Company
The Toro brand first landed in South Africa in 1973 when John Weinberg and Leo van Vuuren approached Rolux to help fund the initial importing of Toro equipment. Approximately eighteen months later John Weinberg took over the sole importing of Toro equipment in South Africa with Leo van Vuuren heading up the sales portfolio.
During these early years the first Toro ride-on triplex mowers were sold to Reading, Killarney and the Wanderers Golf Club. The next eight years proved fruitful for this emerging business and brand, where Toro mowing equipment became very popular amongst parks, grounds, sports fields and large landscape maintenance with the mining industry.
At the end of this eight year period John Weinberg and Sons and Leo van Vuuren agreed to split. Leo van Vuuren and Dennis Ryan then formed Leo van Vuuren (Pty) Ltd. essentially as a dealer marketing Jacobsen Turf Equipment. Six months after establishment, Leo van Vuuren then recruited Wally Bergmann (who was workshop manager at Sun City) as a salesman and not long after that Toro approached Leo van Vuuren (Pty) Ltd. to take over the Toro distribution for South Africa. They then ran the Toro distribution with much success for the next ten years before rapid growth and low capital funding forced them to forgo this distributorship.
During these early years the first Toro ride-on triplex mowers were sold to Reading, Killarney and the Wanderers Golf Club. The next eight years proved fruitful for this emerging business and brand, where Toro mowing equipment became very popular amongst parks, grounds, sports fields and large landscape maintenance with the mining industry.
At the end of this eight year period John Weinberg and Sons and Leo van Vuuren agreed to split. Leo van Vuuren and Dennis Ryan then formed Leo van Vuuren (Pty) Ltd. essentially as a dealer marketing Jacobsen Turf Equipment. Six months after establishment, Leo van Vuuren then recruited Wally Bergmann (who was workshop manager at Sun City) as a salesman and not long after that Toro approached Leo van Vuuren (Pty) Ltd. to take over the Toro distribution for South Africa. They then ran the Toro distribution with much success for the next ten years before rapid growth and low capital funding forced them to forgo this distributorship.
At this time Wally Bergmann, who was a member at the Kensington Golf Club, met Mike Luckhoff and David Stevens, who he persuaded to go to the USA to meet with the Toro Company to secure the distributorship under the Smith/Turf Equipment banner, then based in Germiston (Gauteng, South Africa). They would then move, two years later, to Spartan where they spent the next sixteen years continuing to build the Toro brand to what it is today.
Sun City was the first “New Golf Course” in South Africa to buy Toro Equipment. This was the very early stages of the “New Golf Course Boom” in South Africa and allowed Smith Turf Equipment and the Toro brand the opportunity to reinforce themselves as industry leaders in the market with delivery of new fleets of Toro machinery to Dainfern Estate, Mt Edgecombe, Erinvale and Silverlakes and more recently to Eagle Canyon, Phakalane Golf Estate, Blair Athol, Euphoria Golf Estate and Vaal de Grace.
It was during the same time that the Toro brand made good inroads into Kenya, Zimbabwe and Mauritius hence Smith Turf Equipment today still being the distributor of the Toro brand for sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.
More recently, during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Smith Turf Equipment acquired the distribution rights of Perruzo Sweepers, Kubota Tractors, Greentek Grooming Equipment, Weidenmann Aerators and Foley Grinding Equipment, positioning Smith Turf Equipment today as the leader in the golf course maintenance industry. Smith Turf Equipment now resides on new premises in Meadowbrook, Edenvale, with Wally Bergmann as the Managing Director, Mike Luckhoff as the CEO and David Stevens as Chairman.
Sun City was the first “New Golf Course” in South Africa to buy Toro Equipment. This was the very early stages of the “New Golf Course Boom” in South Africa and allowed Smith Turf Equipment and the Toro brand the opportunity to reinforce themselves as industry leaders in the market with delivery of new fleets of Toro machinery to Dainfern Estate, Mt Edgecombe, Erinvale and Silverlakes and more recently to Eagle Canyon, Phakalane Golf Estate, Blair Athol, Euphoria Golf Estate and Vaal de Grace.
It was during the same time that the Toro brand made good inroads into Kenya, Zimbabwe and Mauritius hence Smith Turf Equipment today still being the distributor of the Toro brand for sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.
More recently, during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Smith Turf Equipment acquired the distribution rights of Perruzo Sweepers, Kubota Tractors, Greentek Grooming Equipment, Weidenmann Aerators and Foley Grinding Equipment, positioning Smith Turf Equipment today as the leader in the golf course maintenance industry. Smith Turf Equipment now resides on new premises in Meadowbrook, Edenvale, with Wally Bergmann as the Managing Director, Mike Luckhoff as the CEO and David Stevens as Chairman.
Brands
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