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: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/27931
FieldScience speed (and therefore decrease the mowing height) of the field. Eventually, we reached a point where we felt we could no longer decrease the mowing height and ensure the safety of the field so we began “planting” the idea for a possible renovation of the field sur- face to bermudagrass. By switching we felt we could provide a more dense, uniform, and faster playing surface than what we had on the original bluegrass field. Unfortunately, while the suggestion was welcomed by the coach- ing staffs, there were limited financial resources available to allow for stripping the old and installing the new. For this reason, we continued to play on the Kentucky bluegrass surface, but continu- ally kept the idea of a field conversion alive by discussing it with our coaches and administrators. TIME TO ACT During Fall 2008, I began to notice some drainage issues with the field in the fact that it became spongy and remained wet for days after a rain event. At one point a game had to be cancelled due to unsafe playing conditions 2 days after a half-inch rainfall event. This caught the attention of our administrators. While the financial situation hadn’t really changed, we had reached a point where definite action had to be taken on the drainage system. We began to make plans to install a new Cambridge drainage system into the field following the completion of the spring lacrosse season. Knowing that we would have a fair amount of field disrup- tions with the new drainage trenches, but that we still could not af- ford a complete re-sodding of the field from bluegrass to bermudagrass, I began to explore other options. Through my work as a graduate student with Dr. Mike Goatley, I learned of a process of converting a cool-season athletic field into bermudagrass by sprigging directly into the existing playing surface. Dr. Goatley had conducted several successful research trials and had been involved with similar conversions at other schools. After multiple questioning sessions with Dr. Goatley about the process, I began presenting the idea to my supervisor to be pre- sented to the athletic department administration. The biggest sell- ing point of this approach was that by using sprigs instead of sod, the overall cost of resurfacing the field could be drastically reduced. In order to fully educate and prepare our coaches for the process, Dr. Goatley was brought in for a meeting to present them with the process and answer their questions. PLAY MUST GO ON The primary difference between our renovation plan and the previous successful conversions at other schools was that we had to take a 2-year approach as the field would still be used for the fall playing season instead of being allowed to develop and mature for a year without any activity. The upfront education process for our coaches and administrators was the key to the success of this proj- ect. By explaining to them what would happen and preparing them for how the field would look, there were no surprises or unmet ex- pectations throughout the renovation process. The coaches’ primary concern was that the field would still play consistent and true during the conversion process and the aesthetics >> THE CUSTOM SPRIGGING MACHINE used by Carolina Green in action. The Patriot bermudagrass was inter-sprigged into the existing bluegrass at the approximate rate of 800 bushels per acre. 20 SportsTurf | April 2011 www.sportsturfonline.com