La Manga Club Resort has a special feature that makes it unique. The complex offers a wide range of facilities that include a limitless number of high quality sport surfaces. This resort is a consolidated sport tourism destination as it has three golf courses and two more are planned, a tennis centre that is ranked in the list of the best hundred centres in the world, eight football pitches, cricket and rugby fields, a netball court and a high performance sport centre.
Thus, the maintenance of the different sport surfaces at La Manga Club is a key issue and one of its most important assets. They are scientifically cared for according to the requirements of the different sports and to the appropriate appearance and quality standards needed for each of them.
Surface irrigation is one of the most important parts of maintenance. In general, different sport surfaces have different water needs depending on the type of surface and the sport to be played on it. Thus, football grounds need more water that golf greens and these need more that cricket wickets. They require low humidity levels so that the ball can bounce and meet game requirements.
In golf courses spray irrigation is controlled by a central computer. The system studies the agro climatic parameters and thus, makes the calculations of the course’s exact needs. As the resort has its own weather station with sensors located on-site, the precise amount of needed water is applied and consequently, management of the water resources, waste water and water wells on the complex, is used in a sustainable way.
Underground humidity on the course is also visualized using software connected to the sensors and therefore, it is controlled efficiently. The range of colours provide the information of water amounts on the ground, green indicates a good use of water and blue is the colour for too much water.
Agro climatic variables also indicate the nutrients needed when fertilizing the various existing sport surfaces in the complex efficiently. Graphs indicating amount of nutrients applied throughout the year are compared with tests carried out in laboratories. In addition, the type of soil is analyzed in order to monitor root depth, pH levels, nutrients, etc. Monitoring all these elements is vital as they can all be modified during the fertilization process.
Maintenance tasks are also a very important aspect. Rolling is one of these chores; light rollers are used in greens in order to increase ball speed and trueness. On the other hand, in cricket fields, 2,500-3,000 kg rollers are applied to compact wickets and achieve the appropriate bouncing of the ball required. Also, top dressing is carried out on these surfaces as adding gravel and sand is essential to have excellent sport grounds. However, again this process varies depending on the sport. In golf, football and rugby, silica sand is used whereas in cricket, a mixture of sand and clay is added.
Quality standards are basic, not only in search of excellence but also to minimize players’ and users’ injuries on the sport surface. Thus, the stimpmeter is used to measure greens speed and firmness and a TruFirm device tests another quality parameter, the penetration of the ball in the green, measured in inches.
In football, a Clegg Hammer is used to test the deceleration of the ball by dropping a mass that impacts on the surface of the playing ground. It is measured in gravities and this shows firmness level, 70 to 90 gravities is desirable. Traction is also another important parameter to be considered in order to minimize players’ injuries. The recommended values are between 45 and 60 newton/meter.
Finally, the required level of firmness for wickets in cricket is very high (between 300 and 400 gravities) according to PQS (Performance Quality Standards) as regulated by the England Cricket Board.