Golf Management Australia Autumn 2018 | Page 34

INNOVATIVE GEOLINK™ TECHNOLOGY NOW AVAILABLE ON TORO’S MOST POPULAR SPRAYERS, THE MULTI PRO® 1750 AND 5800 By Toro Chemicals help keep your turf in good playing condition, but they’re also a major expense. How can you trim those costs without giving up the results you want? The answer is Toro’s new GeoLink system, available on the Toro Multi Pro® 1750 and 5800 sprayers. This innovative GPS spraying solution is designed to maximise efficiency, deliver exceptional coverage, and minimise chemical costs by eliminating overspray. Accuracy leads to efficiency, and that impacts your bottom line. The GeoLink system is available with an advanced Real Time Kinematic (RTK) correction configuration, which delivers precision to within a centimeter. This configuration also saves time, since operators only need to define the target area once, not every time they spray. Applying chemicals to your course or ground is often a necessary part of your program to keep the turf looking and playing its best. The GeoLink GPS spraying system ensures you apply exactly what you need, where you need it, no worries about overspraying, underspraying or damaging sensitive turf, even if you don’t have your best spray tech available. Another advantage is that GeoLink is based on turf applications, not agriculture or farming. It’s designed specifically for the way golf courses or sports grounds need to use it, with unique features like multiple inclusion zones and exclusion zones. This allows operators to select all greens or sports pitches and define them as one job. Then when that job is selected, GeoLink will tell the operator the total area and how much chemical to mix. The GeoLink system is also equipped with individual nozzle control, so it can turn off single nozzles if it senses any portion of the area has already been treated on a previous pass. In addition, GeoLink includes a convenient automated reporting feature. Just plug a flash drive into the USB port on the side of the monitor and you can download data such as coverage, how long it 34 I I GOLF MANAGEMENT AUSTRALIA AUTUMN EDITION 2018 took and how much chemical you used. You can also share information between sprayers if you have multiple GeoLink systems. And the system can be transferred (along with all application history) to a new sprayer when needed. Of course, even with these benefits, you need to look at whether a GPS spraying solution is worth the investment. In preliminary trials, test groups using the GeoLink system were able to slash their chemical usage by a double-digit percentage (actual results may vary). For courses and sports grounds with a significant chemical budget, the savings could pay for the system quickly. Geolink is backed by support from Toro’s National Service Centres and the Toro National Support Network (NSN).