Toro’s Infinity and T5 sprinklers have been chosen to irrigate the golf practice area at The R&A’s Equipment Testing Centre providing perfect greens and tees for the testing of golf equipment. 

A focal point of the facility, which is located at Kingsbarns near St Andrews in Scotland, is the practice range which allows for human and robotic testing of equipment; the results from which directly affect the game of golf across the world. It is the two greens here that have benefitted from four Toro Infinity 35 sprinklers with TDC wall mount, while seven Toro T5 sprinklers have been added across two tees. 

Paul Kimber from Kimber Golf, the golf course architect and contractor working with The R&A on the facility, says: “From its inception, this project has asked pertinent questions as to how and why things are done and how can they be improved. We applied some new techniques, developed a site-specific construction methodology for the greens and tried to create as many research opportunities as possible. 

“I have used Toro irrigation for several years and found they provide a quality product with good customer service provided by Reesink Turfcare. This was considered a very important factor for the client, and had the irrigation designer, Callum, in agreement.” 

Callum Oliphant, managing director of Applied Irrigation, one of Scotland’s leading irrigation specialists, recommends the use of Toro’s sprinklers because their “performance is reliable and consistent and the quality of design excellent”.  

Callum knew he and the team who installed the sprinklers, could rely on Toro to deliver the results a customer like The R&A would expect: “Each year, The R&A’s Equipment Standards department tests thousands of golf clubs and balls to ensure they conform to the equipment rules and the turf needs to provide a true surface, which means it must be in top condition. Irrigation is of course instrumental to that.”  

The turf, which the tests are carried out on by some of the leading scientists and elite golfers today and two cutting edge golf robots, need to be as near to perfect as it is possible to get. It’s easy to see therefore why Toro was picked to help achieve that goal.  

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