The need for a greens audit
The summer of 2.022 has been very demanding for the maintenance of golf courses throughout Spain. The high temperatures and humidity, the low total accumulated precipitation and an extended period of drought compared to previous years have generated environmental stress. And in certain favourable environments, has been associated with episodes of severe fungal attacks.
To face this situation safely and with confidence, which will become more and more frequent, it is critical that the greens, from a constructive point of view and as a means for turf growth, offer the optimum conditions to produce a healthy and vigorous turfgrass. Aspects such as porosity, water retention capacity, infiltration rate, organic matter content, are determined by the selection of materials and the construction methodology. All these, have an enormous influence in the potential of a golf green to produce a quality playing surface for the rest of its life-span.
In this context, the Club requested our services for the development of a technical audit of the greens, with the objective of discerning if there are constructive limitations in the rootzone and soil profile that could compromise the agronomic functionality of the greens in adverse scenarios, such as the one suffered last summer.
Field and laboratory work
Data collection included the opening of soil pits for visual examination of the greens’ construction soil profile, measurement of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) and soil moisture content. At the same time, multiple samples were taken for different analysis at “European Turfgrass Laboratories”, the only USGA-accredited laboratory in Europe. Granulometry, macroporosity, microporosity, water retention capacity, Ksat and organic matter content were determined at 4 different range depths. The results of the different tests were evaluated and compared against USGA standards to determine if these parameters fell within optimal desirable ranges. Finally, recommendations were made to work on 2 possible scenarios, which are being evaluated by the Club.