Creating an operating golf course irrigation system with working sprinklers inside the Golf Industry Show will take a team effort, combining the skills and knowledge of Irrigation Association members to plan and execute the project.
“It’s going to have an operating irrigation system out on the open on the floor, which has never been done inside a show before that we know of,” says Brian Vinchesi, past IA President, who is organizing the effort. “We’ll be able to show auditing procedures and sprinkler uniformity as if you were on a golf course.”
The team that is designing and installing the irrigation system and other aspects of the Water Solution Center will be on hand at the center during the Golf Industry Show to help superintendents and owners solve all their golf course irrigation and water problems. The Golf Industry Show is in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 10 through 12.
The irrigated area will be contained within low walls of timber posts and will be laid on a wooden support structure — all topped with turf, working sprinklers and an operating drip and block system for a bunker, says Tom Wyatt, of Disney’s Horticulture, who is designing the turf area.
The system is designed to drain into a trough, with the water recycled through a pump system to supply the operating sprinklers, Wyatt says in addition to the greens, the Water Solutions Center will feature the Center for Irrigation Technology’s pump demonstration trailer, which illustrates pump efficiency, variable frequency drives and other associated pumping equipment.
The center will showcase the various components of a golf irrigation system, the purpose, utilization and installation with live electrical displays, transparent sprinkler heads, valves, pipe, fittings, wire, controllers, grounding grids, sensors and a weather station.
Daily educational sessions will cover topics like the irrigation design process, financing alternatives, project management, sprinkler spacing and uniformity, weather station maintenance, design installation and maintenance, pipe repair and auditing. A group of irrigation consultants and manufacturers from the IA combined to design the center, but Wyatt got some help from Disney staff members who regularly create “green” settings for movies and television.
“They contributed to the design of the bunker, making it look natural,” Wyatt says.
The bunker will be built up with bags of pine nugget mulch (still in the bag). The final bags will be opened and spread around to get the contoured shape.
