Advisory Services

Agrostis has been providing independent advice to sports facilities of every kind since 2005.  Tim Lodge, the founder of Agrostis, has been providing such advice since 1995.  Tim is a registered Expert Witness on sports turf and a founder member of RIPTA, the Register of Independent Professional Turfgrass Agronomists.

Golf courses, football, rugby and hockey pitches, cricket wickets, squares and outfields, pitch & putt courses, putting greens, lawn tennis courts, croquet lawns, domestic lawns, polo grounds, crown and flat bowling greens, public open space…

No two sports facilities are alike so an individual assessment of the clients’ needs is undertaken in each case.  

Advisory Visits
However, a typical advisory visit will consist of a detailed inspection of the facilities, the surfaces and the soil profiles, and also informal discussion with the users and those responsible for the management of the facilities.

Of course, a range of objective turf quality measurement methods may be used and incorporated into an advisory report if required.  These include:

• Turf height measurement
  
• Golf green speed (Stimpmeter reading)
  
• Golf green smoothness (using the patented Lodgemeter golf green smoothness testing device)
  
• Turf hardness (using the Clegg Impact Soil Meter)
  
• Infiltration rate (using double ring infiltrometers)
  
• Soil moisture mapping (using the ‘Fieldscout’ soil moisture meter with GPS)
  

With samples taken back to our laboratory we can also undertake:

• Total and air filled porosity (Intact soil sampler and tension table)
  
• A comprehensive range of soil chemical and physical property analyses.  These include macro and micro nutrient content, organic matter content, particle size distribution (sand silt and clay content), heavy metals and toxicity etc.
  

In addition to advising our clients, objective data of this kind may be used in Agrostis’ ongoing research programme, helping us understand how best to improve all our client’s sports surfaces.

Advisory Reports
The subsequent advisory report will consist of:

• Review of the existing surfaces and soil types, of the equipment and materials available, of the maintenance procedures that have been carried out and of the general perception of the surfaces by the users
  
• Discussion of the implications for bringing about improvements
  
• Site specific Recommendations on what should be done within the limits of available resources
  

Aspects of turf maintenance that are regularly addressed include:

• Mowing
  
• Brushing, grooming, verti-cutting, scarification
  
• Fertiliser use
  
• Supplements
  
• Irrigation and wetting agents
  
• Grass seed selection and sowing
  
• Aeration procedures
  
• Top dressing selection and application
  
• Pest and disease control
  
• Drainage
  

 
Where reconstruction or more significant development work is called for this will also be pointed out and discussed.

A maintenance programme may, if appropriate, be provided.  The key points of this will be discussed in detail, in the context of the particular site, in the text of the report.  Estimated costs of maintenance may also be indicated if requested.

Click here (1.4Mb) to download a sample comprehensive  feasibility study.

Summary of main maintenance procedures, Pudsey St Lawrence AFC (click image to open larger version)

Turf soil measurement

Measuring golf green speed with a stimpmeter

Young cricketer in action

Rotary mower kit