Class Results: Green Speed, Firmness & Soil Moisture

class9415Today we measured green speed, surface firmness and soil moisture (at 3 inch depth) on a soil fairway (mowed at 1/2 inch), soil green (0.125 inches), and sand green (0.170 inches)  As background the previous night we received close to 3 inches of rain from the thunderstorm that passed through.  Additionally, the fairway had been mowed today (Friday) but not the greens.  For green speed, a stimpmeter was used except where designated (1 Pelzmeter), and firmness was made with the FieldScout TruFirm except where designated (2 USGA TruFirm).

As you look at the data, feel free to comment below on why you might think that firmness on the sand green was less (softer, higher number) than the soil green.  Or what might account for differences in soil moisture as measured by the groups.

Below is a summary of the results that the 6 groups of students found.

Fairway Height

Group Green Speed Firmness Soil Moisture
Martin, Folck, Strout 6 feet .6272 46.2
Smith, Grove, Laux, Slonaker 4 feet 2 inches 650 37.6
Averman, Turner, Zagar 4 feet 650 37.2
Belzer, Spridgeon, Brawn 3 feet 10 inches 723 47.2
Stanton, Smith, Schroeder 4 feet 2 inches1 723 47.2
Bok, Kifer, Gerardi, Haynes 4 feet 690 37.6

Soil Green

Group Green Speed Firmness Soil Moisture
Martin, Folck, Strout 11 feet 6 inches .453 48.0
Smith, Grove, Laux, Slonaker 8 feet 5 inches 447 32.2
Averman, Turner, Zagar 8 feet 5 inches 447 32.3
Belzer, Spridgeon, Brawn 7 feet 8 inches 477 39.7
Stanton, Smith, Schroeder 7 feet 3 inches1 477 39.7
Bok, Kifer, Gerardi, Haynes 8 feet 5 inches 407 32.2

Sand Green

Group Green Speed Firmness Soil Moisture
Martin, Folck, Strout 11 feet 5 inches 0.564 21.8
Smith, Grove, Laux, Slonaker 10 feet 9 inches 606 39.1
Averman, Turner, Zagar 9 feet 9 inches 606 38.9
Belzer, Spridgeon, Brawn 7 feet 10 inches 569 28.5
Stanton, Smith, Schroeder 7 feet 2 inches1 569 28.5
Bok, Kifer, Gerardi, Haynes 9 feet 9 inches 606 39.1

1 PelzMeter

2 USGA TruFirm,

One thought on “Class Results: Green Speed, Firmness & Soil Moisture

  1. Seems like the first group had generally higher green speeds than the rest of the groups. Wonder if they lifted the Pelzmeter to fast.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *