Noteworthy show products (Tourament insider)

The Golf Industry Show in Orlando, Fla., was, as usual, the place to meet, greet and get a leg up on your golf course preparation planning. In the more than 20 years of attending the annual event, I’ve had the opportunity to refresh my friendships, start the year’s championship planning in the right direction, and investigate new equipment and products available to make preparations for upcoming major events a little less stressful.

Now that I can finally feel my feet again after miles of traversing the show floor, there are several products that might be beneficial and warrant consideration for inside-the-ropes golf course operations.

During events, a primary objective is to produce a quality and precision cut for putting surfaces. Walk-behind greensmowers are at the forefront in this crucial area. Because 50 percent of the game – at any level – is played on putting greens, this is often where your reputation as a golf course superintendent is made.

There are plenty of quality mower choices for the superintendent, but one unit caught my attention this year - the Jacobsen pedestrian Eclipse model. I was intrigued by:

• Mowing head widths available from 18 inches to 26 inches and available as floating or fixed heads. These varying widths are essential for a quality and consistent cut whether the surfaces are smooth, pitched or undulating.
• Adjustable settings for ground speed, reel speed and frequency of cut. These adjustments are important when you employ volunteers at an event who might be unfamiliar with your putting greens.
• The option of hybrid or battery power, which equates to fuel savings. Also, the battery-powered units allow for early morning starts without impacting any neighborhood noise ordinances at classic golf courses such as Winged Foot or Pebble Beach.
• Improved floating-head capabilities that will reduce surface scalping at lower heights of cut on the most undulated turf surfaces.

The Rules of Golf state a bunker is a hazard consisting of a prepared area of ground from which turf or soil has been removed and replaced with sand. But, many major events are contested during the summer months, which can mean thunderstorms with heavy downpours resulting in bunker damage. To repair a bunker quickly and return it to play, you need a quality, rapid drainage system. And, like it or not, an inordinate amount of work is dedicated to the perfect ball lie within the hazard.
Pfafftown, N.C.-based Atlantic Installations created an innovative golf course drainage technology called the Quickplay 46 chamber unit for efficient bunker drainage. Benefits of the product include:

• A chamber engineered to provide more efficient drainage, a larger filtration surface area, and a greater water-storage capacity resulting in fewer washouts by replacing the tile and stone system of bunker drainage.
• By eliminating the gravel within a trench, there are no stones or rocks migrating to the surface to become a rules issue or impact play.
• The outlet pipe has a 4-inch capacity that can tie into the fairway drainage system and is adapted and fitted easily.
• The quick removal of standing water reduces the contamination of a white sand material with silt. The reduction of silt eliminates the need to constantly replace or refresh bunker sand that might vary playing conditions.

During championship play, removing water quickly from an integral playing surface allows you to return the golf course to the officials and competitors.
The new bentgrasses and ultradwarf Bermudagrasses require constant surface maintenance to produce the quality playing surfaces amateurs and professionals have come to expect. With these expectations come daily surface grooming and turf management requirements. Advanced Turf Technology created a versatile turf management system of interchangeable “easy in, easy out” reel attachments for surface turf issues. Its benefits include:

• For final surface preparations for an event, you might wish to vertical mow lightly, brush or groom the surface lightly, and spike and roll depending on conditions. With this system, you can change quickly from one operation to solve your needs.
• Meeting the requirements for quality putting surface maintenance. Whether you’re controlling organic matter or horizontal leaf blade orientation (grain), especially in ultradwarf species, Advanced Turf’s four-step process provides 10 surface grooming options.
• The brushing and spiking attachments would solve surface moisture and leaf layover problems.
• The vibratory roller cassette would be an ideal method to smooth footprinting at round’s end to smooth surface before an evening mowing. The weight of each attachment varies between 25 to 70 pounds.

Major tournaments require firm, fast putting surfaces to challenge competitors. Precise water management promotes healthy turf, but receptive greens necessitate a keen eye and a delicate irrigating touch. Two products that might be the next generation of water management tools come from Advanced Sensor Technology and TRW Enterprises/Precision USA.

Advanced Sensor uses a wireless device to monitor soil temperature and moisture content. At a championship venue, the sensors have demonstrated the coolest time to roll greens isn’t between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., but earlier, thus, reducing stress to the turf during championship play when adding water might become problematic.

Precision’s handheld moisture content meter eliminates the guesswork involved with spot-watering greens. It will assist superintendents in establishing benchmark numbers for moisture content and allow them to determine when, where and how much water to apply. These meters received their championship experience at the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Oklahoma. GCI

Tim Moraghan is principal of Aspire Golf Consulting in Long Valley, N.J. He can be reached at tmoraghan11@comcast.net or 908-635-7978.