This is really quite amazing (well, to me anyway). This technology really allows you to dial-in fertility and control product programs which, in turn, results in cost savings and reduces the potential for product waste. Very cool.
From TurfNet.com:
As an early adopter of GPS technology, Marc Thigpen knows he is not going to be the last person to use satellite-assisted guidance to make life easier for golf course superintendents. But he does want to be known as the person people can come to in a pinch.
A North Carolina tobacco farmer of 30-plus years by trade, Thigpen began utilizing GPS technology on spray units in agriculture long before anyone in the golf industry began using it to replace 150-yard markers much less attach one to a piece of machinery. His company,
NuTec Soil of Trenton, N.C., has since incorporated the same technology into turfgrass management by using GPS units to physically steer and maneuver spray units and control individual applicator nozzles by turning them on and off as needed depending on where a unit is located on the course. The ability to control individual spray tips at each pass and turn reduces waste by eliminating overlap, a revelation Thigpen says can help superintendents save time and money and reduce fertilizer usage by as much as 20 percent.
“That’s huge. This is the future of the golf industry,” Thigpen said. "The future is here now.
“I’ve grown up with this technology. I know I’m not going to be the only guy in town. But I want to be the best. And everything I say I can back up 200 percent.”
Thigpen struck out into golf after realizing no one else was using GPS to help maximize spray coverage while minimizing fertilizer use. With such a substantial amount of a superintendent’s budget devoted to fertilizer applications, he thought, and rightfully so, that professional turf managers probably were wasting vast amounts of product due to overlap and in turns, which results in waste and increased threat of burned turf. He incorporates the technology into an overall soil-management program that he says not only helps his customers save money, but results in improved turf quality also.
He tells the story of superintendent Tim Kwiat of Due Process Stable in Colts Neck, N.J., who reduced water use on his practice range by 12 percent just by having accurate GPS mapping of the area and a sprayer with individual tip control.
Officially, Thigpen says the system is accurate to within 1 inch, but in reality it probably is more precise.
“It’s more like a centimeter,” he said.
“Savings can be anywhere from 5 to 15 to 20 percent, but we project at 10 percent. Depending on the size of someone’s budget, this can pay for itself in as little as four months.”
Saving money and reducing fertilizer use is just one part of what NuTec offers. The company’s TurfGeeks program is a comprehensive soil-management program that includes collecting vast amounts of soil samples, analyzing data, developing a variable-rate application program, course mapping, GPS-guided applications, technical support, record keeping and reporting.
When NuTec takes soil samples, it really takes soil samples, often up to 1,000 from a single golf course so that analysts can document and manage for every possible soil condition found in greens, tees and fairways.
Superintendents can use any soil lab of their choosing to learn what is happening in their root zone, but when left up to him Thigpen uses
Waters Agricultural Laboratories with offices in Camilla Ga., and Owensboro, Ky.
“We take over the data after that,” Thigpen said. “Then we tell the superintendent: ‘Here is what you have.’ And we ask him: ‘What do you want to do?’ ”
Kwiat of Due Process Stable has employed NuTec’s soil-management program for three years. Just recently he was the first superintendent to utilize the company’s GPS-controlled spray unit.
In previous years, Kwiat might apply as much as 4 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet over the course of a year. After soil tests showed him what he needs and where he needs it, and using a GPS-guided sprayer to carry out that plan, Kwiat estimates he will use slightly more than 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet this year on his bentgrass/Poa greens and bentgrass tees and fairways. NuTec’s fees gobble up some of those savings, but Kwiat says he still saves 25 percent of what he would spend annually in previous years.
“We use less water and have healthier turf with more uniform color,” Kwiat said. “And we don’t have the disease pressure we’ve had in years past. Even when it’s 100 degrees outside, we’re still pretty green.”
Tissue tests conducted every three weeks ensure that Kwiat stays on track with his program.
The system was used at this year’s
PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. It also has been used to help manage turf conditions during at least three PGA Tour events, three USGA championships and a Champions Tour event.
Here’s basically how the system works: Diaphragm check valves in the nozzles of each sprayer are replaced with solenoid check valves, essentially converting each nozzle into its own individually controlled boom. GPS technology recognizes where the unit has been on the golf course, and hasn’t been, and turns each valve on or off delivering product only where it is needed. It also keeps detailed application records that can be used for reporting purposes.
Mapping the course takes a day or two, as does entering all the readings into a computer, Thigpen said. But the end result is worth the prep time that is required.
“You can try to overlap, and it won’t do it,” Thigpen said.” You can drive over an area you’ve already sprayed, and those tips are not going to turn on.
“This technology has really snowballed in the last five years. Five years ago, there was no way in the world anyone could have done this.”
His sprayer can be affixed to any existing hydraulic sprayer regardless of age.
“That’s the beauty of it,” he said. “You can take a 20-year-old sprayer and make it the latest and greatest, or you can take a brand-new unit and make it even more efficient.”
Such detailed soil testing and mapping is a key to savings and improved turf quality, according to Kwiat.
“It’s not that the turf here was off, but we had pockets where it was off, and (Thigpen) was able to find those pockets,” Kwiat said. “That also allows you to put fertilizer only where it needs to be. That saves us money and from an environmental standpoint we are able to reduce inputs.”
Although it is difficult for Thigpen to imagine a scenario in which his system does not end up paying for itself in short order, he also realizes there are some budget constraints that make it impossible for a course to hire him as a full-service firm. In those instances, his company can distance train a superintendent or spray tech to map the course, install the unit and make applications themselves.
“We can make the applications, or we can train someone how to do it if they want to do it themselves,” Thigpen said. “All they need is a sprayer, and everyone has a sprayer.”
Thigpen recently has reached an agreement with
Toro distributor
Storr Tractor in Branchburg, N.J., to help promote and distribute the product, and he also is close to reaching a similar distribution deal with
John Deere Golf .
The program has been years in development, and it only has been operational for about a year.
“We finally go it to where we wanted it to be last October,” he said. “We always knew it would work. We’ve been taking it in small baby steps.”
Future plans for NuTec include bringing similar GPS technology to mowing equipment.
"It will still need an operator," Thigpen said. "But it will be much more efficient."
