SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/448298
www.stma.org February 2015 | SportsTurf 41 mirror BMW's very successful "Certified Pre-Owned" luxury auto- mobile program, offering an affordable alternative to help conquer budgetary battles. If this mindset is good enough for discerning car drivers, shouldn't it also be for turf care professionals? ■ ST Jim Sartain is President of Global Turf Equipment (866.588.3092, www.globalturfequipment.com), the world's largest seller and exporter of pre-owned golf course equipment, and CEO of International Club Suppliers (www.intlclubsuppliers.com). F or the casual observer to an out- door event the turf upon which stages and platforms are built, pedestrians walk and vehicles tra- verse, is likely of the least concern. The event is the draw and the turf is just there; neither noteworthy nor special. But to owners of the turf it is everything and the condition of the turf is likely the very reason why the events occur there in the first place. Upon scouting for a site an event organizer has many logistical concerns but one at the top of the list is the very ground upon which everything will hap- pen. Will the ground be stable, will it turn to mud if it rains, will it handle vehicles, stages and staging areas, intense pedestrian and vehicular traffic and will it be the last thing anyone talks about? After all, the attendees came for the event and the sat- isfaction gained from attending the event. The organizers do not want the topic of conversation to be about poor access and poor/muddy/wet ground conditions that may have sullied the attendee's experiences and the owners do not want a hefty post- event price tag to restore the turf. While not an abundance of studies have been performed with respect to this issue, recent studies have used science to provide the facts and details that can lead the user to the best conclusion and the best material selection. To better select the appropriate turf protection method for a specific use, detailed analyses have been performed giving consideration to A) turf effects from the use of protection materials, B) scien- tific measurements to assess turf health, C) evaluation of protection materials, D) field testing, and E) results. Four types of turf protection covers are currently available, used either singularly or in combination and include 1) plywood, 2) polyester mesh fabric, 3) single-sided plastic covers, and 4) double-sided plastic covers. The use of each is generally situa- tion-dependent. For example, covers that do not allow irradiance may be used under a stage while covers that allow irradiance may be used for seating, pedestrian, and vehicular travel areas. Stress to turfgrass is caused primar- ily by wear and soil compaction. Wear injury occurs from the tearing caused by the abrading of the turf leaves by both pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Soil com- paction has an indirect influence on plant responses by altering the physical charac- teristics of the soil. When turf protection covers are in place direct wear injury does not occur but soil compaction does occur. The protective covers, however, create other stresses such as restricted airflow, blocked or restricted moisture, heat accu- Technical analysis of Turf proTecTion sysTem engineering Turf protection system installation at FedEx Field in Washington, DC. Photo CourtEsy oF Matrax, InC.