GREENKEEPER BLOG

GreenKeeper Q: A New Way to Measure Putting Green Performance

While GreenKeeper Q looks fun to use—and it is—inside its clear shell is a robotic measurement platform that represents a major departure in putting green performance measurement. For decades, golf course superintendents have largely measured greens performance by...

Your Putting Greens Have Their Own Growth Pattern. Here’s How We Can Learn It.

In the last article of our Growth Series, we examined how putting green growth responded to changing weather. Heavy rainfall produced a modest increase in clipping volume, while the first significant cold front of autumn caused a much larger reduction. The results...

What’s Normal for Putting Green Organic Matter—and Is Lower Always Better?

In the first article of this series, we explored how much surface organic matter could realistically change under a typical cultivation and topdressing program. One of the more interesting findings was that the same management program could increase surface organic...

What Happens to Putting Green Growth When the Weather Changes Fast?

In the last article in this series, I argued that a thermometer is often a better biological clock than a calendar. Growing degree days help explain why 14 calendar days in July can represent a very different amount of biological time than 14 days in November. That...

Fall Wetting Agent Timing Matters for Winter Preparation

Fall weather can make wetting agent scheduling deceptively difficult. As air temperatures cool—especially nighttime temperatures—growing degree days accumulate more slowly and microbial degradation of wetting agents slows. That means an application that may have...

How Much Can Surface Organic Matter Change in a Year?

Scheduling cultivation and topdressing is always a tricky and sometimes controversal task. These practices are disruptive to players, costly, and tough on turf equipment. How much cultivation is really required? What's the right amount of sand topdressing for a...

A Thermometer Is a Better Clock Than a Calendar

In the first article of the GreenKeeper Growth Series, we used nearly 500,000 clipping-volume measurements to examine how much putting greens actually grow. One of the clearest environmental signals associated with that growth was temperature. This week, we are taking...

A Very Strong El Niño Is Building. What Should Turf Managers Expect?

El Niño is strengthening quickly, and the months ahead could bring unusual weather patterns around the world. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association now gives greater than a 90% chance that the 2026–27 El Niño becomes very strong during the Northern...

How Much Does a Putting Green Actually Grow?

This launches the GreenKeeper Growth Series: an ongoing look at what we’ve learned from 500,000 clipping volume observations. Over the coming weeks, we’ll use this dataset to explore how putting greens grow, how factors like weather, fertility and PGRs influence...

When 60% Regulation Still isn’t Enough

Summer Created a Misleading Growth Surge It has been a hot, humid summer across much of the U.S., and one of the most common questions we’ve received is some version of: “Why is my PGR program not working anymore?” The evidence is usually sitting in the mower baskets....
When Half an Inch Is Not

When Half an Inch Is Not

Not all precipitation events are created equal. That was definitely the case in Southeast Nebraska during the last week of July 2024. The high temperatures had been around 100F with dew points were in the 70s. Any storm that develops during those conditions can...

read more
HOW-TO Guide: Water Resource Planner

HOW-TO Guide: Water Resource Planner

The Water Resource Planner in GreenKeeper App is the most powerful irrigation scheduling tool in the professional turfgrass management market. It uses advance agronomic and meteorological models to predict changes in soil moisture with hourly resolution. While the...

read more
Nightly Irrigation Guidance Comes to GreenKeeper App

Nightly Irrigation Guidance Comes to GreenKeeper App

It's always a tough call. Should we irrigate tonight or stretch it another day? Make the wrong decision and you'll be hand-watering wilt tomorrow afternoon. So you decide to water, but how many minutes are required? Over-watering not only wastes water and money, but...

read more
One Easy Task Will Transform Your Management Program

One Easy Task Will Transform Your Management Program

I can assure you that this simple task, taking less than one minute each day, will provide valuable insight that directly impacts agronomic decisions. It is the most valuable piece of data that I collect, and it’s my biggest pet peeve when it’s skipped. This measurement predicts putting green performance, helps schedule mowing and topdressing frequency, and guides PGR and nitrogen application rates. It also helps me manage high and low performing greens differently. Still, there are a lot of questions about how to collect, log and use the data. This short article will help answer those questions.

read more
Making the Case for GPS Sprayer Technology

Making the Case for GPS Sprayer Technology

Access to GPS-equipped technologies have exploded in the turfgrass management industry over the past decade. These technologies monitor soil moisture, measure turf health, and improve application precision. The rise of GPS-enabled sprayers offer the potential to...

read more