STRI (Sports Turf Research Institute) Bulletin Jan 2014 | Page 5

TURF TALK
Paul Woodham

Agronomy Service Manager, STRI

PRECISION
MANAGEMENT

Introducing the STRI Turf
Management Programme using
Toro Precision Sense Technology
The concept of
performance assessment
In 2010 STRI introduced the concept
of objective performance assessment
of golf greens using STRI Programme
protocols for measuring key
performance characteristics such as
surface hardness, smoothness, trueness
and speed as well as the agronomic
factors that affect performance such
as soil moisture and organic matter.
A whole new world was opened up
providing even greater understanding
of performance not only from green
to green but also within each green as
variances could be studied. Similarly,
objective performance assessments
are becoming more common place in
other sports. Within a relatively small
area data can be quickly captured and
interpreted to inform management

requirements aimed at optimising turf
performance and uniformity between
surfaces. Many STRI clients continue
to reap the benefits of a more
objective and accurate approach to
turf management but let’s stretch your
imagination a little…

•• What influence does soil compaction
have on the course and is this linked
to soil moisture content or textural
differences in soil profiles? Indeed, is
there detrimental levels compaction
or are we trying to alleviate
compaction which isn’t there?

•• How could we set about widening
the data capture to new areas of the
golf course such as fairways, green
approaches or all greens, and what
about multiple training pitches or
even a racecourse?
•• What if we could increase
the frequency of data capture
measurement points? For example
what would we see in a golf green
where nine measurement points,
taken to assess averages and
variance, increased to let’s say 100
points?

New Technologies
exploring New Areas
Back in 2012 STRI was introduced
to innovative research equipment
developed by Toro, the Precision
Sense 6000. The Precision Sense
unit is a dedicated portable data
collection unit which measures soil
moisture, salinity, soil compaction,
turf vigour and topographic
characteristics. Collecting data in a
systematic procedure The Precision
Sense unit has an array of sensors
Bulletin January 2014 Issue 264

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