RADNOR, PENNSYLVANIA (February 8, 2016) OnGolf, the industry’s first cloud-based decision platform for improving golf course maintenance and management, has formed a strategic partnership with Soil Scout, a new, breakthrough in-ground wireless soil sensor provider that is being introduced to the North American market at this week’s Golf Industry Show in San Diego.
Soil Scout, with headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, features sensors which are wireless, maintenance-free in-ground and have a longer battery life. Soil Scout will be implemented into OnGolf’s cloud-based operating platform which was released in 2015 and has already gained traction in North America with iconic golf facilities, top 100 courses and leading golf course management companies. OnGolf also integrates with other leading soil sensor providers, including Spectrum Technologies and Stevens Water.
“We welcome innovative and new technologies to our platform, products that provide more valuable data to the superintendent in a user-friendly manner,” said Walt Norley, the founder and CEO of OnGolf. “Numerous cutting-edge product offerings come from the larger agricultural markets. Like OnGolf, Soil Scout is a by-product of that industry where they have been successful. I am impressed with the Soil Scout offering that features a highly accurate sensor for moisture, temperature and salinity levels combined with a robust wireless transmission range from subsurface to above ground and a long battery life for the in-ground sensor.
“We believe that the overall market is served well with advancements in soil-sensing technologies and especially with OnGolf customers who correlate soil sensor data with other key operational data points that lead to more efficient water management.”
Soil Scout’s development parallels OnGolf’s origin within the agricultural industry in Finland. The agricultural heritage is displayed by Johannes Tiusanen, Soil Scout’s Chief Science Officer, who is a 19th generation farmer dating back to the 1500s and a globally cited expert on soil science. Soil Scout has worked with budget-conscious golf courses in Finland to more easily provide wireless solutions for watering practices and also create extended golf course opening windows in a much shorter playing season. The ability to provide instant, accurate and long-term data wirelessly, regardless of season or conditions, offers courses the chance to conserve water and be assured about watering practices and conditioning.
“We look forward to working with OnGolf and to developing opportunities in the North American market,” said Jonathan Skelly, the Chief Executive Officer of Soil Scout. “Water usage is the biggest agenda issue in golf course maintenance. U.S. courses use more than 2 billion gallons of water per day and between 30 to 50 percent is being wasted. We offer both the ability for superintendents to be more efficient with their resources from a financial perspective and to be more ecologically responsible.
“We have seen a lot of aggregators of cloud services, but OnGolf’s solution adds a new level of intelligence to the available information so that superintendents can proactively manage their golf courses.”
Some facts about Soil Scout:
• Sensors operate up to 12 feet below the ground surface, a breakthrough depth
• Permanence of the sensor data is available 365/24 for every hour up to 20 years
• Allows courses to make water and energy savings of as much as 50 percent
• Less intrusive to courses because of the depth and lifespan
• Extended battery life and wireless range capabilities
• A looking glass through snow and soil surface to realize earlier spring season openings
OnGolf, introduced last February at the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Show, provides a new golf course operating solution which leads to cost-saving measures for superintendents. In less than eight months, OnGolf has identified more than $700,000 in cost savings for its customers.
OnGolf was founded on the principle of “more with less” and data-system integration by Norley, with significant input from industry veterans Matt Shaffer, Director of Grounds at Merion Golf Club, and Shawn Emerson, the Director of Grounds for Desert Mountain Golf Club who is the Chairman of OnGolf’s Advisory Board. The Core technology was developed by Fresno, California-based OnFarm which has impacted the agricultural industry with more than 1,000 growers on 1.5 million acres since 2012. Previously, Norley was founder of the industry’s first wireless soil sensing system, UgMO Technologies, which led to his continued interest in providing technological solutions which help superintendents succeed in the highly competitive golf course management industry.
To learn more about OnGolf, please click here.
To learn more about Soil Scout, please click here.
Picture Caption:
1-OnGolf Logo
2-Soil Scout Logo
3-Soil Scout Sensor
Press Release issued on behalf of OnGolf by Landmark Media Americas.
To learn more about Landmark Media, go to landmark-media.com.
Ward Clayton
+1 (904) 910-7728
ward@landmark-media.com
Notes for Editors:
About On Golf
OnGolf, the industry’s first cloud-based decision platform for improving golf course maintenance and management, was founded by Walt Norley in 2014. OnGolf’s unique value is to consolidate all relevant data into a single dashboard to correlate information while gaining actionable insight into all golf course operations. This is accomplished with analytics and recommendations so golf course superintendents can reduce costs while improving turf health and playing conditions.
OnGolf, headquartered in Radnor, Pa., is pioneering this mobile and cloud platform for golf by leveraging deep agronomic experiences, best practices in water and power sustainability, and advancements in golf course hardware and software technologies into a single golf course superintendent-friendly management platform. Previously, these great hardware and technologies surprisingly did not work together. The OnGolf solution is built on the foundation of strategic partner OnFarm, a Fresno, California-based software company successfully implementing a decision software platform for the agricultural industry. In 2012, OnFarm was awarded IBM’s Venture Company of the Year and has approximately 1,000 growers as customers on 1.3 million acres.
About Soil Scout
Soil Scout is focused on massively reducing the amount of irrigation water and power used in the golf industry. Our maintenance free, wireless sensor “Scout” transmits moisture, temperature and salinity data every hour from up to 12 feet below ground and for up to 20 years.
By enabling invisible, convenient 365/24 insight and profiling, Soil Scout provides customers with the continuous information to make informed decisions related to their irrigation and reduces water and energy consumption by up to 50 percent, as well as potentially lowering associated maintenance costs and fertilizer runoff.
Based in Helsinki, Finland, Soil Scout has a long heritage in the agricultural industry and was formed in 2013 to leverage more than 12 years of our patented, break-through science to develop the Soil Scout solution.
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