The novel optical point quadrats used in estimating % ground cover as part of the TGA assessments are available from Robert Laycock. They can be used on all close-mown sports turf surfaces and give more reliable results for turf than traditional square quadrats or the large diameter pin quadrats often used in plant ecological studies.
They are based on the instrument which is now widely used around the world which was devised by Robert Laycock when he was researching turfgrass cultivars at the Sports Turf Research Institute, Bingley (originally published as Laycock and Canaway (1980) in the Journal of the Sports Turf Research Institute 56, 91-92).
