Over the years many different outside components have been added in the fairways such as valve boxes and yardage markers. The sheer quantity of these items has taken away from a neat clean appearance in the fairways.
Now we can finally getting rid of these unnecessary items due to them no longer being needed since the new irrigation system was installed. The need for stand alone yardage markers is not needed due to all of the sprinkler heads being marked from 300yds in. Old irrigation valve boxes that contain either electrical or frost free components are also being removed. The most important part of the removal process is cutting out the old galvanized pipe utilized for the old frost free couplers. These are being removed with a sawzall to a depth of one foot below the surface which is out of aerification range.
Old Valve Box
Throughout the golf course there are many areas that are off color (brown) by design. These brown areas are occurring as we continue to fine tune the adjustment of the new irrigation system. It is my goal to provide the driest conditions possible, while still providing enough moisture to keep the plant alive and viable.
As hot spots develop it tells me we are going in the right direction with controlling the amount of water applied to the critical play areas. These critical areas are greens, approaches and fairways.
When the hot spots show up we will hand water them only, so that we are more specific with the water applied creating a more uniform playing surface.
#13 Approach
Now is a great time to begin addressing some of our native grass areas throughout the golf course.
The original native seed mix contained a nurse crop of Bluegrass that in many areas has taken over due to irrigation overthrow. With the new irrigation system being designed with hard line irrigation edges, we now have an opportunity to reclaim some of these overgrown areas.
We will begin going hole by hole and reintroduce a true native mixture into many areas that are both in play and in view. Other areas of focus will be any areas in which a full recovery from the irrigation installation has not yet occurred. It is my hope that we can once again have the contrasting colors of green maintained turf and brown flowing native grasses.
Dormant seeding will best take advantage of the upcoming seasonal moisture to help with germination and establishment. These areas will be solely reliant on mother nature providing the moisture from now on, which will shift the pendulum in the favor of the desired native grass species.
Over the years I have always said that in Colorado I think it is harder to keep the turf alive in the winter versus the summer. Some of the reasons being that durring the winter we experience some of our lowest humidities in addition to high winds. These two factors combined rapidly dry out turfgrass as well as other plant materials found on the golf course.
Another key factor that effects winter turfgrass viability is exposure. Throughout the course there are many different exposures that leave the turf either fully exposed or completely under snow cover for several months.
It is not uncommon on any given hole to have to water only areas of southern exposure throughout the winter in order to keep the turf alive. This fact was utilized durring the design of the new irrigation system, in which I specifically located the new mainline on each hole in the southern exposure. The placement of the mainline in addition to frost free hydrants every 110 feet make the difficult task of winter watering far easier than it ever was.
Winter can be a scary time when looking at turfgrass because at first glance many times it appears to be dead, but upon closer inspection all is well. Throughout the winter we actively scout known problem areas for desiccation and proactively water them before a problem occurs. One of our favorite techniques in determining the health of the turf is "the foot rub". A simple rubbing of the turf with your foot removes the dead leaf tissue revealing viable green leaf blades below. 
Over the last couple of weeks we have been consistently spot watering the golf course's more exposed areas. Now that larger scale areas of snow have melted away, we have begun expanding the scope of areas that are being watered.
The forecast over the next several day is calling for snow and freezing temperatures so we decided to help chances of maintaining turf on some of our exposed bunker faces. Up until now the temperatures have been seasonal and without any hard freezes occurring.
Recently we went out and saturated the more exposed bunker faces in efforts to help them freeze solid and better retain moisture levels. The water was applied using the strategically placed frost free hydrants that were installed with the new irrigation system.
The winter blow out of the irrigation system has begun on the golf course. Over the last several weeks we have had significant snows that have provided more than adequate moisture levels throughout the golf course.
We are probably a week or two ahead of when we would normally blow out, but for the above reasons we have decided to go ahead and blow out now. This is one of the most difficult agronomic decisions that I make all year and getting the timing right is never easy. If you blow out too late the heads will freeze and blow out becomes difficult at best and if you blow out too early then the turf begins to dry out. Fortunately if we miss the timing on the early side we can utilize our frost free component of the irrigation system rather than re-pressure the summer or shallow system.
The Compressor
Blowing Out The Heads
Throughout the summer I have been asked several times “why are you still hand watering after installing a new irrigation system?” The biggest misconception with the installation of a new irrigation is that coverage will be perfect and no hand watering will ever be needed.
The new system that was installed is extremely sophisticated and highly efficient, that being said there is no such thing as perfection. Our coverage is far superior to most courses in the metro area and even with that there still will be times that we have to “touch up” areas on the golf course with hoses. Some of the factors that cause hot spots are; soil compaction, slope, exposure, wind and even thatch. All of the factors combined on a course with terrain and exposure issues like CCCP create many opportunities for hand watering.
Now that we have the ability to water the fairways separately from the rough we can create fast and firm conditions in the fairways. This is where the use of hand watering is key, because as hot spots show up in the fairways we can target these areas only with additional water. Sure it is easy to turn on a sprinkler head that has a 55’ radius to water a hot spot that is only 5 square feet, but from an agronomic and playability stand point that is the wrong choice.
After the new system was completed, I began tracking my water usage through the entire golf course and it has shown some impressive numbers. For the last two months I have used an average of 40% less water in the fairways than the rough. These numbers confirm what I have been saying about Bentgrass fairways all along, that they need less water than the surrounding
As the irrigation installation nears the end, the fine tuning of the newly installed components begins. With more than 3000 sprinkler heads installed each of which requires specific adjustments and run times to properly operate.
One of the more labor intensive items that I have been doing is the programming of the central computer that operates the irrigation system. The data input is fairly straight forward, but it is the heads specific details that will make the difference on the overall uniformity of irrigation coverage.
Sprinkler Head Detail in Database
Each sprinkler heads is assigned attributes such as; spacing, gpm, radius, slope, pressure, soil type, grass type and numerous others. These individual attributes figure into the overall calculations the computers does in establishing run times for the sprinkler heads. Our biggest challenge is the fact that we have more 2700 part circle heads that all have different arcs and each one needs to be accurately established. With out this information being correct each head could have as much 10%-50% run time variance which will lead to overly wet or dry conditions depending on which way the variance is. One of the keys in establishing correct arcs will the use of a protractor to identify the true arc of each head.
Using a Protractor
Another challenge we will face is re-nozzling individual heads to deal with our hard lining of the fairways. Our fairways vary in width throughout and this creates challenges for us in establishing the right nozzle setup. The layout of our sprinklers in the fairways in not on a traditonal grid as you would find with most conventional irrigation systems. The fact that we have separated the fairway from the rough creating two different water areas makes using tradtional spacing methods not possible.
These tasks will be incredible time consuming, but in the long run it will be invaluable information that will be used in establishing uniform water distribution.
This morning very well may go into the record books for irrigation breaks in one day. First thing this morning we discovered four breaks that took place some point last evening during an irrigation cycle. As the morning progressed, we had two more breaks which brings us up to a grand total of six in one day. All that before 9:00am, what a way to start the day.
Over the last three day alone we have had a total of nine irrigation breaks. If there is anyone who still questions the need for a new irrigation system, i believe these numbers speak for themselves.
Here are couple pictures that show the size and disruptive nature of the irrigation breaks.
Break on Friday the 20th
Break on Saturday the 21st
Today Sunday the 22nd
Today the latest failure on the old mainline was repaired. The break occurred on the steep hillside above #16 green. This mainline runs under the development road and is buried to a depth of at least twenty feet. Due to the depth of the pipe being out of reach of our equipment, we made the decision that the best way to repair it was to completely abandon a 300 ft stretch of pipe. The 6" mainline was cut and capped on each side side of the road effectively eliminating the break.
The only reason we could abandon this stretch of pipe is the fact that the new mainline has been recently installed on the same hole and a cross connection can be utilized. This cross connection will feed into the old mainline and allow us to get water to this portion of the golf course. One of the biggest challenges in this project has been keeping both old and new systems working by a series of cross connections and in this case we would be out of luck if the cross connection did not exist.
Digging on #16 side of the Road
Digging on #17 side of the road
Installing the end cap on the pipe
The shallow or summer irrigation system has been pressured back up throughout the entire golf course. We are a good two weeks earlier than last year, which is three to four weeks ahead of the normal irrigation window.
This season we have had snow falls that have been few and far between in addition to unseasonably warm temperatures. For the last four weeks we have been chasing the dry spots and newly laid sod with hoses utilizing the frost free components of the irrigation system. It has gotten to the point where we are no longer able to keep up with the rapid drying and are forced to turn on the entire system.
One of the biggest problems we will encounter by doing this so early would be that all of the heads will not function due to some lingering frost in the ground. These areas are primarily in northern exposures where the soil temperatures are still below freezing. These ground temperatures do not allow the pilot valve assembly in the heads to properly function, therefore rendering the head non operational.
Even though we are extremely early in the season to be turning on the entire system, by not doing so will guarantee wide spread loss of turf. I would rather take the risk of irrigation component failure versus large scale re-sodding operations.
Well I knew it would be a matter of time before we had our first break of the year, but I was not expecting to happen this fast.
The system was charged yesterday afternoon and things were looking good at the pump house; pressure was maintaining and no slow leaks appeared to be occurring. What surprises me the most was the fact that a break occurred with our pumps running 1/3 of the pressure that has been run for the last 23 years.
This fact proves how much of a ticking time bomb we still have with the old irrigation system components. I will be holding my breath until the time comes in June when we will be fully operational with the new system.
Seven weeks after blowing out the irrigation system, we began the process of pressuring back up. Today marks the first operation of the new pump station after it has been renovated for the new system requirements.
The initial startup was done by the company that installed the components to ensure that we follow proper operating procedures. This is critical for two reasons; the first being that we don’t cause any damage to the pump station or down stream components and most importantly is the protection of the manufactures warranty.
The need for pressuring back is largely due to the fact that many of the southern exposure areas are in need of water. We have been using water tankers up to this point, but now the areas requiring water are too many to effectively keep up. Additionally many of these exposed areas contain large areas of sod that was cut and reinstalled as a part of the mainline installation. It is essential that we maintain adequate moisture levels in the newly laid sod, so that a 100% survival rate occurs.
The New Pumps In Place
Close Up of The Control System
One of the final procedures performed to the golf course before winter sets in is the blow out of the irrigation system.
Blowing out is done by using compressed air to physically remove all of the water from the underground piping. This is done to protect the pipes and sprinklers from damage caused by the expanding water when freezing occurs. The new HDPE pipe will expand and not be harmed by the freezing, but the non HDPE materials will still break.
The New Sprinklers Being Blown Out Last week
The new sprinklers were blown out last week while the weather was still nice, whereas the old system heads are being blown out this week. From this point forward I will have to be more careful with the timing of blowout due to the freezing sensitivity of the new heads. This timing is critical so that the last watering is done to the course before temperatures consistently stay below freezing.
Blow Out Today
Fortunately we will still have the ability to water the golf course during the winter even after blow out has occurred. Similar to the old irrigation system, the new system will have a frost free irrigation component. I will have the ability to water the main play areas such as greens, tees and fairways with quick coupler valves located every 110 feet.
