Irrigation update for June 19^th – 23^rd

The last week has seen us continue with the irrigation mainline down the 13^th hole. with its closure putting the 19^th hole in play.

It was a bit of a slog with 16mm of rain falling Monday morning. We had to Air2G2 in-between the 13^th and 14^th fairways to try and remove the surface water. The 13^th and 14^th are traditionally our lowest lying fairways so when we started Ditch-Witching the trench for the mainline it was imperative that we were following right behind backfilling as the pipe would begin to float with the groundwater invading the trench. We were able to get through the 13^th hole quickly as it was a single mainline pipe controlling only the 13^th tees/fairway.

Wednesday saw us installing the mainline along the driveway.  This was a bigger job as we had to bring the dual mainlines (Greens/Surrounds and Tees/Fairways) along there.

Due to moving through 13^th so swiftly when installing the main line we were able to notify the Pro Shop on Tuesday that we will be able to start the 16^th mainline on Thursday and Friday.

Thursday – Friday saw us have the 16^th hole closed and the 13^th split into a Par 4 to the 19^th green and a 125m Par 3 to the 13^th green.

The 16^th was smooth sailing again as we progressed up the left-hand side of the fairway installing the Tees/Fairways mainline. We reached an end point where we will continue from next week where we will be required to cross the 16^th fairway level with the 19^th green then down the right-hand side of the fairway towards the 19^th tee.

Wednesday-Friday we concentrated on backfilling and returfing finished areas.

Friday also allowed us to clean up the back of the 18^th tee where we had mounds of clay.  These mounds were removed and dumped on the back of the 10^th where once the irrigation on the South side of the road has finished, we will proceed in tidying this area up and seeding it.

This week of June 26^th– 30^th.

Monday-Tuesday we will complete the irrigation mainline for the 16^th and 19^th holes. Wednesday-Friday we will have the 17^th hole out of play and members will be playing the 19^th with the 18^th as a par 3 for workers safety whilst we install the mainline on 17^th.

We have decided whilst we are starting to make timely progress and have got into a good routine.  We plan to finish installing the irrigation mainlines on the17^th before proceeding to come back and install the lateral irrigation lines.

Next week 3^rd July-7^th July

The 12^th hole will be out of play, and we will pull in the lateral lines and instal the sprinkler heads. We will do this on all the holes that the mainlines so for the next couple of weeks a hole could be closed for 3 days at a time. When this has been completed, we will continue to get back onto the main lines on theremaining holes on the south side of the road. It does look a little untidy and messy but when we complete each hole it will start looking better.

I have had some members have asked why we would be doing this now in winter. In all my time as a Greenkeeper all new systems are installed over the cooler months because  we do not have access to water that would be required in the warmer months to irrigate and keep the turf alive.

Clint Raven – Course Superintendent

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