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How does Dooley Field stay so green during a hot dry spell?

Now that a few games have been played in the 2024 College Football Season, I pondered how local football stadiums are keeping the grass pristine for collegiate play despite weeks of nearly no rain in North Georgia.

I talked with UGA Professor and Turfgrass Specialist Clint Waltz about how his colleagues keep Dooley Field green despite the daily downpours in North Georgia.

Q: What kind of grass is growing at Sanford Stadium, where the Georgia Bulldogs play?

“It’s Bermuda grass, and it’s mowed about three times per week during the growing season. It’s a very orchestrated process when they get ready for games. It starts a week out, getting the field conditioned and painted. There’s a lot that goes into getting that field ready for high caliber athletes on a Saturday afternoon in the fall.”

Q: Does the rain ever ruin the field?

“Not at Sanford Stadium, it’s a sand-based system. It is designed to be able to take a tremendous amount of rainfall, withstand that and move the water through it, get it into a pipe, get it out of there, and keep it as a stable and safe playing surface under those situations.”

Q: What is a sand-based system?

“The field, and grass, is actually established on sand. Kind of like a golf course putting green, it’s about a 12 inch depth on sand that may overlay a gravel layer. It’s very much an engineered system to move water throughout it and to permit air movement through that system. Roots like air, and water -- you have to give them a nice combination of both. That sand system delivers both.”

September leads to October, the driest month on average for Metro Atlanta and North Georgia. Nevertheless, the grounds crew will make sure the grass is emerald green for Game Day.

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