Research-Informed Decision Support for Professional Turf Management

Professional turf management requires repeated decisions under changing environmental and operational conditions. Although increasing amounts of data are available, converting them into consistent and practically useful decisions remains difficult. This technology is a research-informed digital decision-support platform for professional turf management. It is intended to help managers interpret relevant operational information, assess current conditions and consider management options through a structured and transparent interface. The platform is designed to support—not replace—professional judgement. Its development prioritises explainability, traceability and responsible use of available evidence rather than automated or black-box decision-making. The initial application is intensively managed turf, including golf and sports-turf environments. The underlying approach may also be relevant to other managed plant systems where environmental conditions, resource use and management interventions need to be considered together. A working research prototype has been developed from completed doctoral research, long-term turf-industry experience and continuing work in plant science and decision support. The technology is currently undergoing further development in preparation for controlled evaluation under operational conditions. The next stage is to assess its usability, practical relevance and development requirements with an appropriate industry or research partner. Performance or resource-saving claims will only be made after documented validation. Implementation details, analytical methods, system architecture, calibration procedures and unpublished research components are not included in this non-confidential description.