Abstract
Conventional golf course fairway irrigation relies on visual observation of the turfgrass, followed by secondary considerations of short-term weather forecasts, which oftentimes lead to ‘blanket’ applications to an entire area. Precision irrigation may achieve water use reductions by irrigating only where, when, and in the amount needed. Technology can further enhance its application; for example, using global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-equipped soil moisture sensors for creating fairway soil moisture maps to identify variability. However, research regarding soil moisture variability on fairways at golf courses that differ by climatic region and course characteristics is limited. The objective of this case study was to report fairway soil moisture variability findings from nine golf courses in eight states in the United States that completed a soil moisture mapping protocol during 2019–2022. Each course used a handheld GNSS-equipped soil moisture device to collect georeferenced soil moisture (percentage volumetric water content [VWC]) data from seven to 14 of their fairways. Soil moisture variability was assessed through summary statistics, box and whisker plots, and spatial maps. The mean soil moisture on fairways across courses was 22.4–48.8% VWC, the range was 27.6–43.7% VWC, and the CV was 7.5–39.4%. Box and whisker plots and spatial maps of soil moisture aided in visualizing variability within and between fairways at all courses. Results suggest that golf course fairway soil moisture variability is inevitable regardless of climatic region and course characteristics, which further reiterates the need for advanced irrigation practices and technologies for water conservation via precision irrigation.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | e20323 |
| Journal | Agrosystems, Geosciences and Environment |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank the Minnesota Golf Course Superintendents Association for funding support with the golf course soil moisture mapping protocol. Thank you to all golf course superintendents and staff who collected and shared soil moisture data for use in this study. Thanks are also extended to Kevin Leeper with WinField United, Gary Hinton with GreyHawk Multi‐Scope, and Thomas Bastis with PGA Tour Agronomy for their assistance with data collection.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Crop Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy.
