Infilrooter: Multi-Functional Apparatus to Measure Water Infiltration, Compaction and Playability of Manicured Grass Sports Surfaces

Compaction of manicured grass surfaces such as golf and bowling greens and tennis lawns is a progressive and inevitable process, which is caused by high player numbers and maintenance machines. For the health of the grass, compaction can be minimised by timeous aeration techniques to create new pore spaces. The objective of this research was to quantify the inverse relationship between water infiltration rate and surface compaction so as to identify the need for aeration. The simplified and low - cost apparatus designed for these studies, termed the Infilrooter, enables both the infiltration rate of water into the surface to be measured together with the subsequent withdrawal of a core sample for washing and separate diagnostic investigation of the root-soil-grass systems. Both an infiltrometer and core sampler are well known concepts but their functional combination, as in the infilrooter, is novel and has no known previous application in grass management to assess compaction. The exploratory results identified a suitable range of infiltration rates between 100 – 1000 mm/hour (the Norm) which is synonymous with healthy manicured grass sports surfaces. The premise made is that infiltration rates lower than some 100 mm/hour are indicative of the onset of surface compaction and poor root development. A corollary to the Infilrooter research study established the relationship between water infiltration rate and stimpmeter readings (speed of green) as a useful index to gauge the playability of grass sports surfaces.