USGA unveils new soil moisture meter
Ahead of the 2025 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show, the USGA unveiled the USGA Moisture Meter. According to the USGA, the new tool provides golf course superintendents with data regarding soil moisture, temperature and salinity.
That data is uploaded into the USGA’s Deacon technology platform, creating a digital record that can manage usage, plant health and course playability. The soil moisture sensors in the new tool are supplied by Meter Group.
“The USGA Green Section is fully committed to providing superintendents with the best science, best practices and best tools to meet the expectations of golfers, golf course leadership and course owners,” said USGA CEO Mike Whan. “We are constantly asked by courses to compare their approach with how we set up our competitions. Now, with the Deacon app, GS3 smart ball and our new USGA Moisture Meter, we are providing superintendents with the same tools and capabilities that we utilize at each of our 15 national championships.”
According to Meter and the USGA, the key benefits of the new moisture meter include:
- Enhanced Decision-Making: Integration with Deacon provides a comprehensive view of course conditions, enabling superintendents to make informed decisions about irrigation, applications and other maintenance practices.
- Improved Course Consistency: By providing accurate and real-time soil moisture data, the USGA Moisture Meter empowers superintendents to make data-driven decisions, resulting in more consistent playing surfaces throughout the season.
- Proprietary Technology: CDX technology from Meter Group provides precise and consistent soil moisture, salinity and temperature readings.
- Increased Efficiency: The tool streamlines the data collection process, allowing superintendents and their teams to focus on other critical tasks.
“Our collaboration with the USGA comes at a pivotal time when Meter has made groundbreaking advancements in the CDX technology powering this water content sensor,” said Colin Campbell, president of Meter Group. “These innovations establish the USGA Moisture Meter as one of the most accurate tools for measuring water content and salinity available today. By bringing this cutting-edge technology – once reserved for premier research applications – into the hands of commercial turf managers, we are empowering them with the same level of accuracy, reliability, and precision trusted by the scientific community.”
Designed by the USGA, the Deacon app is a digital platform created in 2021 to help superintendents improve the golfer experience while conserving resources and optimizing labor hours. Golf course operators can input data into DEACON, which tracks putting green surface management via GS3 insights, creates pace-of-play reports, offers hole location options for championship-quality hole location sheets, and provides weather insights.
The USGA Moisture Meter will officially launch at the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in San Diego, with live demonstrations and in-booth product discussions taking place throughout the conference’s events. Orders made by the end of the show will be delivered to customers in time for the late spring golf season planning cycle.
To purchase the moisture meter from the USGA visit gsshop.usga.org. Proceeds from the moisture meter will be re-invested into the USGA’s efforts to support golf’s resource conservation goals.
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