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/318924
30 SportsTurf | June 2014 www.sportsturfonline.com Facility & Operations cultivars is essential and gives the best possible chance of having a solid sward of grass. After Yorkshire, I moved on to Wimbledon, home to grass ten- nis courts that receive some of the most intense play of any sport. With over 400 million television viewers each year and the best tennis players in the world competing, safety, playability and aesthetics are all an integral part of the Championships. To accomplish this, wear must be minimized. Under the leadership of groundsmen Eddie Seaward and Neil Stubley, Wimbledon, along with science-based recommendations from the STRI, has conquered many of their wear problems by making sure they take care of the basics. Devotion to fundamentals has allowed for sections of the grass tennis courts that typi- cally had 10-20% grass cover at the end of the tournament to now have 80% coverage. The basics for Wimbledon in order of importance are (my ranking): 1. Grass species selection 2. Cultivar selection 3. Measurement 4. Cultural practices After exhaustive research Wimbledon decided on perennial ryegrass as their preferred species. No grass is a perfect fit for ten- nis, but ryegrass offers the best balance between wear tolerance and playability. Along with this they have declared all-out war on Poa annua. Each grass court is stripped after the Championships and replanted with ryegrass so that Poa has virtually been eliminated from the courts. Using the best species that meet their particular tennis requirements gives them the head start they need to deal with massive amounts of play in concentrated areas. Choice of perennial ryegrass cultivars evolves almost every year so that new, improved grasses are being intro- duced. Wear tolerance is not the only criteria used to select cultivars; color (both winter and summer), texture and ability to tolerate mowing at 8mm are also essen- tial. Picking the right varieties can make the difference between having no grass or 80% coverage on high play areas of the court. Ranking measurement third ahead of cultural prac- tices may seem out of order for most of us, but for a tennis tournament that needs perfection on the courts for 2 weeks straight, there is no question of its impor- tance. Groundsmen know exactly how much moisture is in each court, how firm they are, and how much grass coverage they have each day so informed decisions can be made on cultural practices leading up to the tourna- ment and precise decisions can be made during the tournament. All 19 Championship courts are prepared to be consistent with each other and records are kept so that tournament officials, players and groundsmen know exactly how the courts played and fared. Cultural practices are last on my list, but not be because they are unimportant. Wimbledon aerates, verticuts and topdresses fre- quently and these practices are just as important to their success as they are to all turf manag- ers. Since Wimbledon has taken care of the species, cultivar and measurement aspects, cultural practices are the piece that builds on top of the basics for a supe- rior product and an epic playing surface. As sports turf manag- ers, we have an immense a m o u n t o f m o d e r n resources to assist us in growing grass. Specialty fertilizers, biostimulants, growth regulators, wetting agents are some of the tools many of us use to step up to a next level of quality field. Yes they matter and help, but many times they are used to improve our fields by a small percentage. A trip to the United Kingdom reminded me of the enormous advantages of proper growing environment, choosing the right grass and sound agro- nomic strategies and that the basics count most when striving to maintain grass cover. ■ Michael Buras, CSFM, is head groundskeeper at the Longwood Cricket Club, Chestnut Hill, MA. Test area plots at the Sports Turf Research Institute, Bingley, England Cleats on wear machine at the Sports Turf Research Institute, Bingley, England