to, and that’s what made the ATC so important. We don’t have a full-time mechanic, and I want all my guys to get involved. I’m a fully qualified engineer and greenkeeper, so I’ve done a lot of the maintenance work since I’ve joined here and I’m teaching the team. Having machines like this that are automated means once they’ve all been trained up, everything is programmed in and is easy for them to step in and grind.

“You get the same finish and quality every time because the machine is programmed to do that. The inputs are all the same, and the results will be the same, and we want consistency.”

The ATC system provides a step by step tutorial for new technicians, while more experienced operators can use the system straight away to tell the machine what they’re working on and it’ll do the rest. Automatic placement features, the Accu-Reel Selector and Cylinder Height Stop, automatically locate the reel for a fast and easy spin and relief grind in one set-up and work with the pre-set relief angles to provide hands-free relief grinding.

To get Rick and his team set up on the machine, Ian Robson from Foley Company’s UK distributor, ProSport^UK Ltd, went to Guernsey to install the grinder and provide training for Rick’s team. Following the session, the entire team could use the grinder, with the results showing on the course.

“Ian from ProSport^UK was amazing, the guy really knows his stuff, and the training was excellent,” Rick said. “My staff picked it up really quickly, and they were extremely impressed with the result, and they actually enjoyed grinding and doing the job, which is particularly important. Some guys who aren’t so mechanically inclined tend to shy away, and one of my guys who isn’t so mechanically minded found it very straight forward and easy to operate.

Now, they understand the machine, and they can see the result on the greens when they go out and see the mower cutting. Even to that point, when they came back in with the mower and re-checked the cut and reset all the settings, they couldn’t believe how good it was and how long the quality of the cut lasted.”

To experience the difference of the Accu-Pro 633 or other Foley Company models, contact ProSport^UK Ltd at prosportukltd@gmail.com. 

NewsJul 7th, 20200 comments