Development of a Remote Sensing Tool for Golf Course Irrigation Management.

Water consumption for turf irrigation is widely considered the number one restriction to sustainability of golf courses in many regions of the U.S. In areas of low rainfall, irrigation system inefficiencies can create highly variable turf conditions. Having real-time data that characterizes the soil moisture variability can help managers overcome inefficiencies in irrigation systems without having to resort to overwatering non-stress areas. Using manual sensors to collect such data is a common method to monitor putting green conditions. However, this process is labor intensive and time consuming, and therefore not feasible for large acreages such as fairways. Incorporation of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) with an appropriate sensor may be a solution to this challenge. Hand-held thermal sensors have been used previously to develop plant water stress models based on surface temperatures, while UAS’s have been used to capture small scale data in agricultural fields. Using a UAS (Inspire1v2.0, DJI) fitted with a thermal camera (Zenmuse XT, DJI), turfgrass surface temperatures were measured across a variety of soil moisture conditions at the OAES Turfgrass Research Center in Stillwater, OK. Concurrent measurements of ambient temperature and relative humidity were also collected. Data were calibrated against ground-based measurements of soil moisture content of the upper 12 cm. Results from one year of observations will be discussed. From these data, we will develop relative plant water stress models to identify ‘hot spots’ in golf fairways. Ultimately, results of this project will be used to demonstrate the viability of thermal sensors for use in conjunction with UAS’s to manage golf course fairway irrigation.