TURFGRASS RESEARCH
Becky Bowling, Ph. D., conducting indoor turfgrass research.
“ We tried a lot of stuff that didn’ t work, and that’ s part of research,” he said.“ We finally got to one product that gave us a very similar result when it’ s on top of concrete to the actual sand rootzone.”
Added Sorochan,“ We looked at probably 60 different combinations, and we came down to an 85mm( 2.5-inch) Permavoid with geotextile and roughly 2-inch-thick sod that provides the same ball bounce as a 12-inch sand rootzone,” said Sorochan.“ When we put our fLEX machine on it and struck it, it gave the same ground reaction forces as if it were on 12 inches of sand. That was a‘ wow’ moment.”
The process saw the shallow pitch profile go from 1-meter-by- 1-meter trials to outdoor plots at MSU to indoor plots in the FIFA building at UT then to a larger-scale plot at UT. Eventually, the shallow pitch profile of choice was used at AT & T Stadium in Dallas for a friendly match between Canada and Mexico, which resulted in players raving about the condition of the pitch and how well it played.
“ We went from these little one-square-meter plots, testing all these little things, to it actually working,” said Sorochan.“ Not only that, the time to install and the time to remove were lowered, which means fewer materials, less labor hours, and lower costs.”
Dickson agreed that the surface combination they settled on was the most surprising aspect of the research.
“ The product that ended up working, Permavoid, is a water collection system,” he said.“ We tried it, and that one was one of the most surprising things. We were like, how is this working? We’ re getting the performance of a 12-inch sand rootzone as far as the ball goes and as far as fLEX goes, and yet it’ s sod directly on top of this product that is three inches tall.”
According to Dickson, using Permavoid also led to better air movement and healthier turfgrass.
“ I thought we were going to have several different shock pads and then try all this different stuff,” he added.“ It ended up being one of the simpler solutions— just one product; you put it in, put grass on top, and you’ re ready to go so. Sometimes simpler is better.”
22 SportsField Management | April 2025 sportsfieldmanagementonline. com