Singapore: When members of the region’s turf industry are looking for innovative solutions to their problems, they often turn to Centaur Asia Pacific for guidance.
So when a golf club in Singapore sought Centaur’s advice on how to efficiently improve the drainage on its ageing greens with minimal disruption or downtime, they had the answer; a textile-based drainage ‘element’ that is laid cleanly into an existing green, using specialised equipment, at six to 12-inch depths and one-metre spacings.
Danny Potter, Founder and Owner of Centaur Asia Pacific, a Full Business Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation, first heard about this unique drainage product on a visit to courses in the American state of Florida, where trials were being conducted.
Potter said: “The initial trials I saw were showing how this drainage element could pull water from Point A to Point B on surfaces with no falling grade, and they even showed me how it could pull water uphill as long as the end of the drainage element was lower than the starting point.
“From then on I knew this product would eventually have a place in our region and would one day become an industry standard.
“Our first client was a members’ course with 7,000 members. They didn’t want to close the course for any greens reconstruction, and we were able to give them what they wanted.
“With our drainage product we can complete installation on a standard-sized green in half a day, and it’s back in play the very next day.”
Since that first installation of two greens, this same club has had Centaur back in to complete 36 greens on their 81-hole facility, plus a few fairways.
Centaur Asia Pacific has been the exclusive agent of this drainage technology in Asia and Australia for the past six years.
Previously marketed as PCDrainage and now rebranded as Hydrowick, Centaur is branching out from its traditional golf roots and currently working on Hydrowick proposals for soccer pitches, racetracks, cricket ovals, and polo fields, with the company’s sights also on the landscape market.