Meet the Clegg Hammer, the golfing direction software you did not know existed

Welcome to Tremendous Secrets and techniques, a GOLF.com collection during which we select the brains of the sport’s main superintendents. By way of illuminating how direction upkeep crews ply their trades, we’re hopeful we will now not simplest come up with a deeper appreciation for the necessary, leading edge paintings they do but additionally come up with upkeep guidelines that you’ll observe for your personal little patch of paradise. Satisfied gardening!

Have you ever heard of a Clegg Hammer? The title makes it sound like a strength-training aide, or a changed placing grip, or the moniker of a long-drive champ.

Actually, it’s a device used within the turf-care industry, and it involves thoughts as the sector’s easiest golfers equipment up for the Open Championship at St. Andrews. What the Stimpmeter is to inexperienced speeds, the Clegg Hammer is to the rebound within the floor: it’s used for measuring turf firmness.

However that’s a huge description. For extra specifics, we grew to become to Mike Richardson, a member of the Golfing Path Superintendents Affiliation of The united states, and a professor within the division of horticulture on the College of Arkansas.

The Origins

Often referred to as the Clegg Affect Soil Tester, the Clegg Hammer takes its title from Baden Clegg, an Australian engineer, who didn’t dream up the instrument with golfing in thoughts. “If you’re development a area or a highway, an important a part of building is a forged basis,” Richardson says. The Clegg Hammer was once at first used to measure the hardness of a highway or a development sooner than laying asphalt or a basis. The hardness needed to exceed a definite stage for the development to be deemed secure.

The way it Works

A weighted hammer with a sensor on its nostril is dropped via a tube from an outlined top. The instrument measures how briefly the burden hammer involves a forestall. The more difficult the outside, the quicker that occurs. The effects are measured in a metric referred to as “Gmax,” which, Richardson says, is very similar to the G-force {that a} pilot or racecar driving force may enjoy.

The Programs for Turf

As a result of turf firmness is a large deal in golfing, it’s now not arduous to believe why a Clegg Hammer may turn out to be useful for superintendents. However the instrument is extra broadly used for tracking the protection of a enjoying box than it’s for checking prerequisites on a direction. There are firmness measurements which were related to attainable concussions, Richardson says, “so fields are robotically checked with a Clegg, or a identical instrument to evaluate if a box is secure for avid gamers.”

The Accuracy of the Readings

The numbers, Richardson says, are correct and repeatable. However in golfing, a spread of variables come into play that experience made it difficult to broaden requirements for all turf. For starters, several types of grass produce other readings. The sand utilized in building too can impact firmness, as can soil moisture ranges and thatch. Even the kind of sand utilized in topdressing issues; angular grains lead to less attackable vegetables than what you get with rounder sand. Throw in the truth that elite avid gamers can organize more difficult surfaces higher than weekend hacks, and you spot why it’s difficult to determine inflexible pointers. A key for direction operators is verbal exchange. Consistent with Richardson, any individual having a look to measure turf company additionally “must survey their avid gamers to peer if they believe the vegetables are too cushy or too company and alter their numbers accordingly.”

Laborious Truths About Firmness

The Clegg Hammer isn’t the one method for taking firmness readings. The USGA advanced a device known as Tru-Company that does a lot the similar as a Clegg Hammer however prices significantly much less. At homes with lean budgets, hard work shortages or each, maximum superintendents wouldn’t spend the time or cash pursuing such numbers. In the end, Richardson says, velocity and bounciness of turf most commonly comes right down to “participant perceptions and stories.” Directly to St. Andrews. We don’t desire a fancy metric to grasp that the direction can be enjoying company and speedy.

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A golfing, meals and trip author, Josh Sens has been a GOLF Mag contributor since 2004 and now contributes throughout all of GOLF’s platforms. His paintings has been anthologized in The Absolute best American Sportswriting. He’s additionally the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any A laugh But: the Cooking and Partying Manual.