John Mascaro is President of Turf-Tec International
March 2014 | SportsTurf 33
www.stma.org
Answers from page 17
If you would like to submit a photograph for John Mascaro's Photo Quiz please send it to John Mascaro, 1471 Capital Circle
NW, Ste # 13, Tallahassee, FL 32303 call (850) 580-4026 or email to john@turf-tec.com. If your photograph is selected, you will receive full credit. All
photos submitted will become property of SportsTurf magazine and the Sports Turf Managers Association.
The green circle is not the problem, but it is pointing out the problem. The athletic field manager, who
is responsible for 47 fields with a crew of four, was not invited to be involved in the reconstruction
phase of this municipal athletic field by the contractor. The reconstruction included new irrigation,
drainage and new sod. At the time, the city also had two separate crews, one in charge of the irriga-
tion and one in charge of the turf. No one talked with each other and no one could figure out why the
grass just wasn't growing well on this field. One day after some department "shake ups" and the
combining of the irrigation and turf department guys, the athletic field manager was looking at a
new Google Earth picture recently taken of the field and bingo, the problem became apparent. There
was not enough water pressure to the irrigation system to give the heads a full pattern. The inner
green circle was from the lower nozzle and the outer green circle was from the outer nozzle. As it
turned out, a booster pump that was installed on the system was in another room full of piping
that no one knew was there. Once they turned that on, the coverage was great and the grass
began to grow well and the circles disappeared.
Thanks to Ethan Owens, Athletic Facilities, Playground & Courts Manager at the City of Port-
land (ME) for allowing me to use this photo. Photo taken by Matt Tobin, Pioneer Athletics.
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John Mascaro's Photo Quiz
