NCGA Area of Emphasis: Irrigation and Water Use Efficiences

At TPC Stonebrae we are constantly striving to provide the best playing conditions possible, which is why proper water management is essential. Constant maintenance and monitoring of the irrigation system is just one of the ways we maximize our water usage. This ranges from trouble shooting heads that are not functioning properly to adjusting run times on heads in wet/dry areas. But in an effort to improve our water management practices on our greens, we have implemented a moisture reading program using a TDR-300 with 3 and 8 inch rods. Readings are recording using 9 different locations per green on monday and friday of every week at a depth of 3 inches and 3 locations per green at a depth of 8 inches. In doing this we can figure out which areas have high or low Volumetric Water Content (VWC). Knowing the VWC of the greens allows us to adjust our water management accordingly to stay within our threshold range and prevent over watering. 

Our goal is to keep our average VWC for each green around 10-13% as we have found this is optimum for playability and health of the greens. Our wilting point is around 6% and our saturation point is anything 20% or higher.

This is a moisture reading I took on #1 green, I felt looked dry which was reaffirmed by this 12% VWC reading.  Although this fits into our acceptable range,  it's a localized dry spot  area recovering from  heat stress. Taking that into account with the high evapotranspiration readings for the week around .20 I decided to hand water it. 

This is a look at the LDS area from #1 green the reading taking above with the 12% VWC.

This is right after I hand watered the area hitting this particular spot two times. 

This is a good example of an area that does not need hand watering which was next to the LDS spot on #1 green.

I took this reading at the same LDS spot on #1 green the following morning,   the spot stayed within our acceptable range showing that it received the proper amount of water. 

LDS area the next morning on #1 green. 

This photo shows the area where I got the 26.2% VWC reading from .