Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
27
An Application of Ground-
Penetrating Radar
in Golf Course Management
R. Boniak, S.-K. Chong, S. J. Indorante, and J. A. Doolittle
ContentS
27.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 345
27.2 Materials and Methods........................................................................................................ 346
27.2.1 Description of the Selected Golf Greens............................................................... 346
27.2.2 Selection of the Antenna ....................................................................................... 347
27.2.3 Site Preparation Prior to the Measurement ........................................................... 347
27.2.4 Measurement ......................................................................................................... 347
27.2.5 Data Processing ..................................................................................................... 348
27.3 Results and Discussion........................................................................................................ 348
27.4 Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 350
References ...................................................................................................................................... 351
27.1 IntRodUCtIon
Recently, golf became one of the most popular and rapid growing sports in the United States.
According to the American Golf Foundation in 2003, there were approximately 17,000 golf courses
in the United States. The key to operating a successful golf course is having healthy greens. As
stated by O. J. Noer (Tadge, 1980), the two most important ingredients for building and maintaining
a successful golf course are “common sense and drainage.” Poor soil drainage results in anaero-
bic conditions. An anaerobic green is more susceptible to disease development and can induce
formation of a black layer that impedes turf root development (Bengeyfield, 1976; Chong et al.,
2003; Schwartzkopf, 1975). Poor-quality greens always result in poor performance and playability
of the field and will eventually jeopardize golf course income. In order to have a healthy green, both
irrigation and drainage are of vital importance in golf course management (Chong et al., 2004).
Therefore, in order to attract and keep players, the turf must be kept in excellent condition. In other
words, a proper functioning drainage and irrigation system is critically important to the success of
a golf course.
Over time, drainage and irrigation systems can fail or become plugged due to improper con-
struction or management. Unfortunately, many drainage and irrigation system maps are neither
available nor correctly marked, which makes the problem hard to fix. Locating faulty drainage
or irrigation pipe can be laborious and time consuming, particularly for those nonmetal drainage
lines. Currently, the ground crews lack a viable way to efficiently identify the exact location of these
underground features for making necessary repairs.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a noninvasive geophysical tool for locating subsurface fea-
tures. It was commercially developed in the mid 1970s. It is primarily used for imaging near-surface
345
