The Sports Field Management Association (SFMA) announced the winner of the 2023 SFMA Mowing Patterns Contest. The winning design was submitted by Dakota Steele, district groundskeeper at Fairfield Community Schools in Goshen, Indiana. The winning “V pattern” was created for...
By Luke Yoder and Paul Zwaska Back in the 1960s, groundskeepers began incorporating different products into their infield skins to try to improve playability. These products were initially produced for the golf and automotive industries, and consisted of diatomaceous earth,...
Eleven SFMA members were awarded Field of the Year honors for 2023. The SFMA Awards Committee, led by Jason DeMink, CSFM, and Jeremy Driscoll, CSFM, reviewed each submission and independently rated applicants on field quality as impacted by staffing, budget,...
From Turf-Tec International, the new Mascaro Infill and Cleat Depth Tester is designed as a testing instrument that will measure infill depth on synthetic turf, as well as cleat depth penetration on synthetic turf and natural grass or any other...
By Mary Helen Sprecher Students have returned to school, leaves are falling and, depending on where you are, homecoming might be in the rear-view mirror – all of which means, if you work in a four-season climate, you’ll have to...
As a debate arises in the NFL and other professional sports over the benefits of choosing natural or synthetic turf for athletic fields, Cale Bigelow, professor of horticulture and landscape architecture in Purdue University’s College of Agriculture, suggests that both...
SFMA announced that a number of its members will be part of an all-female volunteer grounds crew in charge of the 8-day long Little League Softball World Series, including the championship game, which will be aired on ABC on August...
Q: I have never experienced our bermudagrass fields so slow to grow in the spring. We are seeing more exaggerated wear from normal use since the fields just do not seem to want to grow. Why so slow?– North Carolina...
The following sustainable landscaping best management practices are excerpted from SFMA’s National BMP guide, Best Management Practices for the Sports Field Manager: A Professional Guide for Sports Field Management. The full guide, as well as a customizable BMP template, is...
The following is the next in our series delving into colleges and universities that offer programs devoted to turfgrass management, turfgrass science, and related disciplines. In this edition, we examine the turfgrass program at The Ohio State University. The Ohio...
