SportsTurf

March 2017

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.

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FIELD SCIENCE 12 SportsTurf | March 2017 www.sportsturfonline.com inches across the field, as did pea gravel depths. Thanks to the images, we saw exactly where to look for grade and drainage problems even before removing grass. We identified the drainage lines, finding some that had settled and needed repairs, plus areas that held water and should be checked during excavation. INITIATING UPGRADES FROM THE ROOTS UP Since rootzone failure was the main reason for the field renova- tion, designing, sourcing and blending a quality rootzone was top priority—the controlling element of the planning process. We wanted to create a stable mix, with a coefficient of uniformity between 2.5 and 4.5 that was free draining and cost-effective. To achieve this, the Cardinals and our staff spent countless hours contacting suppliers, collecting samples for analysis and evaluat- ing the data. We brought on consultant Norm Hummel to aid with the design and evaluation of test data, with testing done at multiple labs to compare and verify the results. After several attempts and eliminations, we finally reached a perfect mix: a 90/10, produced by Madison County Sand, which combined Dakota Peat and a blend of two sands that had run through the classifier together. The rootzone's uniformity coefficient was 2.6 and its infiltration rate was 22 in/hr. We tested and tweaked during the production process to stay within tolerances and, when installed, the final product performed exactly as we'd hoped. Field design and construction with the 3-D Robotic Total Station. We used a Topcon Robotic Total Station unit for the entire project, from design to completion. The unit collects three- dimensional data so every point on the field has a longitude, latitude and elevation (x, y, z coordinates). We surveyed existing field conditions and input them into design software. Using the data we collected and the wish list from the grounds crew, we made changes to the field, which could be adjusted as Trenching through concrete left over from old Busch Stadium. ADS Advantage piping was used for conflicts with irrigation. Continued on page 36 Grading with Robotic Total Station.

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