Located just one degree north of the equator, Sentosa Golf Club operates in Singapore’s tropical climate, where managing moisture is a critical part of maintaining consistent playing conditions throughout the year. Heavy, fast-moving showers followed by hours of intense heat and humidity are typical here, and conditions on the course can shift within the same day.
“Singapore is located in a tropical environment, so moisture levels play a very, very important part in what we do and how we look after the golf course,” says Rodney McKeown, who led agronomy at Sentosa Golf Club.
During his time at the club, turfRad became part of the team’s regular irrigation workflow, providing moisture data across greens, tees and fairways and helping the agronomy team make more informed watering decisions.
Within approximately one year of using the system, Rodney estimates Sentosa reduced water use by 20–25% while maintaining the high-quality playing conditions the club is known for.
At Sentosa, a turfRad array mounted on a utility vehicle scans playing surfaces between five and seven days a week, making moisture data a regular part of the team’s irrigation workflow.
“The data allows us to identify which areas are drier and which are wetter clearly,” Rodney explains.
That information supports both irrigation scheduling and hand watering, helping the team direct water where it is actually needed.
Sentosa also pairs turfRad with Toro’s Spatial Adjust, which automatically calculates irrigation adjustments for individual sprinkler heads based on measured moisture conditions. With just a few clicks, the team can apply those optimized settings across hundreds of sprinklers – a faster, more precise approach than adjusting heads individually.
Within the first year of using turfRad, Sentosa began seeing a clear impact on its irrigation needs.
“turfRad has helped us reduce our water use by approximately 20 to 25% over the course of about a year,” Rodney says.
For Sentosa, that reduction wasn’t only a sustainability achievement – water efficiency also has a direct commercial benefit, as the club pays for its irrigation water.
“That 20 to 25% translates directly into financial savings,” Rodney explains. “We’re using less water, we’re more sustainable, and we’re saving money that can be reinvested elsewhere on the golf course.”
That ability to reinvest the savings elsewhere makes the impact go beyond water efficiency. More precise irrigation helps the team conserve resources while continuing to focus on the quality and consistency of the golf course.
Consistency matters every day at Sentosa, not only when a major event arrives.
“For us at Sentosa Golf Club, we pride ourselves on being tournament-ready 365 days of the year,” Rodney says.
During LIV Golf Singapore 2026, the team increased turfRad scanning to twice a day, collecting data in the morning and again in the afternoon.
“Scanning twice a day gives us a much clearer picture of how conditions are developing,” Rodney explains.
The additional scans allowed the team to follow moisture conditions as they changed throughout the day and use that information to support irrigation and hand-watering decisions during tournament week.
“Consistency is very important to us, and turfRad helps us maintain these consistent moisture levels across the course,” Rodney says.
TerraRad has also supported the Sentosa team on site. CTO Lars Horvath visited the club twice – first to meet with the Sentosa team and local distribution partner Jebsen & Jessen, and again during LIV Golf Singapore 2026, where he delivered a turfRad training session for tournament volunteers.
The tournament provided an opportunity to see the system being used in a particularly demanding environment: increased scanning frequency, changing conditions throughout the day, and a premium on delivering consistent playing surfaces.
The same principle runs through Sentosa’s everyday irrigation management and its tournament preparation: better information enables more precise decisions.
turfRad gives the agronomy team objective moisture data across the course. That information helps identify wetter and drier areas, guide hand watering and, together with Spatial Adjust, support more targeted irrigation.
The benefits are tangible: an estimated 20–25% reduction in water use, associated financial savings, and greater insight into moisture conditions from everyday course management through tournament week.
For Rodney, the case for the technology ultimately became a simple one.
Asked what he would tell another superintendent considering turfRad, his answer came in just two words:
“Buy it.”
