In 2001, Tony Girardi, CGCS, knew he wanted to increase the irrigation system’s coverage at Rockrimmon Country Club in Stamford, Conn. Course conditions weren’t what he wanted, and improving coverage seemed to be the answer. But as nearby areas began to impose water restrictions, Girardi knew it wasn’t just about water coverage, it was about efficiency, too.
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Older than 25 years, the system was aging. The technology was outdated, and the sprinkler heads didn’t water the course evenly, creating waste and less-than-desired conditions. So, after receiving the blessing of the green committee in 2001, Girardi chose a new and improved, wall-to-wall, multirow irrigation system.
The new system uses more sprinkler heads that are spaced closer together. The old system had 450 heads in single lines on the fairways. Now, there are 1,350 Rain Bird Eagle 700/750 heads with head-to-head spacing. The number of heads increased dramatically, partly because the coverage area was increased to include the roughs.
“Where we used to irrigate 30 acres, now we water 80 acres,” Girardi says. “We’re almost tripling the irrigation heads while putting out almost equal or just a little bit more water.”
The irrigation system used to consume 14 or 15 million gallons or water per year, and now, with 50 more acres of coverage, water usage increased to between 17 and 19 million gallons.
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“It’s evident in the numbers that we’ve been more efficient with water,” Girardi says. “I’m pretty confident what we installed is working pretty well for us.”
Water efficiency is becoming more important in several areas of the U.S. as it becomes scarce and regions restrict usage. Girardi isn’t oblivious to the situation – Stamford is next to Westchester County, N.Y., which imposed water restrictions.
Restrictions or not, Girardi tries to water efficiently. The new system helps him to do that more than he has been able to with the older system. He can control each sprinkler head from his office computer or with handheld palm pilots and radio-controlled devices, improving head-to-head coverage. If there’s a hot spot or a dry patch on the fairway, Girardi can independently run heads to bring more attention to those areas without wasting water by running all the heads at the same strength.
Although Girardi says he is no authority on irrigation, this is the second complete system he has installed in his career. In addition, he retrofitted Rockrimmon’s system after he arrived 13 years ago.
The biggest benefit of the computerized system is the ability to integrate the evapotranspiration rate to water the course most efficiently, Girardi says.
It took contractor C.R.I.S. Irrigation from August 2001 to early June 2002 to install the system at a cost of $1.3 million. The course, which generates about 14,000 rounds per year, remained open during that time. Surprisingly to the membership (the club has 175 members), it wasn’t much of a disturbance. At first, it wasn’t an easy sell for the greens committee and membership, Girardi says.
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.“It’s something members really don’t see because it’s in the ground,” he says, adding it’s not like going into the clubhouse to dine and seeing a difference in the food quality. “They don’t see it, so it’s hard to justify,” he says.
Once the project was completed, it took only one or two seasons for members to realize how much the playing conditions improved, Girardi adds.
Because of the system’s expanded coverage area, Girardi can’t claim he’s saving money on water or electricity costs, but he saves in manpower.
“Maintenance and repair costs decreased from $10,000 annually to $7,500 per year,” he says. The savings are in the overall conditions of the golf course. We’ve got one of biggest wait lists we’ve seen at the club. We’re financially sound, we have a sound membership, and a big part of that is due to the irrigation and golf course conditioning.”
