(Photo by J. Robert Gough/Muddy River News, Quincy, Ill.)
The 27-hole public course in Quincy, Ill. isn’t facing a dire need yet to replace the double-row sprinkler system that was installed in 1991 and then had a series of upgrades to the pump station, central computer and sprinklers. But glue for the couplers connecting the PVC pipes has been failing at several locations throughout the course, leading the Park District and course staff to start discussions for how to plan and pay for a project initially estimated at between $2.5 million and $3 million. “We just want to get this on the radar,” says the Park District’s Executive Director. “At some point, you don’t want to [have] a tough choice to make.”
The Westview Golf Course in Quincy, Ill. is one of the finest public golf courses in the Midwest, the Muddy River News of Quincy reported, and Quincy Park District officials know a major expense is coming for a new irrigation system, if it hopes to maintain the 27-hole course in the same way for future generations.
Finding a way to pay for the irrigation system won’t be simple, however, the Muddy River News reported.
Rome Frericks, the Park District’s Executive Director, and David Morgan, Westview’s Director of Golf, have met with representatives of the EC Design Group, a West Des Moines, Iowa, company that specializes in comprehensive golf and commercial irrigation design, to explore the options for Westview and got a ballpark quote for the needed work, the Muddy River News reported.
Frericks found that it would cost around $75,000 to $80,000 to have EC Design help the Park District and club through the design process and use GPS mapping software to determine how a new irrigation system would be done, the Muddy River News reported.
And then there would be the cost of the installation of the system. The market rate today, according to Frericks, is about $2,000 per irrigation head installed, the Muddy River News reported. Westview GC currently has 726 irrigation heads on the course, and Frericks said that number might go as high as 900 for installation of a new system.
All told, Frericks has told the Park Board, early cost estimates are for between $2.5 million and $3 million for the new irrigation system, the Muddy River News reported.
Morgan and Frericks will next meet with representatives from Hunter Irrigation, a Houston manufacturer, the Muddy River News reported. “We’re just trying to bring a couple of different options to the board,” Frericks said. “I can’t call [a local engineering firm] out for anything like this. That’s what these companies do for a living.”
The good news is that the need for a new irrigation system at Westview is not urgent, Frericks told the Muddy River News. “We just wanted to get this on the radar of the [Park] Board members,” he said. “At some point, you don’t want to give them a tough choice to make.”
Morgan recently told the Park Board that a series of ongoing problems with the current system—coupled with its age—raise the need for an overhaul, the Muddy River News reported.
The existing double-row sprinkler system at Westview was installed in 1991, and the course then underwent a major renovation on the front 18 holes, with irrigation installed on all of the new tee boxes, the Muddy River News reported.
The Flowtronics pump station (near the water hazard on the fifth hole) was updated in 2002, and the central computer and satellites were updated in 2004, the Muddy River News reported. The sprinklers on the fairways on the first 18 holes were updated to 180-degree (instead of 360-degree) units in 2012 and 2013, and the green-side sprinklers were updated in 2015 through 2017.
However, glue for the couplers connecting the PVC pipes has been failing at several locations throughout the course, Frerick told the Muddy River News. These failures happen once to twice a week, Morgan confirmed.
“You see the water, but you’ve got to find the leak,” Morgan said. “The water might be here, but it’s found its way from somewhere else. You dig here, but then you find the leak is up [somewhere else]. They take a little bit of time to repair.”
Holes 1-9 have 257 irrigation heads, holes 10-18 have 271 heads, and holes 19-27 have 198 heads, the Muddy River News reported.
“It’s like maintaining roads,” Frericks said. “You have to maintain [the sprinkler heads], but the average person doesn’t see them, so they don’t think they’re gaining anything.”
Another problem, Morgan added, is that “You run a golf cart over a sprinkler head enough times, and they’re going to give and give. That’s just part of it, but that’s when things go bad.”
Operating a golf course in the Midwest without an irrigation system isn’t a good idea, Frericks told the Muddy River News.
“In the Midwest, the temperatures can get to 90, 95, 100 degrees. You can go for weeks without rain,” he said. “The irrigation system is critical, isn’t it? Your season passholders will start going to Hannibal [Mo.] or other places where [the course is irrigated]. If you want to maintain the level of consistency and product that you’re producing for the consumer, absolutely, irrigation is needed.”
Westview GC is “a really good product right now. It has been for some years,” Morgan added. “So [planning to upgrade irrigation] is a must.”
Westview is a “self-funding enterprise,” Frericks noted, and the Park District doesn’t use profits from the course on any of the city’s parks. “Can Westview fund [a new irrigation system] itself? Absolutely not,” he said. “Do you go with a tax increase? That’s going to really upset they people who don’t utilize the facility.”
Morgan noted that “People have asked me for five, six, seven years about the money we make [at Westview]. They all thought it went to the parks. Hopefully, I’ve educated enough people who know the money stays here.”
Using $3 million from the Park District’s reserves to pay for the irrigation upgrade at Westview would cut that account “to a minimal number,” Frericks noted. “Then you don’t have a rainy day account any more.”
“If you want to have 30,000 rounds played at Westview and have the golf course pay for itself, you have to do this,” he added. “If you don’t irrigate it, the taxpayers might have to subsidize more in the long run. And once you lose somebody from your golf course, it’s hard to get them back.”
One option that has been previously discussed was to get rid of the back nine to cut costs, the Muddy River News reported. But Morgan doesn’t believe that’s a good idea.
“We would have to close the front 18 down on certain days for ladies and juniors, we have leagues on the back nine, and we have leagues going off on the front 18,” he explained. “So now you shut down [the back nine], and we’re going to lose revenue from that. Those nine holes are self-sustaining. Some people say it’s not, but it’s always busy back there.”
Frericks added that “The future of golf is your youngsters and new passholders. They will not jump on the front 18 when they’re a new golfer. They’re going to go on the back nine, lose four or five balls, let people pass them and take their time without people driving down their backs.”
Additionally, any option to pay for the new irrigation system that would include the sale of holes 19-27 must be put on a referendum, the Muddy River News reported, because the amount of property is more than three acres.
Frericks also isn’t sure passing the cost along to the golfers is a good idea, the Muddy River News reported.
“At what price point do you piss off your passholders?” he asked. “They will be like, ‘You’re going to nickel and dime me now? I’m going to Cedar Crest [Country Club in Quincy] or [to Arrowhead Heights Golf Course in] Camp Point [Ill.].’ At some point, yeah, we need to increase the [18-hole rates]. But what is that price point?”
The priority now is to speak with the irrigation consultants first to get a grasp of what the project would cost, Frericks told the Muddy River News.
“Then the second part is discussing the pros and cons with the full Board,” he said. “It’s no different than buying a new car. Where’s the money coming from? Are we willing to finance it?”
Still, Frericks doesn’t see any cons, other than the price tag, when discussing the irrigation system, the Muddy River News reported. “Because if you don’t do it, you’re going to lose it,” he said.
“People are used to the green grass and the fairways, They look nice,” Morgan added. “People are accustomed to it. This is what they expect to see out there now.”
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