Aaron Johnsen, a former green industry consultant for Spectrum Technologies, formed Turf Intelligence of Maplewood, Minn. The company will focus on helping golf course superintendents utilize data from measurement technology, such as soil moisture sensors, salinity meters, weather stations and reflectance instruments to optimize inputs and maintain consistently exceptional conditions.
Services will primarily be data mapping of greens, fairways and tees for site analysis and management planning; assistance with the selection and implementation of measurement technology into maintenance programs; and formation and analysis of on-site research.
Johnsen’s experience in the golf course industry includes working at and internating at several golf courses, including Eagle Valley in Woodbury, Minn., and Somerset Country Club in Mendota Heights, Minn., interning at The Toro Co.’s Center for Advanced Turf Technology and with the USGA under Bob Vavrek, and working for Spectrum Technologies.
He holds a bachelors degree in environmental horticulture with a turfgrass management emphasis and a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, where he studied the use of reflectance technology to detect and predict drought stress in creeping bentgrass fairways. Johnsen has received many awards including the Minnesota Golf Course Superintendents Association Scholarship, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Mendenhall Award and the Watson Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.
For more information, visit www.turfintel.com.