Jane Hall can certainly relate to how the turf industry has changed over the past 20 years. Like a lot of her colleagues, she came over from the landscape side to be a course superintendent. She remembers hydraulic irrigation and antiquated solenoids that made digging anywhere on the course a potentially shocking experience.
Now that she’s Superintendent at Bridgeport Country Club outside Dallas, Hall marvels at the quality and efficiency of today’s irrigation equipment. “The heads are not only built better and last longer, but they’re also versatile enough to do the job of three older models,” she says.
Much of the recent innovation has been driven by the need to use water more efficiently. Superintendents forced onto a water budget have tough choices to make, and often end up sacrificing areas of rough so they can adequately water tees, greens and fairways.
But to help them in this battle, modern sprinkler heads can now be set to different spraying patterns, giving precise control over the areas to receive water. And as the name implies, controllers are another highly effective tool at superintendents’ disposal. Tim Lee, Assistant Superintendent at Cape Fear Country Club in Wilmington, N.C., says these “smart devices” now allow him to program highly customized watering cycles—right down to individual heads.
“I had a sloped fairway that was chronically wet at the bottom end, because our old system wouldn’t allow us to automatically run the uphill heads only,” Lee recounts. Not only did this muck up his course, it wasted an incredible amount of water. The old system offered three “choices”: a saturated base, a browned-out top, or the expensive and disruptive alternative of handwatering during play. But today’s controllers give stake-holders the flexibility to program multiple cycles and take a stronger sense of ownership over how much water the different areas of the course receive.
Another valuable ally in the quest to use water effectively and efficiently is GPS technology. Many superintendents, when installing irrigation systems, have had the foresight to meticulously map their courses and get electronic pictures of their infrastructures that go well beyond ancient “as-built” blueprints. And controllers and computer software can now help them fully capitalize on the information these GPS maps contain. For example, mapping software can interact with sprinkler heads that have the ability to transmit moisture levels, soil temperature, and other information, affording superintendents a “worm’s-eye” look, with unprecedented detail, at the watering needs of every area of the course.
This data can also prove useful in areas beyond watering. At Bridgeport CC, Jane Hall must keep a vigilant eye on soil temperatures during the winter, to protect her system from the damage incurred when water freezes in the pipes. “Anything below 27 degrees and I drain the lines and shut down the system,” she says. Such high-tech sensors may sound expensive, but by eliminating the labor involved in manually measuring the soil temperatures at various spots around the course, they start to make economic sense.
Other systems have features that save more than time. They can detect broken pipes or defective valves and then isolate the area and warn those who need to know of the problem via phone. Gone are the awful days of arriving at work to find a broken main and a new, unintentional water hazard spread across the fairway.
Superintendents with today’s top-of-the-line set-ups can now even control their irrigation systems, right down to individual heads, from their personal computers, cell phones or PDAs. PDAs in particular have opened a whole new world of convenience; special devices allow superintendents to tour a course and make on the-fly adjustments as the system is actually running.
“There’s no need to compile notes or try to remember what needs to change; the changes can simply be programmed into the device,” notes George Fisher, a Charlotte, N.C.-based irrigation specialist. “The irrigation industry is reaching new realms of technological sophistication, with GPS, wireless and computer technologies all working together.” Open-Ground Opportunities
All of this advancement is welcomed, because as Patrick Sisk, Superintendent of Milwaukee Country Club, River Hills, Wis., notes, “With proper equipment and technology, strategic application of water is one of the few things superintendents can have pretty good control of.”
In a presentation at last month’s Golf Industry Show in Atlanta, Sisk provided a step-by-step look at how his club recently executed a complete renovation and upgrade of its irrigation system. He emphasized the importance of careful planning to make maximum technological gains from such a project.
“You really only have one opportunity to get something like this done,” he stressed. “You don’t want to have to go back to do anything over—and in fact you probably won’t be able to anyway. It’s important that you look at [the implications] of a major project like this from the standpoint of your whole property.”
For Milwaukee CC, Sisk said, that meant compiling a comprehensive list of objectives that went well beyond the scope of golf course irrigation. “A lot of these are amenities you can add for very low expense, once you consider that your ground is already open [for the irrigation project],” Sisk said. His club’s full list included:
• Establishing a common link between the two pumping stations on the property (one for the golf course, and the other for club grounds).
• Expanding electrical service throughout the property as much as possible, to include needs—both current and potential—for drinking fountains, restrooms, water bubblers, and the like.
• Upgrading potable water service by condensing four failing wells to one reliable one.
• Adding needed wiring and support for cable TV and Internet upgrades.
• Improving and automating the club’s fire suppression system.
• Preparing for possible future course “modernization”—which Sisk described as “a code word for course lengthening”—by installing extra valves, wires and adequately sized pipe to allow for any expansions that might occur.
Once the project began, Sisk cited these practices as critical to its overall success:
• Add an irrigation tech. “This should be as much a part of the project budget as the equipment and the pipe,” Sisk said. “It gives you another layer of insurance both while the project is being executed, and just as importantly, after it’s done. The tech’s primary role during the project should be to observe and assist the contractor and learn everything possible about what’s being put in. Once the installation is complete, he should have primary responsibility for rehabilitating and maintaining the turf.”
• Minimize disruption to play. “We kept all holes open while the main lines were being installed,” Sisk reported. “We never scheduled any installation work from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. We had to turn some par 4s into par 3s for a while, as certain portions had to be closed for both golfer and worker safety. For the lateral piping installation, entire holes had to be closed, but we worked it out so that stage would occur late in the year and in early spring. All changes such as temporary tees were communicated to the golf shop at least 24 hours in advance,
and signs were strategically placed throughout the course, to make sure people knew how it was currently playing.We also provided daily reports to the Greens Committee chairman—after all, the members had been assessed a fair amount for the project, so they deserved to know what was going on and to have their concerns addressed. As part of that, I always maintained high visibility on the course during the project, and was proactive about reporting on delays, as well as progress.”
• Maintain design flexibility. The Milwaukee CC course traverses the Milwaukee River at two separate locations. At one location, after three unsuccessful attempts to bore under the river, an alternate approach was successfully devised: attaching the mainline piping to the backside of an existing bridge.
• Don’t skimp on equipment. Sisk cited the value of a “mini-backhoe” that was “a real timesaver,” compared to hand-digging, for sprinkler holes
• Adhere to appearances and standards. “We always tried to confine our work areas to acceptable square footages,” Sisk said, “so there wasn’t always pipe all over the place. We were strict about making sure all heads were set to their specified grades (1/4” below ground). We made sure all valve boxes were hidden and all control boxes were level—we didn’t want to drive by for the next 20 years and see that they were crooked.”
By following these policies and procedures, Sisk said, the project was carried out so successfully—and is now yielding such positive results— that “we earned a new level of respect from our members. And that translates into approval. We also are much better informed on how to manage all aspects of our property,” he added.
Dying for a Drink But no amount of technological wizardry or management acuity will be worth a dime if a superintendent doesn’t have enough water to keep the grass alive. As a new peak season approaches, more superintendents now have to face manmade restrictions that have been legislated into place, while others, like Bridgeport CC’s Jane Hall, continue to face natural ones.
“Droughts are a fact of life in Texas,” says Hall. “I’ll often find my ponds too low to support anything near what I want to put down.” Like many, she chooses to forego watering of fairways and focus on quenching greens and tees.
Others turn to drought-tolerant grasses. “Bermuda grass is amazing,” enthuses Cape Fear’s Lee. “Instead of dying, it goes dormant and remains playable. Just when you think it’s gone, it comes back with a little water.” Certain blends of zoysia are also excellent alternatives for Southern superintendents who chronically struggle with restrictive water allowances, he adds.
Another alternative for thirsty superintendents is effluent water. Also known as gray water, it is partially treated sewage water that was previously dumped back into the ecosystem. It just so happens that large swaths of healthy turf are perfect, natural filters to clean this water, so an increasing number of golf courses, particularly in the arid, population-gorged Sunbelt, are turning to effluent water for some of their irrigation needs.
Understandably, some supers remain tentative about putting what once was sewage on their greens. But here, too, modern technology can come to the rescue. “Controllers allow superintendents to purge the effluent water from the system, run a flush cycle and lay down fresh water on the greens—all from one spot,” notes Fisher.
“The golf maintenance industry has always been wary of technology,” he adds. “But everyone is starting to see the advantages of upgrading and adopting these advances. They benefit the course, the environment—and the bottom line.” C&RB
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Summing It Up
• The need to use water more efficiently has driven technological innovation that gives superintendents much more precise control of irrigation techniques.
• Improved communications interfaces make it possible to receive alerts to developing irrigation problems—and to prescribe solutions—on a real-time basis.
• Irrigation projects offer the chance to upgrade a club’s full infrastructure.
Avoiding A Washout On " Opening Day"
Being superintendent of a course built on a floodplain means that Danny Frase doesn’t have to worry too much about having enough water during the playing season. But the saturated ground beneath Sable Creek Golf Course, in Hartsville, Ohio, does pose a problem with wintering his irrigation system. The dynamics of underground freezing and thawing put the pipes, valves and swing joints through quite a test. “I can expect between six and eight breaks each spring,” he says. He’s picked up a few tricks to help speed up and simplify the opening of irrigation systems:
• Use the long-range forecast and look for at least five days of successive warm, dry weather.
• Be sure to have plenty of clean fill, spare swing joints and piping, in case you need to repair breaks.
• Crack as many drain valves as possible.
• Equip staff with radios and spread them around the section of the course being opened. Tell them to listen for the sound of rushing water and to look for it flowing across fairways or causing “turf bubbles.”
• If you have VFD (variable frequency drive) pumps, start with as little pressure as possible to lessen water hammer, and gradually increase to full pressure.
• When you encounter a break, be sure to dig an area large enough to work comfortably in. Bigger is better, and will make repairing much easier.
• As soon as the solenoid wires are visible, move them as far out of the way as possible. Spades cut easily through the wires, and can cause major headaches. —KD
Tools for Fools?
Are you constantly handing out ball-mark repair tools to golfers on your course and then hoping—praying—that enough of them will get used to keep your greens from looking like they got riddled with shrapnel? According to a study by horticulturists at Kansas State University, that’s the course maintenance equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot.
“A surprisingly large number of golfers have never understood the correct way to apply the tool,” the K-State researchers contend. “Instead, they use its two inch prongs, topped by a thumb-size grip, to dig and lever up the smashed grass and compacted soil at the center of the mark, instead of inserting it into the edges of the mark and gently twisting to bring the edges back together. Rather than helping the mark heal quickly, when used incorrectly, the tool often tears the plants’ roots.”
To confirm this theory, the researchers pitched balls onto greens with well-established bentgrass and studied the effects of four “treatments” on the resulting ball marks: 1) no repair; 2) correctly used traditio
nal two-pronged tool; 3) incorrectly used traditional tool; and 4) a new tool, with prongs like pruning shears, to improve the chances the ball mark will be pushed properly back into place.
Assessing the treatments on the basis of scar size, surface smoothness and turf quality, the K-State study concluded that improper use of the traditional tool doubles the time that ball marks need to recover—and “healing” is never complete, because surface quality remains reduced.
Properly used, the researchers said, both tools can complete ball-mark recovery in two to three weeks—but they tout the new design because “it’s much too stubby to create the [same] kind of damage” and is more foolproof: “You just insert the blades at a 45- degree angle into the turf around the edge of the ball mark, and gently push in toward the center. It’s pretty simple.” —JB
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