Built by people who've spent their lives on turf. Not in labs.
40 years managing golf courses. 600+ lighting systems in stadiums worldwide. One question: why is this so hard?
We didn't just study turf management. We lived it.
Atle Revheim Hansen didn't start as a software developer. He started as a greenkeeper.
In 2004, he designed and opened Bærheim Golfpark in Norway. He became COO at Gresspesialisten AS, where they developed GOS (Golf Operations Systems). He became part owner of multiple golf courses across Norway. He worked with Better Turf AS, a company with 40 years in the turf industry.
He experienced every problem a greenkeeper faces. The 4am wake-ups. The weather you can't control. The members who don't see the work. The boards who question the budget.
"We weren't consultants. We were the ones showing up at 4am."
Then we started building lighting systems for the world's biggest stadiums.
In 2012, TLS (Turf Lighting Solutions AS) was founded. The mission: create mobile turf grow lighting rigs that would give stadiums perfect grass year-round.
The rigs worked. They deployed to Glasgow Rangers, Besiktas, Everton, and stadiums across Japan. 120+ stadiums in 25 countries. 600+ rigs installed worldwide.
But managing them remotely was a nightmare with existing tools. So TLS built Turfpal—a simple control system where groundskeepers could monitor and control lighting rigs from their phone.
"We realized we'd built something bigger than lighting control."
A lighting system became a turf management platform.
In 2021, Turfpal officially launched as an independent platform. The stadiums using the lighting rigs started asking: "Can this track our tasks? Our inventory? Our equipment maintenance schedules?"
We started with lighting control. Then we added task management. Then equipment tracking. Then inventory. Then assessments. Then weather integration. Then compliance reporting.
Every feature was built alongside the groundskeepers at the courses and stadiums using our rigs. Not in focus groups. On actual pitches, with actual problems, under actual pressure.
"The software grew the same way turf grows—one piece at a time, in the right conditions."
40 years of turf expertise met modern software.
Between 2022 and 2023, Turfpal partnered with Better Turf AS—a company with 40 years of experience in golf course management and turf operations.
Atle Revheim Hansen, with his background from Gresspesialisten AS, Better Turf AS, and Golfmanagement AS, became COO. He brought decades of hands-on experience from designing courses, managing operations, and owning facilities.
This wasn't a tech company hiring consultants. This was turf people and tech people becoming the same team.
"We didn't hire consultants. We brought in the people who'd been doing the work."
Where we're going
Today, Turfpal is used by 100+ teams across 25+ countries. Golf courses, stadiums, and sports facilities worldwide. In 2025, we launched our mobile app so greenkeepers can manage everything from the field, not just the office.
But here's what matters: we still operate real turf facilities. Golfmanagement AS runs Bærheim Golfpark—45,000 rounds per year, managed with 106 robotic mowers, all tracked in Turfpal.
Every feature we build, we test on our own courses first. Every problem we solve, we've experienced ourselves. Every update we ship, we use ourselves the next day.
"We use our own software every day. If it doesn't work for us, it doesn't ship."
The Journey
From golf course architect to global turf management platform
Want to talk to people who actually do this work?
Our team includes golf course architects, stadium groundskeepers, and facility managers. We'll show you how we use Turfpal ourselves—not from slides, from real screens.