Leading hotel and leisure concern the De Vere Group plc has awarded Toro a multi-million-pound contract to re-equip all its golf courses in the UK with new turf maintenance machinery.
Under a new five-year deal – valued at up to £500,000 a year – Toro will supply a comprehensive range of turf equipment to all seven of De Vere’s existing hotels with golf courses. These include four-times Ryder Cup venue The De Vere Belfry and De Vere Slaley Hall in Northumberland.
Toro machinery will also be supplied to one other site that will become part of the De Vere portfolio over the next few years – The Carrick on Loch Lomond, which is currently under construction.
“We are delighted to be working with Toro,” said De Vere golf operations manager Robert Maxfield. “The company has an excellent reputation in the industry and we are looking forward to a very successful five years.
“The selection process involved Toro and two other leading manufacturers. After serious consideration, we felt Toro offered us the best overall deal for quality of product, level of service and value for money.”
Toro’s European director of sales, Bob Buckingham, said, “Toro is very pleased to have been chosen by the De Vere Group plc as their partner for the maintenance of their portfolio of golf properties. We believe together we can introduce significant efficiencies and productivity gains that will augment the local management of the group’s high-class golf courses spread across England and Scotland.
“De Vere Hotels group is a significant entity in the golf industry, obviously best known around the world for its facilities at The Belfry and the recent hosting of the 2002 Ryder Cup. Together, we are dedicated to raising the profile of all the De Vere courses and developing continuous training and improvement methods that will assist in the delivery of increased player satisfaction, as the customer is the ultimate judge of the course and the value received.”
A vital part of the agreement is the high-level of after sales service and tournament support that will be provided through Toro distributor Lely UK and its network of local dealers. Toro has also created a web-based user-guide especially for De Vere. This will log all specifications, service and other details for all of the machines so that course managers can see at a glance their complete history.
Toro Commercial Products www.toro.com
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