Irrigation Work

In the past season we have been learning our new irrigation system.  The system is a marvel of new technology and advancements.  Gone are all the old control boxes littered throughout the course,  now control is done through a central computer that receives input from a weather station and feedback from both pump houses.  You may have seen us running the system through our iPhones and tablets.

This Rainbird IC decoder system allows a lot of flexibility and control not previously possible.  As we exercised the system through the season we started to notice some issues with the sprinkler heads themselves.  Most notably that the heads would not turn on or delayed when commanded,  isolated cases but issues none the less.  After the Rainbird technical engineers evaluated our problems they have instigated a complete changeout of a part in the sprinkler head.

The pictures below shows the assembly and part that needs replacement.  This process will affect all 1500 sprinkler heads on the course.  The company wants to make sure that all sprinklers have received the newest part available.  This process, labor and parts are completely covered under warranty and of no cost to the club.

A small crew will be doing minor digging around each head to expose the decoder, remove the part and replace the plunger,  test the repair and repack the soil and sod in the disturbed section.  Now just
repeat this process 1500 times!  Not something we are excited about, but better to take care of the issue now than wait until spring when play is ramping up.  Rainbird has been very aggressive in resolving the issue band is committed to solving any and all issues.

This work will not affect play and there are no plans to close any portion of the course during this work.

Sprinkler head with the decoder installed 

Decoder detached and plunger removed

Plunger that is to be replaced