Westminster National Golf Course conserves water and saves money with the FieldScout® TDR 350 Soil Moisture Meter!
Ryan Kraushofer, certified golf course superintendent at Westminster National Golf Course in Westminster, Maryland, discusses how Spectrum® Technologies FieldScout® TDR 350 Soil Moisture Meter has helped improve irrigation methods at his course and improved playability on greens that were performing poorly.
What is the biggest challenge at your golf course?
The biggest challenge at Westminster National is that we have some poorly constructed greens in their own microclimates. Of our greens, 18 are push-up while two of our poorly constructed greens are sand-based surrounded by trees. Additionally, one of the greens is a giant two-tier green with only one walk-on and walk-off area, so managing water on these two greens is completely different than the rest of the course.
How has our product helped improve your turf’s performance or your golf course’s operations?
Owning our TDR 350 has dramatically helped improve the turf condition on our poorly performing greens in the woods. Prior to owning this moisture meter, it was always a guessing game on how much water our greens needed to make it through the day. We knew our 5th green would always need more water, but in the high traffic areas we never know how much. Now, we feel confident as long as we are reading 10-12% in the mornings that the green should have no issues making it through the day, and this is huge since we are a lower budget course with a small staff. Now our resources can be utilized in other areas of the course instead of over applying water.
What types of improvements or changes have you made to your golf course as a result of using the FieldScout® TDR 350 Soil Moisture Meter
Our TDR 350 has allowed us to back off on water in certain areas which has helped to improve course playability. We have also started incorporating moisture meters into all of our First Green Field Trips. First Green is a program of the GCSAA Foundation that teaches children about the environment through golf courses. Fifth graders absolutely love taking moisture readings and it’s a great way to get our message across to parents, teachers and students that golf course superintendents truly are doing their part to conserve water.
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